The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1918-09-28
Big CROP AND WAGE
RISES BOOM TRADE
Farmers Buying Literally and
Christmas Shopping Is
Under Way.
REVIEWS OF BUSINESS
Further Curtailment Of Non.
essential Industries Offset
by Gains in War Work.

Expansion OF Government work at
the expense of non-essential enterprise.
n more conservative disposition as to
buying in certain lines and prepara-
tons for the opening of the fourth Lib
erty Loan drive have featured the week
IN trade, according to the weekly bust.
ness publications. But notwithstand-
Ing all reservations the flow of business
10 considerably stronger than the ebb,
war work Of course predominating
Bradstrcets will say to-day
"Non-essential lines reflect further
curtailment, and while buying of holi-
day gifts has started the tendency is to
eschew luxuries, though here and there
new found wealth has brought about
some sQuandering. Limited supplies of
staple goods superinduce rather marked
anxiety to fill out stocks, particularly
Of textiles in which line recorder trade
Is Of rather large volume. This manifesto
ton Is strikingly apparent In the South
west, South. West and Northwest also in
the distinctive war manufacturing GEN.
tres, In which section buoyancy has been
impaired by high prices for products
Of the soil and by record wages. In.
deed farmers are buying literally. mer-
chants In some agricultural regions
exhibiting holiday goods far In advance
Of the customary period. and practi-
cally every Western farming commu-
nifty boasts of the large supplies of
money In circulation. High prices for
cotton and other crops have benefited
the South. but the prospect of quota
tons being adjusted by the Govern
ment causes more or less concern. Some
sections that cater almost exclusively
to cotton planters intimate that the I'M
certainty thus engendered may have
some effect upon subscription to the
fourth Liberty Loan"
r. G. Dun & Co. will say:
The final quarter of an epochal year
nears Its beginning with the launching
Of the great Liberty Loan campaign and
with the nation united in the effort to
carry the war to a successful conclu-
sion. To the accomplishment. Of that
purpose tho countrys vast economic re-
sources are being more forcibly directed,
and the necessary readjustments in gen.
eral business are proceeding\ steadily
and without undue disturbance.
mot the least significant Of the varied
and important changes impelled by the
present emergency has been the constant
lessening Of outputs for civilian uses and
the more complete concentration of in
dustrial forces, with extension OF facili-
ties wherever practicable. on work Of
the most vital character. The effect OF
the restrictions Of ordinary manufac-
turing has already appeared in appre-
ciabiy depleted supplies Of goods in
many channels.' and inability to fill re-
cuirements, more than any other single
factor. tends to limit transactions. 1t is
clearly manifest, however. that con-
sumptive purchasing Is more conserva-
tive, in some sections more noticea BILE
than in others, but in all plainly distin-
guishable, and the burden OF high living
costs, as yet unrelieved in, any essential
PARTICULAR. largely explains the dimn-
ished buying.
Recognition of the need for eco
nomy and OF making provision against
Liberty Loan subscriptions Is also an
influence In curtailing personal expendi-
lures, and Withdrawals of men from
civil occupations have affected retail dis
tribution in no small measure"