The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-07-01
BIRMINGHAM TRUST MONTHLY LETTER ON TRADE CONDITIONS General Situation Better Now Than at Any Time
 Since Outbreak of the
 European War

Poie lfaue showing steady increase in volume month after month, states the monthly review of conditions is-
 sled yesterday by the Birmingham
 Trust and Savings bank, whiei is in part as follows:
 Since the first day of the year there fas been a persistent. even though somewhat unsteady advance In busi- ress operations. the totals ih the great majority of lines having continuously increased. and having reached at this l time in most lines larger total than
 was recorded for the sapde period last year. Business totals in Jfact from the first of January to thel first of June
 have in the heavier lings of trade ex- ceeded the same period ,tof 1913 as well as of 1914
 Tt would be just as well perhaps at this time to take into considera-
 tion that this continuous advance can there must be lull When this lull | comes and 1t is already in evidence iu some parts of the country and in some
 Ines of trade, it need give business | man no uneastness because what are faown as war order lines have In 50
 many plants already reached the full st 2i-hour output and further in- crease is hardly possible. It is very rare for businesses to remain at a stationary volume and when no ao- vance is being recorded there is usu- ally a falling off even though the falling off may be very slight A nslt lft.
 lead and zinc activities should cause no concern as the full activity will be resumed at an early date and this lull will only be an evidence that heavier business is on the way. The activity and prosperity of the war order lines IS assured for the period of the war and for a considerable time there after.
 During May bank clearings were nearly 15 billions of dollars compared with only 13 billions for the same menth last year, the increase being more than II per cent. Clearings out side of New York were not quite 1 per cent greater than year ago so that full 19 per cent increase was made in New York city. As the opera ton of the federal reserve banks has lcHuenCy to uecrtaSe clearlnRS rough other banks from which these figures are taken, this gain is all the more noteworthy For the first five months of the year clearings have been 3i billions of dollars compared with 3i billions for the same period last year.
 Business failures during May num- Tered 1573 with total lia bilities of not quite 20 million dollars compared with 1201 fai1K.rac n of In '.yttf .'aH'iit'esfa oiS something over 20 II illion dollars. 1Ghe assets of inc failed concerns We're 10 million dcl- lars compared witht assets of nine mil lion dollars Tor the Aconcerns failing in M y or last year. While the number of failures is large foAr May and large with past a\serages both the number and the liabilities show de- .rease as compared with previous months this year. thh improvement r. ving been steady since the first of January, indicating thfat we are work ing toward normal conditions.
 Money in Circulation
 Money Tn clrculatfon on the first of June was 3527 million dollars com pared with 3493 millions A month pre- v.ous and 34s0 millions year pre vious. The per capita circulation now is $35.07 and the fedle estimate of the population or thef United States is 100.5S3 thousand.
 During April our m@rchandise in- rorts were nearly 160 rfsillion dollars ( compared with 174 millions a year age while exports are 294 mill ions com pared with 163 millions a Wear aeo leaving us a favorable balanc4 of trade for the month of nearly 1S4 mihlion dol lars compared with an unfavoraDse bal ance a year ago of II million dollars Imports of gold exceeded exports by more than 15 million dollars compai. ed with excess imports of about three nihl- lion dollars for the same month last year.
 while gross earnings for steam rau. roads amounted to only 23S million dolla rs in April compared with 241 millions year ago, operating expenses decreased nearly 12 million dollars leaving net earn ings of nearly 6S million dollars for the month compared with 59 millions for the same month last year which was gain of over eight million dollars or 14 per cent. Net earnings for April, 1914, how ever, were low as compared with the previous April so that the gain In net this year is not quite as large as it would appear on the face of the figures. The ef- fort of the railroads to cut down operat- ing expenses is surely meeting with great success, but in some cases this saving is being effected at the expense of the service and in some cases at the ex- pense of the equipment which on a few roads has been allowed to decline ma terialy in condition. The coming move, ment of crops will augment the grUss earnings and if operating expenses can be held down the gain in net will serve to put the railroads in more favorable position and make their future financing easier.
 "On the first of the month the net sur plus of idle cars was 295 thousand com pared with PAP thousand year ago. Twenty three thousand more box cars are idle than a month ago, but the number of idle coal cars was reduced during the month by 1400o.
 Railroad equipment orders for May showed a decided improvement, including orders for 19,000 cars, a larger number than had been ordered during the previous four months of the year combined. and comparing with orders for only 1600o cars in June of last year. which was the largest showing of any month in 1914 Locomotive orders numbered no com pared with l21 In May a year ago and compared with orders totaling only 224 for the first four months this year. June locomotive orders are expected to be light as inquiries are practically all cared for.
 Railroad Employees
 "The steam railroads of the country are now employing less than 1000 persons compared with 1.7O0.OOO year ago, 1,s0o,- GOO two years ago and 1,700,OO0 three years ago. Their annual wage amounts to about l 1,300 million dollars compared with 1,3I3 millions last year, 1874 millions In 1913 | and l,274 millions in 1912. Wages take up | more than 45 per cent of the gross earn ings of the railroads compared with 70