The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-09-06

our population who like to wear furs
 and prefer to buy them cheap. Its ex-
 istence is admitted in the announce
 ment that the usual fur auctions are
 pontponed until after the 1st of Janu-
 ary and the department stores are
 meantime advertising bargain sales of
 furS in August.
 The shortage of husoing, which be-
 comes more acutely apparent with the
 approach of autumn, is another shadow
 In the picture. That it is largely and
 directly due to- the income supertaXes which are leading capital to seek tax ex-
 empt investments rather thaI real es-
 tate mortgages is made plain by some figures gathered by John s. Parrish sec retary of the advisory council of the real estate interests of New York City. The figures show that in the borough of Man hattan alone SS3 O00,0 000 was withdrawn from investment in real estate mortgages during the six months ending June 70, 1920. This statement is the more omi- nous when considered in connection with a census report issued during the week which indicates that one fifth of our population now resides in cities having more than 100000 inhabitants. The city, ward tendency of our American popua-' tion is indeed a. cause of grave concern to those who are at all forward looking. Studies of the census figures thus far published indicate a total increase of about 13 per cent in our population dur ing the last decade, but towns and cities having more than 2,500 inhabitants show growth of 26 per cent and probably contain more than half the people in the country, from which it is to be inferred that the rural population has not in creased at all and is now less than 30 per cent of the whole. Some way to reverse this tendency must be found, and perhaps the shortage of housing is blessing in disguise, for it may be that it will drive people to return to the country.
 The sombre areas that are to be dis cerned in the picture do not, however, seriously darken the canvas which is generally cheerful in tone. It IS said that the book of nature is most lnter- esting when spring opens and nature turns the leaves, and the same thing will probably be true of the business record of the next six months. There IS some labor trouble in both the bitu- minous coal fields of the west and the anthracite mines of the east but labor troubles in the coal regions seem to be normal and people refuse to get excited over them now that sufflclency or fuel for the winter seems assured.
 LESS RAILROAD COMPLAINT
 The railroads. are functioning r ore ef- and there is less complaint of freight congestion. The advance Tn pas senger rates does not seem to have had any effect upon the traffic thus far, but the travel is chiefly of the home coming variety and it may be that the winter will be one of home-siaylng and work. If that shall be the case, so much the better
 More activity in the shoe market is re- ported. The metal industries are all well employed. Steel is in good demand and copper is firm" The price of silver has been fluctuating in a confusing way. No one seems to understand it, nor IS much importance attached to it in thts Some claim that it has a mys- terious relation to the price of rice in the Orient, which advanced sharply last week.
 The twelve federal reserve banks earned 151 per cent on their capital for the first six months of 1920, and while after a surplus of 100 per cent has been 90 per cent of all the earn- ngs in excess of per cent on the capi- tai accrue to the government, there is wide complaint that an organization which was intended to reduce the cost of credit should be converted into an agency of taxation.
 The report of the comptroller of the currency as of June 20 shows an in crease of s2S0,S7s 900 in national bank de-