The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-10-11
TRADE GENERALLY
is FORGING AHEAD
Most Centres Report Unrest
and Inefficiency of Labor
Only Obstacles.
OLD STRIKES LOSE POWER
Wholesale Buying Less Re.
pressed and Problem Is
One of Supply

ho bioot VI thC NoultIy is forging
,head swiftly at most centres tina
weekly trade reviews indicate, and thu
,nly clouds on the commercial horizon
low appear to be the general unrest and
nefficiency OF labor. There Is far less
oppression visible in wholesale buying.
t is said. and the question with manu-.
lecturers and wholesalers is no longer
me of demand. but of supply.
Tabor unrest and inefficiency," say,
ARE apparently the only
clouds on the commercial horizon now
hat living cost agitation has waned and
prices seem to have reached an equilib-
rum. Some old strikes, as for instance
that in the steel industry, have lost
much of their power for unsettlement,
but those of the longshoremen at New
York and San Francisco have aimed A
new blow at the country's export trade,
while printers and pressmen continue.
apparently determined to tie up that in
1ustry at the country's largest city TO
the benefit of other centres where union
control Is sufficient to insure the carry
ing out Of agreements.
still the country's trade despite OBJ
stacles and uncertainties as to add.
tional ultimate costs forced by unrea.
sonable labor demands seems to forge
ahead slowly at a few cities but so
swiftly at most other centres that the
general turnover compares fairly well
with the exceptional activity of mid
summer and In most cases shows gains
over a year ago in volume OF value or
both. Less repression is visible in
buying in primary lines, and
cooler weather, the advance OF the sea-
son and the combination of hatterlngly
high prices for most agricultural com
with the apparently inexhaust.
lble buying power of workers in indus.
TRIAL centres, make for continued ac-
tiVity in jobbing trade and retail dis
tribution.
Question Is of supply.
with wholesalers and manufacturer,
the question in most lines is not one OF
demand, but OF supply, with the one dis
turbing element the question Of how far
ahead orders can be taken with safety,
current and possible conditions of pro-
duction and delivery considered. In re-
tail trade. demand continues widespread.
with wearing apparel leading, but
luxuries, automobiles. jewelry and house
furnishings in constant demand and the
only complaint-one which runs prac-
tcally from the retailers back to the
mill-that deliveries of goods, whether
finished products or raw materials, are
inadequate.
"In primary lines 1t is noted that,
while producers are slow to book addi-
tional orders, big volume of possible
business in iron and steel is piling up.
Deliveries are slow. but consumers are
said to be withstanding complaints hop.
ing for the end of the strike, which is
slowly but steadily disintegrating. Pig
iron sales for next year are good and
the railroads want 100, 900. tons In 1920.
mills are so per cent of ca
pacity and western mills are gaining
Lumber tends to quiet little as the open
season for building narrows, but a better
supply of cars would help that trade
and coal. which in the last week of Sep
TENDER showed the largest production Of
the year. The leather trades are healthy
and shoe manufacturing is active on
home and export account"
Trade. Remn rkably Active.
Dun'S Revie,1 says: Action toward
the restoration of more stable indus
trial conditions through the effects OF
interests in conference at Washington
has come at a time when business Is
more than ever Handicapped by labor
unrest that extends to many parts OF
the country and embraces varied
branches OF enterprise. While the steel
strike. in it's third week, seems to be
abating some other disputes have been
of more prolonged duration and fresh
have arisen, and their de-
terrent influence ON domestic and for
eign commerce is becoming more clearly
The result is not alone seen
in the idleness of many thousands o.
men intimately involved in the troubles
but also appears in the interruption or
of work in lines indirectly az
fected, and the accompanying diminution
of purchasing power is retarding retah
trade in some quarters. Yet business
in spite of the impedments that promp'
hesitation and caution, remains remark
ably active in most sections, and there
is much of the spirit of confidence mani
fest.
Even with the general price level
as measured by Dun's Inde1 Numbe',
comparatively little below the extreme
high point of the summer consumptlo
buying continues of noteworthy proper
tons in some cases surprising all pre-
cedents, and the chief complaint In DIS
tributing channels is still of inability |"
meet fully current requirements win
manufacturing operations restricted nl
strikes or other drawbacks, conditions
again strongly favor sellers in not
few instances. and some commodities
that were recently tending downward.
IS cotton goods. have recovered ana
rive indication of renewed yieloInE
While 1t is conceivable that decisive
reaction from the present extraordinary
price basis would follow a steady aug
mentation OF outputs, production IN some
important industries has lately under
gone further contraction, and the as
proportion between demand and supply
is increasingly conspicuous"