El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1915-04-05
HOPEFUL SIGNS
Of STEADY GAIN
Business Situation Over the
Country Encouraging and
in Some Lines Normal.

The First National bank. Of e Paso. sends
OUT monthly "a general letter on trade condi-
tons in the nation. which contains much Of
interest TO business men Following are eX-
tracts from the April letter.
The fear Of "a wholesale liquidation OF
American securitIes by European owners is
gradually passing. Some selling OF this char
acter is going on but il is not large enough
To offset the credit balance which We are
building up through our excess Of exports.
80 Tar as tho mere supply OF money Is
concerned. the national situation IS improv-
ing week by week and the cry has already
been heard ia more than one section Of the
country that the banks loaded with
money which they cannot loan TO advantage.
our condition was bad enough before the
outbreak Of hostiuties in Europe which,
temporarily az least, multiplied our business
nandicaps within so days however, after
the beginning % the war, a slight improve
ment was noticeable and. slow though
IL NAV be that Improvement has
steadily gone forward Hindrances TO
shipping rumOrs Of other countries being
drawn into The European conflict, fear OF a
elimaN in our Mexican diplomatic negotia-
lions and general feeling Of uncertsinty-
these things make business men cautious,
hut expansion IS taking place more men are
being put 10 work as the mills resume and
the erection and extensions Of factories has
started
Considering the great vvaS as well as, the
several smaller wars or rebellions which are
now taking place, the cost Of things has
been held down and commodity prices gen
orally have not taken the upward shoot
which was 50 freely predicted Prices are
little. II any. higher than they were at the
beginning OF 1913. and only slightly higher
than they were during the latter part Of
1912 The retail prices OF those things
classed provisions are lower than for
wears The slowing down Of wheat exports
viii probably help TO reduce the price or
flour. and living expenses can hardly be
complained OF in view OF other conditions.
In the clearing OF banks we once mad =
fairly good index Of business and financial
operations. After few years these figures
win again be dependable index. but the
80 he
federal reserve banks makes a comparison OF
present clearinEs with those OF the cores
pondinE periods Of previous years hardly
fair February exchanges amounted TO
II. 907 million dollars, being about 4 percent
less than the same month last year For
the country outside Of New York. the de-
cline was only about 4 percent but the de-
cline was general. as los OF 159 cities
showed a falling off The large increases
shown By Minneapolis, Duluth, Galveston.
u Paso. Kansas city. wichita Fargo and
= number Of other cities indicate that the
increase in activities, when IL has occurred.
has not been confined TO any particular sec
zion Of the country
The failure situation. when compared with
= year ago. looms large. but when compared
with December and January Just past the
figures show decided Improvement
Dividends and interest disbursements for
March are estimated at 40 million dollars
compared with rs millions a year ago
Almost so million dollars Of this amount IS
DIVIDENDS. and more than 50 million dollars 3
is interest on 1855 million dollars Of out
sign that dividends for March. 1915. equal I
those FOR the same month year ago. Feb !
ruary dividends for 1918 were only 50 mil |
lion dollars compared with a millions a
year ago
Building operations for February IN $50 I
cities are estimated at 80 million dollars [
compared with 81 millions a year ago
Heavy gains were shown for New York Phil ]
adclphia- Cleveland. New Haven. Minneapo- J
lis. St Paul and Atlanta Decreases are !
reported by Is principal cities including /
Chicago Boston, St Louis and Baltimore Z
and on the west coast by san Francisco, Los |
Angeles. Portland and Seattle
Final figures for last year show total I
railroad gross earnings to have declined for /
the year nearly percent, while net earn !
.ngs declined more than 8 percent. these 4
iEures being taken from the reports Of as J
railroads Preliminary reports show that i
for January Sc roads earned gross Of IS mil 4
lions compared with JOG a year ago a j
decline OF nearly 10. percent The number /
n idle cars on the first Of March was 304 600 I
with $4,000 a year ago
The attempt Is being made to hold back i
copper production and steady the price by
simply meeting consuming demands Lake I
running al fun capacity with Anaconda pro
iucinE Sc percent Of normal, showing total 4
copper production is above 70 percent OF /
normal This increasing production cannot =
some out OF refineries until toward the /
middle Of the year and with the great de I
crease shown last month in European stocks. 4
there should be ample demand for It by the 1
time 81 reaches the market
The zinc industry is one OF the busiest IN 4
he country. The immediate future OF this
industry is assured. the only thing necessary
being the ability TO get the surplus to
Europe
Domestic consumption OF cotton in Febru-
7ry vas 465 thousand bales compared with
l55 thousand for February last year. Manu-
lecturers stocks Of cotton were the first
n the month 1854 thousand bales compared
with 1712 thousand last year Stocks IN {
warehouses were 1890 thousand bales COM
pared with 1914 thousand last year. TX
ports were 1902 thousand bales compared
with Isl thousand year ago
Taking all lines as a unit, business today Z
stands at the highest point since the begin
ming OF the war. and in fact at the highest
point since May /, 1914