The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-08-03
FURTHER CONSOLIDATONS

| FURTHER HUNS | As is usual in such times, the short ! age of credit is most severely felt by | small corporations and dealers. and
 an unusual number of consultations and absorption by large corporations
 may be expected in industries such as l the motors, whose expansion during | the war was over rapid.
 | J. H. Tregoe, secretary of the Ma ! tional Associat ton of Credit Men, points
 out how much the credit strirgency
 would be relieved if people would open
 bank accounts and use checks instead ] of cash in buying. A western bank president estimated not long ago that out of a total currency supply of about 1 $6. 900. 900, 900 in the country, less than l half is in the banks, the remainder be- ing unnecessarily kept in pocket | books cash boxes, tills and homes, | where it earns nothing and works a needless contraction of bank reserves l and credit.
 Business failures for the week were 153, against IA last week, s5 in 1919. | 155 in 1918. 190 in 1917 and 273 in 1916. With both political parties commit 1 ted to taxation revision, the govern
 ment revenue returns for the fiscal year ended June 30 show that they will
 have plentiful opportunity. Revenues derived from income and excess profits
  of s5.410 02S4S74, or nearly 75 per cent, a figure which unquestionably repre- sents a greater loss to business than gain to government
 Tn the stock market the industrial and motor shares have been rather weak, reflecting the commercial de- pression so much talked of, but the railroad stocks continue steady, upon
 the theory that an early and substan- tial advance in rates must be allowed.
 ADVANCE IN RATES The action of the interstate com- merce commission in allowing an aver age advance of about B per cent in freight rates and 20 per cent in pas- senger rates was not known until long after the close of the market Saturday.
 It is estimated that it will increase the railway revenue by about one and half billions, which is nearly what the roads asked for, and probably more
 than they expected to get It admits tentative valuation of s1S,900, 900, 900 for railway properties, the aggregate market value of whose securities at present is less than $13000,0 900, and lit lifts the transportation industry from theatened bankruptcy to com parativce affluence. It ought to have
 and probably will have tonic effect
 upon the market for railway stocks and bonds and investment securities generally.
 The outlook for more satisfactory distribution of our ample coal supply has been improved by the order allot- ing priority to 1.250.000 tons monthly to New England. This order is un- welcome to the steel industry. where
 further shut downs appear imminent despite heavy demand.
 EFFICIENCY WORK | With the tempest that has swept out of soviet Russia. only checked by the armsti tice with Poland. and the possi- bility of an enduring peace gravely doubtful. foreign exchange has again ruled weaker. sterling closing Friday night at s3.70k, the lowest since
 intensified the weakness. and many think that a substantial recovery is unlikely as long as a goodly share of the credits which Great Britain is ac-
 cumulating here are held for the ma
 turity of the Anglo French loan in Oc-
 tober. European apparel trades re-
 port a dullness similar to our own. Otherwise the foreign news is good. though some newspapers are attempt ing to depict crisis between the United States and Japan which Is prob ably visionary and certainly very re- mote.
 Reducing the foregoing to a reading and interpretation of the barometric guage. it may be said that 1t has not fallen during the week. and that while it still indicates an area of low pres sure in the large cities and industrial centers of the east. there is proba- bility that this localized depression will shortly be overcome by the in- vigorating breezes which have their origin in the agricultural west and south, and are even now commencing to be felt in Chicago and St Louis.