St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1916-03-15
VERMONT TRADE REPORT
Bradstreet's Finds A Large Volume of
Manufacturing In the State.

oEduSbEOGLS II nQS n Large NOAuAAAG Oh
Manufacturing In the State.
Bradstreet's Burlington Office re-
ports the manufacturing centers in
the state are handling a larger volume
of business than was reported year
ago. and that retail trade. in those
cities and towns feels the stimulating
effect of labor fully employed. Among
the country towns, the usual quiet
period is experienced. Merchants
stocks, however, are in good shape.
There has been a noticeable active de-
mand for articles affected by war con-
ditions where advanced prices have
obtained. Among the paper mills in
the state the demand is heavy. New
customers are placing orders for goods
but among some of the mills aside
from taking care of their regular
trade, difficulty is experienced in try
ing to increase production.
Several extraordinary factors still
cause inconvenience in obtaining raw
material. These have previously been
touched upon, such as inability to OBJ
tain raw material by reason of freight
service and short stocks. Prices on
raw material continue to advance with
corresponding advance in manu-
featured product. The prices in this
line are not out of proportion to other
articles as is noted by the new high
level highest on record, of commod-
| ity prices as will be noted in index
number as reported by Bradstreet's
Journal for March 1. The high
prices of raw material used by paper
mills is decidedly a handicap in pro-
ducing all that the demand calls for al
this time. Conservative paper mill
men are of the opinion that the present
demand will ontinue for some time
and that there cannot be expected
much if any relief in the near future
/ Manufacturers of tissue grades and
waxed paper report an improvement
in their lines over what was exper-
fenced six weeks ago.
| Advices from the slate belt indicate
| a good demand for manufactured
slate, although roofing trade is not as
brisk as could be desired. In this con-
nection. a glance at the returns from
142 cities in the United States, which
returns indicate the amount of build
ing permitted for February, this veal
gave a gain of 81 per cent over thai
for the same month of a year ago, but
a little below the volume done during
the first month of the present year.
Leather manufacturers report the
/
| mand making this possible. There
has been little better demand fol
general saddlery hardware during the
past two months, both at wholesale
and retail, but there is still room fol
! Improvement in order to bring this
class of trade up to normal among
| domestic dealers. Complaint is re
ceived from the larger producers OF
honey, indicating a smaller demand
for the high grade domestic product
The reason for a falling off in this line
is attributed to war conditions caus
| ing a closing of some European points
which have under normal times taker
a greater part of Cuban and Jamaica
honey which is reported as low
priced article. the result being tina
this has been placed in the marke
against domestic grades.
Jobbers and wholesale dealers re
port collections generally in the stat'
TO have improved little. The heav!
snow of the past week is looked upo1
as beneficial for several reasons. TIT
month so far has been free from mer
camille failures.