The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-12-20
Scared and Angry But Not Seriously Hurt, " Says Price This Is View of Famous Economist After Trip Over Coun- try Investigating Price Declines and Their Effect.
 Turn in Tide" Is Now Not Far Off

 .k Iron. No. ?, Philadelphia .......... " Steel billets. Pittsburg ............
 sNominal.
 By THEODORE H. PRICE.
 tEditor Commerce and Financeo Copyright Theodore H. Price Publish
 ing Corporation.)
 New York, December 19.-(Special)- In the last few weeks I have visited Duluth, Minneapolis, Chicago. Detroit, Toledo, Cleveland, Cincinnati and Mid dleton. O.; St. Louis, Dallas, Houston, Waxahachie, Wichita Falls and Chilli ! cothe, Tex; Boston, Philadelphia, Bal timore and Washington In each of these cities I have spent one or more days. In all of them I have had op- portunity to talk with their best in formed bankers and merchants and l have in addition made it my business to interview every farm and wage earner who would "open up to me.
 My journey, which was punctuated and prolonged by an occasional return to New York, and my editorial duties here. was undertaken mainly as an ex- ploration into business conditions throughout the coutry with which it is difficult for one to acquaint himself vii oariously.
 Briefly. my observation is that the
  and angry over the decline in prices, but that they are not seriously hurt. SIn the cities there is some unemploy- ment This is especially true of the automobile district, which includes Tol- edo, Detroit and Cleveland, but the dis engaged labor, which was more or less itinerant has moved away and found employment elsewhere, and the retail trade in the larger cities does not indi- cate any serious decline in the purchas- ing power of the urban population. This view is borne out by the federal reserve report upon the subject, which I published last week.
 FARMERS VERY BITTER
 In the agricultural sections the farmers are very bitter. They feel that in the process of deflation they have been made to suffer more than any other class in the community. and that they have been unjustly treated. They are trying to organize for all sorts of reprisals and the Non-Partisan league is engineering what 1t terms a steam roller" drive througholut the central and Pacific states.
 It is extremely doubtful whether the farmers will be successful in their eff fort, for, except in isolated localities, such as the fruit country of California. the American farmer is an individualist and extremely reluctant to cooperate. To this reluctance his present predica- ment is largely due, for by co-opera- stion through common agency it would have been practicable for him to sell a k Koodly portion of this years crop for future delivery at the high prices cur rent last summer.
 But looking backward is futile. The facts are that a large portion of this years wheat, corn and cotton crops is 4 L rlr tod s1r rxxx- ly at unsatisfactory prices. and that the farmer will meantime buy but little. Under these circumstances a slackening in the country trade would seem to be indicated and this prognoss is borne out by the reports of the big mail order houses which deal chiefly with farmers. Their sales show decrease despite the increase reported by the city depart ment stores.
 Among merchants, wholesale and re- tail, there is philosophic though somewhat melancholy willingness to accept unavoidable losses, and though every effort to minimize them is being made stocks are being rapidly disposed of and are not being replenished.
 Manufacturers are in consequence running short time, and it is not in the least improbable that the spring of 1921 may find the country as bare of goods as 1t was at the same time in 1919 when the s'armistice scare" had led every one to stop buying and pro- ducing.
 LITTLE INTEREST IN STOCKS
 There Is but little interest in the prices of stocks and bonds in the middle west outside of Chicago, and in ts~ south the subject is rarely mentioned Speaking generally, it may be said that there is an utter absence of speculative enthusiasm throughout the country. Tho result is that the necessitous sell ing of those who require money has probably carried most securities far be- low their intrinsic value. This is par tfcularly true of railroad stocks, which have Iatter1y been depressed by a curi- ous rumor that some great railroad was to be put into the hands of receiver. There is not so far as can be discovered tho slightest basis for this report, but it is nevertheless persistently circulated throughout the middle west and is men, toned here simply to discredit it.
 As far as a traveller may judge, the freight traffic of the railroads is hold ing up remarkably well, but the pas senger traffic and especially that DOT tion of it which is carried in the Pull mans is substantially less than 1t was . year ago.
 This is, however, the inevitable con sequence of the advance Tn rates ana the present disposition to economize. If. as the old copy books used to say, .'Economy is wealth." then the coun- try is growing richer more rapidly than ever before, for there is everywhere mo- ticeable an effort to spend less and willingness to work harder. In Cleve- land, fo rexampIe, time deposits in the banks are 2H per cent above their total on September 1.
 Tn this respect the present mood of the people is the exact antithesis Of that by which they were governed IS months ago. Then extravaganza and the least service for the largest wage seemed to be the popular idea of the way to be happy. Now, through the sweet uses of diversity, frugality and industry are becoming general, and l
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