The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1916-09-28
FALL TRADE IS IN
FULL SWING NOW
BRADSTREET'S REPORT is VERY
OPTOMISTIC INDICATING BEST
TRADE IN YEARS
WEEKLY CLEARNGS BREAK ALL RECORDS
Scarcity Of Labor Holds Down Manu-.
featuring Output-Farmers In
the Swing

Propelled by extraordinary puying
power and unaffected by high prices,
trade has risen to very high levels, A
veritable ground-swell of new buying
having been experienced at leading
centers this week. Jobbers, wholesale
dealers, retailers and manufacturers
all share in the upward movement, and
interior merchants, I've in zones
where the wheat and cotton crops are
short, are buying freely, lest there be
not enough goods to go around later
on. Some cities report record sales by
retail dealers, cooler weather, the end
ing of vacations and the opening of
schools elsewhere than at the east hay
ing stimulated demand. Visiting buy
ers throng the larger cities and they,
with fall festivals, have impaired eX-
ceptional animation to jobbing as well
goods and collateral lines. Inability to
get merchandise is still a source of
complaint.
Manufacturers in leading industries
are handicapped by lack of efficient
labor, and though shipments are heavy,
order books remain %clogged, with
slight prospects for noteworthy gains
in deliveries being made, Labor is in
very scant supply, and if more workers
were available, machinery now idle
could be put in operation to work up
orders that must otherwise be held. In
that excellent barometer of conditions,
the steel trade, higher prices rule, de
liveries are falling farther behind, do
mcstic consumers fully recognize the
futility of waiting for lower quotations,
and the situation seems to have arriV-
ed at the point where Europe stands
ready to step in with well-nigh unlimit-
ed orders if assurances can be made
that the steel will be forthcoming as
needed. A leading trunk line, appar-
emily mindful of the large foreign de-
mand that is developing, has just plac-
ed an order for $50 locomotives, de-
livery to be made in the final quarter
of 1917.
Commodity prices are sustained at
high levels, and for a few consicuoLs
a v n, p1ac IL n hn ritnI fhot nnrL ig
at the highest point touched since 1871,
that lard is higher than since 1875,
with hogs dearer than at any time
since 1867. Collections are good,
money is easy-eXtraordinarily so
when crop movements are under way
bank deposits show heavy increases,
and wages keep on rising. Bank clear
ings are of record proportions, the last
previous high point, that for the week
ending October 81, 1915, having been
surpassed to the extent of 6 per cent.
Grain markets up to Friday showed
about the quietest trading and the
smallest fluctuations in months, pecu-
lation seeming to have left grain and
gone into securities. Bearish foreign
estimates Of world surplus and large
visible stocks held prices down, but
export demand seemed to develop on
all breaks. Following a break of 2
cents early on contradictory war and
embargo reports, export buying stiffen-
ed values, and most of the decline was
regained. On Friday, however, a sharp
rise a cents) occurred, with a recur-
renee Of activity, On reports Of drought
in Argentina and of mills in the north
shows the effect of frost damage talk
is 1@1k cents up on the week, while
oats are up l cen in sympathy with
corn.
The Crops
Heavy to killing frosts put a period
TO the growth of much orr in the cen
trail west, but the forward condition of
the plant renders it unlikely that there
will be as much soft corr as last year.
Flowing and seeding of winter wheat
is general in the west, and ar increas-
ed area is expected in the southwest.
Crop reports indicate a very general
shortage in the cotton crop, but higher
prices for lint and seed are said to Off
set the bad effects of the crop short
age. The weather Is favorable for
picking and ginning. and marketing is
Cotton seed is bringing fancy
Railway Earnings
Railway earnings for July are not.