The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1920-09-21
GREAT STRIDES
3AADE BY NATION
Survey Of United States by
Franklin K. Lane Shows Prog.
ress in Many Branches.
CONDITIONS IMPROVED
Little Unemployment or Labor Short.
, age-Farmers Are Generally
Prosperous.

Franklin X. Lane former secretary
of the Interior, today issued state
lnent making public a summary Of
what he calls "the first comprehen-
sive. carefully made and approximate
~ accurate picture of Industrial, agri-
cultural, financial and political con.
,dtions throughout the United States"
1t discovers In the foreground. he
says. that both major political parties
have overlooked the greatest Issue In
the public mind, which Is the cost Of
living. It also shows, he states. that
the country Is on a sound economic
basis. with the wave Of extravaganza
subslding, saving increasing. whole
lsalers and retailers optimistic over the
winter outlook. and growing dis
position for hard work. although the
individual productivity of labor is not
showing much evidence Of increase.
Mr.. Lanes statement summarizes
survey made through 900 field repre-
!sentatives Of the Fidelity and Deposit
icompany Of Maryland and covers every
section Of the country. Manufacture
ers. merchants, chambers Of commerce.
bankers, lawyers, business men and
farmers were questioned In the effort
TO mirror the immediate economic and
political situation and obtain con-
sensus OF representative opinion as to
the future. The replies from all To-
callties were made simultaneously by
telegraph.
In analysis Of the survey. Mr. Lane
says: "With the presidential election
hut six weeks away and the winter
rapidly approaching many thoughtful
people stand hesltating and undecided
having difficulty because of the gen.
eral lack Of knowledge Of business
conditions outside their own locality
,or interests The general tendency
has been to see what the next man
thinks, with the uncomfortable feeling
that his guess Is no better than an
other. believe, for this reason. the
picture presented In the tabulated
analysis made by the Fidelity and De-
poslt company Is Of interest 10 every
business man and voter. While It Is
not, Of course. perfect In detail and
exact In prophecy, It is as clear and
valuable conspectus Of present in
,dcations as can be gathered"
Under the heading Of industrial con-
dltlons Mr.. Lane says Economically,
the United States Is shown to he bet.
Tor Off than any other country in the
world. There Is no evidence Of idle
ness. Our people have the opportunity
TO work and are all at work.
There Is no shortage Of raw mate
rlals sufficient TO -curtall production
reported from any Of the nine geo.
graphical districts into which the coun-
try was divided for the purpose Of the
survey. Only In the district including
Minnesota. the Dakotas. Iowa, Kansas.
Nebraska and Wisconsin Is there evi.
,dence Of lack Of orders. New England
industries report number of cancel
latlons, but there. as elsewhere. manu-
facturers are well filled with calls for
their products.
Transportation conditions are i'm
proving everywhere and substantial
reduction In the freight car shortage Is
reported In every district except In
the Rocky Mountain states. In the
Southwest and In the district including
Kentucky. Tennessee. Alabama and
Mississippi. although an Improvement
Is noted In the latter district.
"A shortage Of coal and the failure
Of labor to Increase individual pro-
ductivity appear to be the only two
unfavorable aspects In the immediate
industrial situation. The Rocky Noun
tain and Pacific states report q sufi.
'clent supply OF fuel. All other sec.
tons Of the country are feeling the
shortage, but II Is apparently least
felt by the South Atlantic states.
Although labor Is costing still more
than last year, It apparently Is pro.
duclng no more. Wages have advanced
from 10 TO 90 per cent in the last
IL months and yet nowhere Is there
reported increased productivity per
man. | am not expecting that the
cost Of labor will fall off even In
the worst times to It's pre.war stage.
for ! believe that the real dlfferen.
llal between directing labor and man.
nol labor will never aran hc rs great
as II has been.
$50 far us the distribution OF Ia.
bor Is concerned. the situation ma.
llonally appears 10 he well equalIzed.
A shortage Of labor Is found only In
the Middle Atlantic and South Allan.
tic states, and this Is largely OF un.
skilled workers. In the rest OF the
country the demand and supply ap.
pear balanced. Only In some sections
OF the Middle Atlantic states is unem.
ployment reported. and this Ia In Ger.
tain of the skilled trades, chiefly the
building and shlpbuIldIng trades.
An important disclosure OF the sur.
vcy Is the seriousness Of the housing
situation. In many Of the larger In.
! dustrlal centers where the shortage
has been most acute the investigation
Of the Fidelity and Deposit company
has disclosed building operations TO
be decreasing instead OF increasing.
y "The call for buildings comes loud.
! est from the most essential places Of
manufacture rather than from the re.
tail centers, aud II Is FOR low priced
dwellings. Building construction Is
increasing In New England. but the