Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1920-04-01
PERIOD OF RECKLESS BUYING NEAR END, SAYS BANK REPORT Hesitation, if Not Actual Re- cessiOn of Prices
 Noted PRESENT STOCKS TO
 BE ABSORBED FIRST In Clothing Trade Marked Tendency to Make Old Ones Do is Noted,
 Says Federal
 Reserve

1 Reserve
 i Washington, Mar, 31.-Natior wide reports from Federal Reserve Bank officials made public tonight disclose their opinion that the pos war era of "extravagance and reck less buying" by the people is near ing it's end.
 i "A hesitation, if not an actual re cession" of prices is noted and the 1 federal reserve boards statement summarizes it's advances as indicat ing general more hopeful view o1 the country's business condition than for several months.
 While the prices changes were vshown by the board not to be uni. versal, they were nevertheless re- garded as positive and of importance as basis for reckoning what the immediate future holds.
 Relief from the high prices fo1 the consumer will not be completely obtained until present stocks are ab- sorbed in practically all lines. ac- cording to the boards view. Manu- facturers everywhere, however, were shown to hold the view that the peak of high prices has been reach ed and to expect a gradual recession.
 In the clothing trade, particularly the board said there was marked tendency of the public to make old supplies last longer and to refuse to pay exorbitant prices. This phase can mean onl ythat an awakening has come. the statement said, and that many people have arrived at the conclusion that they are themselves responsible for a continuing high range of prices.
 Wholesalers in the dry goods trade to some extent. have taken com mendator, and are discouraging their customers from placing heavy fall orders. That has proved to slacken and create feeling that lower prices, will follow.
 The reports do not give encourage ment concerning price reduction in shoes. There was, however, a wide divergence of opinion as to what shoes and leather prices will do. ..
 Eastern seabord cities reported a "piling up of commodities" on this side of the Atlantic. The exchange situation was beginning to reflect itself on the export market as well as through general reduction by Europeains in their foreign buying. it was noted.
 Business and financial develop ments during March also were mark ed by confusion and lack of unifor mitv of opinion. reports from the several reserve districts showed.
 Outlook Good
 Summed up, it was:
 "The outlook for the spring sea- son, both industrially and agricul- turally, is excellent But modify ing factors in the situation are in- adequacy of labor supply and short age of various kinds of building materials. as we'll as borrowing fa- cilities of banks"
 Officials said that the full mean ing of the changed attitude of the public probably would show defi- mite results so slowly as to be al- most imperceptible They explain ed that it was Ca step in the right direction" and that it's value was in- creased because there had been no appreciable letting down in the vol ume of legitimate business.
 There was. however, another req son advanced:
 Capital is slow to engage in new building ventures because of the "unfavorable conditions of taxa tion." This, of course, applies to general construction work as well as to housing in the limited sense, the statement said.
 "Production conditions the coun- try over," it continued, "give every reason for encouragement with reference to actual industrial and agricultural potentialities. The crop outlook so far as can be judged at this season. is hopeful. There is a substantial degree of harmony between capital and labor as indi- cated by small unemp1ovment.
 "The difficulties in sight are due to conditions of relative under prod uction of production resulting from lessened activity of both capital and labor. problems arising out of heavy taxation and measures resulting from the one siding Working of the tax laws, while, financially speaking, caution and conservatism are called for and the efforts to restrict the volume of credit have been only partially successful. As result, high interest rates and relative scarcity of funds will continue to prevail during the period in which the country is endeavoring to extend it's productive capacity and to over come the relative loss of progress resulting from war limitations upon 4