The New York herald. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1920-1924, 1920-10-16
BUYER AND SELLER
ARE DEADLOCKED
All Purchases Restricted to
Barest of Immediate Bust
ness Needs.
MUCH ACTIVITY CHECKED
Reviews Say General Level of
Price Is Not Far From
Fall Of 1917.

Not since the earliest days OF the war
has there been In business generally such
n deadlock between seller and buyer as
now exists, according to weekly trade
reviews. Purchases in all lines are
practically limited to the very barest of
immediate needs. Price uncertainty and
the very warm weather Of the last week
are the chief factors in tho situation. 1t
was said. Some lines. 1t Is pointed out.
are still working at full speed on ac-
cumulated orders. but 30 far az new
buying is concerned there Is almost
nothing doing.
Summer temperatures, low prices for
farm produce and the growing unwill-
ingness Of buyers, whether at Wholesale
or retail, to operate In view Of the pre-
yailing price uncertainty says Brad
streets state OF Trade, have acted as
pretty effectual checks to activity In
many lines Indeed. something like a
deadlock has been reached IN both dis
tribution and In manufacturing industry.
In that while many lines, as, for instance,
iron and steel. coal and related trades.
are still active on old orders. new buy
ing, and to a greater extent than previ-
ously noted, manufacture, Is restricted
to the barest needs. To find O parallel
20 the present quiet It Is necessary to so
back to the period following the out
oreak of the great war.
Country buying Is rather quieter.
mail order houses are not overburdened
with business and by final distributors
1t Is felt that marked seasonal change
resulting In cold weather Is the only
possible way out of the present iethar-
gic conditions. With an increasingly
larger number of merchants, manufac-
turers and jobbers, however. there has
been a marked growth in the feeling
that prices have been marked down low
enough at wholesale to tempt buying, II
such demand really exists. and the dis
position to stand pat on present levels
and not to needlessly sacrifice values IL
evidently strengthening. This is. per-
haps, most marked among dealers IN
raw wool, the apparel trades In general
and In other lines where repeated re-
auctions have evoked anything but sat
isfactory buying. 1t Is pointed out. Tor
instancc, that cuts In many lines OF
manufacture have now approximateo
the reductions shown IN raw materials,
that production Is being restricted and
that the neral price level Is now nor
greatly different from this time IN iSn.
According to Dun's Rev{eto Elements
governing the business situation Still
rnslxa Tor restraint on operations, and
hesitation Is nearly everywhere moro
marked. Political uncertainties and the
mild autumn weather partly explain the
prevailing depression In various trades
and industries, but the Fundamental cause
Of the sharp reversal OF conditions un-
m,stakably appears In the read1ustment
Of prices from previously inflated levels.
Constant reiteration of this fact Ii COM
pelled by reports from all sections Of the
country. and the significance OF the
downward price movement, which was
at first regarded In some quarters es
being merely a passing development, v
mora fully appreciated as the extent OF
the revision In primary channels Is made
known.
mot only have the declines in textiles
and hides and leather continued I'M
broken. even after a protracted period
Of yielding. but many other commodities
have fallen abruptly and Dun's list OF
wholesale quotations has disclosed =
preponderancc OF recessions Tor twenty
three consecutive weeks. Such phases
as these have not had the effect OF
stimulating renewed activity because
r1any merchants apparently believe that
purchasing now would only serve to halt
The present trend OF prices, and there is
10 longer any insistent and unrestrained
demand from consumers to require a
heavy stocking-up OF merchandise.
THE main tendency on the contrary,
ic to liquidate supplies wherever possible.
and this feature Is not only moro notice
chile in retail circles than recently. but
may become still moro pronounced II
there is no early change In buying dis
rusit,on. with unemployment increasing
by reason OF shutdowns or partial stop
pages at manufacturing Embellishments,
there is little likelihood. II any. OF
recurrence OF a situation whore the seller
could find ready market for goods at
almost any price. and where the chief
{. fficulty was one OF satisfying all
wants That general business Is passing
through the inevitable after-war read
justment. with some unsettlement and
embarrassment accompanying the tram
sition "a daily growing moro evident"