New-York tribune., 1920-10-25
Real f state News

portation of raw material is actually
curtailing production.
The wholesale release of skilled arti-
sans at automobile establishments in
the West has been having an indirect
effect of helping building material and
equipment mills to clear up their un-
fllcd tonnares. There is, however, a
reaction to this trend because the buy
ing market is not freely calling for m a.
.erial. If this policy is long continued,
shut-downs at manufacturing centers
may be expected until the demand
comes back,
All eyes will be centered, therefore,
upon the financial market during the
next sixty days. If the financial clo-
ture policy familiar to the building
trades during the last nine months is
continued the late deplorablc runaway
price market can be considered as being
merely in passing lull, emerging into
fall activity again as soon as demand
begins to be felt upon the low mill and
dealer supplies.
The fact tnat foreign glass manu-
facturers are making themselves felt
IN this market, that export cement de-
mand is constantly pressing upon At
lantic seaboard manufacturers, that
lumber has heard inquiries from clear
across the ocean and that metals are
so closely pressed by foreign markets
as to make it easily possible to eclipse
domestic business at the moment, all
merely emphasize the fact that .Ameri-
can manufacturers are giving American
consumers the benefit Of their present
limited outputs, even though the pre-
miums offered frequently and 'lavishly
by export purchasers greatly over
shadow present open market prices for
heir wares.
Investigation May Delay Building
Price stabilization and liquidation
Of labor wages at mill contcrs were
primarily influential in reopening the
buvers' market week ago, but the
inp construction practices is likely to
hc along the line of cancellation of
projects upon which estimates have
been received but which have not been
formally accepted.
The recourse OF building material
manufacturers in the event Of gen
eral cancellation movement emanating
from local conditions, such as, for ey-
ample, the inquisition into local build
inr conditions, instead of from general
ccrditions, will be to close down in
doInltely, ike tne lumOer MUS nave
Gone, or turn their available stocks
and supplies to the export trade. Credit
is too scant, and VIII probably con-
tinue to be so until we'll after the
turn Of the year, to warrant manufa.c-
t,,rers to pile up stocks in reserve. In
ventory time will come between now
ana the start o. the 1921 building sea-
son, and banking credits are lkley to
be unsympathetic with large stocks
without visible market.
Building material manufacturers are
at present catering to buyers market
conditions This is noticeable in cur
rent prices of brick, lumber and metals,
but signs developed last week indicat-
ing that the bottom is being reached
On price concessions in such items as
structural steel and similar finished
products. oak, maple, poplar, cypress,
North Carolina pine and common brick
Glass, under the influence Of foreign
manufacturers, has been softening on
price, but the fact that many Ameri-
can mills will be forced to close down
cn December l, when the supply of
natural gas to these establishments is
finally shut Off, indicates that glass,
also, is getting close to price bottom
in this market.