Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1915-08-16
THE BUSINESS ROUNDUP.

! THE BUSINESS ROUNDUP.
! Enlarged house trade, country-wfdt
optimism, smarter activity in meta
manufacturing, further slight improve.
ment in lines that long have Jagged
heavier buying of pig iron at advanced
prices, relatively excellent crop news
war orders that overflow regular chan
nels to plants not heretofore engaged
in that respect, better collections, in
creased calls for money with which TO
move crops, some, tho not satisfac,
tory relief in the way of higher freight
rates for western railroads, heavy
influx of gold to help bolster weak
rates for foreign exchange, which are
at new record low levels, and sustained
public interest in the stock market
comprehend the chief features Of the
weeks developments. Besides. warm
weather has helped retail traders TO
dispose of summer goods at greatly
reduced prices.
Altho the general swing is upward,
it is most manifest in the iron and
steel industry, and incidentally, feel
ing as to thu future continues to out
step actual buying.
But practically all visiting mer-
chants, irrespective of the sections
from which they hail, agree that the
outlook for fall and winter is excep-
| tionally good, that stocks in the hands
of interior distributors are low, and
that in the grain growing sections
| high prices mean reduced Obligations
and enlarged spending power. On the
other hand. the uplift in the leading
industrial centers, involving increasing
employment and larger pay rolls, is
bound to increase purchases.
Withal, the situation as regards
staple merchandise is marked by pru-
Dent buying, and :: the ssr!caisa
south. where the low price of cotton
blunts current movements, as we'll as
in the Pacific northwest, where the
lumber industry is still depressed BUS
mess lags. Still, inquiries for lumber
are growing, tho any improvement that
may come will not be satisfactory
while prices remain as low as they
are.
The iron and steel industry, as al
ready intimated, Is active, production
is proceeding apace, heavy Russian
orders for steel rails are said to have
been placed. prices in general are adj
vancing and sellers are again to the
| fore as regards control Of prices. The
wooden goods situation has been en-
HANGED by an Italian contract for J.
600, 900 yards Of uniform cloth.
Employment bureaus are calling Tor
skilled mechanics, especially machin-
| lists. who continue to enforce demands
for higher wages and shorter working
time. The coal mining industry Is
shaping into better position. The
textile industry is on short time and
furniture manufacturing is below nor
NAL.
MISUNDERSTANDING diminished irnmt-
! grafton, and some increase in emf
grafton to Italy, few complaints are
heard about the supply Of common la
/ Dor. Railroad freight traffic is not
quite satisfactory, due, no doubt, to the
| belated movement of wheat, which In
turn Is traceable to wet harvest and
to some disposition on the part OF the
farmers to refrain from free selling
passenger business is heavy, but al
| the expense Of rates, and the reduc-
ton in anthracite coal rates ordered
Thursday by the interstate commerce
commission exerts an unfavorable In
auence Oh the earning power OF hard
coal carriers. Business failures are
somewhat more numerous. but bank
clearings continue to gain over 1913
comparison with last year being pur-
pesely avoided because OF the strained
situation then existing.
| Corn has made progress and made
nm for some Of its earlier lateness. Il
Is practically made in the lower hall
of the belt. but the northern states
| need sixty days to put the crop be-
vond harm. Texas has q large crop
Kansas shows Improvement Okla
homa will have bumper yield. but
Iowa ia late and the plant needs a hot
49, Rnn