The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-09-27

off-take will be enormous just as soon as good shoes are offered at a decline proportionate to that at which other staple commodities can now be bought The low grade cotton is a more seri- cus problem, and doubt whether it can be marketed in quantity until some method of selling it to Europe on credit or by barter is devised.
 With these reservations the financial | skies in the southwest are cloudless, and in marked contrast with the murki-
 ness prevailing in the east where the
 action of Henry Ford and, the Frank | lin Company in reducing the price of
 automobiles, the announcement that
 the Amoskeag Mills had reduced prices
 of cotton goods by 33 per cent the news
 that the two great western mail order
 houses had cut their catalogue prices by from 10 to 20 per cent. and that va rious hotels and restaurants throughout 1 the country were abating their charges,
 have baen hailed as harbingers of de-
 pression and poverty and utilized to de-
 press the quotations for industrial
 stocks in Wall street.
 l Ever since the cost of living com
 menced to advance, people have been praying for return to pre-war prices. The government has been adjured to ]
 has been preached from the housetops.
 Now that what was sought has been
 realized and prices are declining, there ! IS no reason for concern provided the l decline Is general and gradual and the ] complacency with which it is accepted
 in he west is more rational than the gloomy pessimism with which some pro- 1 fess to regard it in the east, where the opportunity to make money by specu- 1>t ttxrA -A~ -A ] planation of the bearish propaganda now current in this part of'the country. With price declines so precfpitant, la Dor costs eventually must decrease also i for the efforts to combat economic law will avail little while they are directed at manufacturers whose disposition is to cease operations rather than increase
 the cost of production. The latest re- ports from state employment bureaus seem to indicate that wages have | reached their higbset point and hence
 forth will settle slowly. Massachusetts reports a distinctly downward ten dency, and in the Maryland tomato can
 ming Industry at the height of the sea 1 son the workers acceded to a reduc- tion in their hourly pay. Immigration has reached such a volume that 1t is almost comparable to the Tartar inva- sion. and congestion at Ellis Island has caused such tempestuous scenes that no more immigrants will be permitted 1 to land from the steamers until 1t is cleared up.
 It Is unlikely, however, that labor costs will decline as rapidly as prices. A reduction in profits and some losses are in consequence to be expected, and the deficits must be offset by a larger turnover on smaller margins. That this is being achieved is indicated by bank clearings as reported to Bradstreet's which are 27 per cent greater than last year in the country as a whole, and 15.5 per cent outside of New York Purchases reported by the credit clear ing house also show small increase over 1919.
 Retailers in many trades are showing more willingness to content themselves with a smaller mark-up It is said with some justice that they hold the key to the whole situation and predictions are being made of another era of special sales to keep up the volume of mer- chandising.
 CREDIT SHORTAGE
 The hand -to-mouth buying so charac- teristic of present markets is in part ascribable to caution and lack of con- fdence, which is likely to be boomer ang to buyers because continued con- servatism will demoralize manufactur- ing industries and prolong the delay in replacing needed stocks of goods. The inain cause, however, for this kind of buying is the credit shortage. Only the most foolhardy would prophecy when this will be relieved, but the barome- tric indications which are accumulat- ing are generally favorable. The in- flow of gold from France continues. The somewhat easier condition which has recently been noted in the time money market still prevails, and what new bond and note offerings have been made were quickly absorbed. The stsadiness of the bond market reflects the hope of easier money, and In so far az railroad bonds are concerned 1t con notes also the growing conviction that better days are ahead for the transpor- t4ticn industry. Industrial stocks have moved irregularly and generally to- ward lower prices. the decline being pnost marked in the shares of the auto 1 mobile and leather companies concern ing whose hLriness there have 1,en |, rome rather discouraging reports in cir- culation.
 Railroad securities are, however generally firmer and higher. IT. the | cas- If some properties the advalee re- l i:octs not only the, higher rates and i earni: g. that the roads are now enIoy- | ing, but the strategic value that cer- 1 tain lines are expected to develop in | the remaking of the railroad map that | is enjoined upon the interstate com merce commission by the Esch Cum i mns bill. |,
 The weather has continued favora ble | to the. crops, notably in corn, whose | large yield will offset declining prices | Wheat prices are well maintained on | large export demand. and Herbert Hoover states that 30 per cent of Eu- ropes poulation are still on bread ra- tions. More optimism. based upon the l expectation of an increased demand at | lower prices is apparent in the wool l trade. Sales of cotton goods reported | from Boston and Fall River are larger ] than they have been for two month II and in few lines price recoveries a. c | reported.
 The National Coal Association de- | clares in review of the fuel situation | that it will work out without priva.ion | to any one. and the shortage in New | England has been so we'll made up that l priority orders have been revoked