Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-09-01
ERA OF PROSPERITY
BEGINS; BUSINESS
ON THE UP GRADE
Improvement in Condition
Plainly Visible in Increased
Investment in Substan-
tial Securities
U. s. CREDITOR NATION
Balance Of Trade Largely Favorable.
Trade Brisk and Labor
in Demand

Business has at last turned the cor
ner for the better. and judging from facts
which are usually good baroneters oi
the general situation, there is LONG
and prosperous era in store for the United
| States
One of the most important things In
the betterment is the acknowledged IN
crease in the volume OF buying of stocks
and bonds for investment. This is re-
garded as a very good sign, in that II
| shows that the persons with idle money
are putting II into good stable securities
instead OF keeping It locked up tightly in
| bank vaults and Il shows that fears
as to the future, caused primarily by the
| European war, are being dissipated'
Many stock brokers report that during
| the last few months there has been a
| rather heavy increase in this KIND OF
! buying, and that not a little of 1t has
| come from the smaller investors, showing
! conclusively that whereas there was an
inclination to hoard money at the be-
| ginning Of the war, things are now
loosening up.
Speaking about the investment buying,
William ID. Grange president of the
Philadelphia Stock Exchange, said that
there has been a notable increase, espe-
cially in the last few months. He said
that the outlook was for the largest
amount of this kind OF buying this fall
years. Mr.. Grange is very optimistic and
sees a bright future for business.
A factor which weighs very heavily in
the upward or downward trend of bus-
ness Is bank clearngs - the amount Of
checks cleared through the various clear
ing houses i'm the larger cities of the
country from week TO week. In the last
few weeks these clearings have shown
tremendous increases. Last week, for in
stance, the Increase over the previous
year was slightly more than so per cent:
and when IL Is taken into consideration
that this has been going for the last
month or So there must surely be
change in business.
Unemployment, according to reports
which are received from various parts
of the country, Is much smaller than II
has been for some time. This is due in
large measure. probably, to the opening
up OF plants which are working on am
munition for the warning nations OF Eu-
rope; but there Is also q bigger demand
for goods for home consumption. The big
gest demand at the moment is for shells,
steel products and other articles for the
manufacture of war munitions; but other
lines are also coming along
There have been several increases in
the prices of steel products in the last
several weeks, and the steel trade expects
that they will go above the present levels
The railroads are buying more materials
and are making more repairs to their
equipment, and the steel mills in many
sections of the country are operating
around 30 per cent of capacity, while in
some cases they are working nearly full.
The steel trade is regarded as the
mainstay of business, and when there is
a boom in that industry it is nearly
always safe to say that other lines will
follow.