El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1916-06-06
Ample Money in Circulation
Rise in Commodity
Prices Has Ceased.

The business forecast for the month
Of June. issued 10y the First National
bank Of Il Paso. declares that business
as a whole in the last few weeks has
been proceeding along more conserva-
tive lines than for the months imme-
diately preceding. and the readiust-
rnent noticeable 10 a slight extent d
month ago has become an easily dis
eernibIe feature Of the situation since
our last report
Bank cIearings at 162 cities during
April totaIed Is billion dollars com
pared with Is billion dollars for April,
1915. a gain Of % per cent, and COM
pared with clearings Of p billion dol
lars in March OF this year. the. record
high month, the report continues Dur
ing April, all but nine Of the l6z cities
recorded an Increase IN clearlngs over
last year and 1872 cities made new rec
ords for April clearings- New clear
ings records for any month were also
set during april by q cities
Money in Circulation.
Money in circulation May 1 totaled
3.s10 million dollars compared with
1917 million dollars on April J. ana
1888 million dollars on Nay l. 1913,
showing decline IN the circulating
medium for the third successive month
Per capita circulation on May 1 was
s3s.2s compared with S3S.41 a month
previous ana $3.50 year BlEhA441s
The population OF the United states Is
estimated at 1e2,146 thousand com
pared with 10O,441 thousand on Nay
l. 1915.
during May Will total 137 million dol
lars compared with 127 million dollars
in May OF last year
Financing by corporations during
April tOtaled 222 million dollars com
pared with 154 million dollars in April,
1915. Industrial companies continue
TO supply the bulk Of the new financ-
ing.
New and large corporations formed
during April have an authorized CAPT
tai Of 224 million dollars compared with
a million dollars in April. 1915.
Building Figures.
Building operations at 149 cities in
April totaled IS million dollars com
pared with IS million dollars in April,
1915, the gain being over Is per cent
April building figures, however, are
somewhat below the April figures in
several previous years, as scarcity OF
materials. high prices. and controver-
sizes with labor are operating to re-
press building to certain extent
The lumber cut in March (4bl mills
reporting) lotaled S52 million feet COM
pared with 797 million feet in March.
1915. and March shipments were SSy
million feet compared with 74S million
feet in March Of last year
Railroad Earnings.
Gross earnings Of 466 railroads in
pared with 23S million dollars in March.
1915. a gain Of 25 per cent, and net
earnings for the same roads were IS
million dollars compared with 6S mil
lion dollars in March OF last year. a
gain Of 43 per cent Railroad earnings
are not so large as in the closing
months Of last year, but continue high
y satisfactory Partial reports of gross
earnings in April show a total OF Y
million dollars compared with IS mill
lions IN APRIL 1915, gain Of over p
per cent.
Orders were placed during April for
9.f54 railroad cars. compared with
21.457 cars ordered in March and 5000
in April last year. Rails ordered dur
ing April totaled 955 thousand tons
compared with 1852 thousand tons in
March and s. thousand tons in April
last year Locomotives ordered in
April numbered 162 compared with 240
in March and 120 in April last year.
Both car and rail orders for April al
though better than last year, were
less than in April, 1914
Commodity Prices Halt.
After many successive months of up
ward movements. during which new
nigh points were esJa blished several
times only to be passed the following
month. commodity prices. according TO
Bradstreets Index, have at last halt
ed IN their climb, the Index on Nav ]
on April j. the highest point ever
reached. ana $3.50 on May I. 1915. This
Index has recorded successive increases /
Tor every month since last September /
while an general way It has been