The New York herald. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1920-1924, 1920-10-23
MORE CURTAILING |
MARKS BUSINESS
Further Retrenching and In.
activity Are Common All
Over Country. :.
HEAT HOLDS BACK TRADE
Price Uncertainty Continues
to Be Important Factor
in Situation. I

Business and industry throughout thu
nation during the last week have been
marked by dulness and further curtaiI-
ment. according to weekly trade reviews
The warm weather, the warmest Of this
season in many years, Is reason for
the continued slump. but price uncer-
tainty still continues q very important
factor In the situation.
."Dulness in trade and further curtail-
ment I'll industry" says Brddssreets,
arc the outstanding features of the
week. which has seen the warmest spell
of weather at this season In many years
continued uncertainty and easing in
prices. marked weakness in all foreign
exchange rates and a slight accentua-
ton of bearishness In the stock markets,
which have been affected by the latter
cause and by the start of a serious labor
struggle---the coal miners strike-n
Great Britain.
1.-THE reverse side to the above rather
bearlsh collection of advices is had in
the feeling that prices in great many
wholesale lines are now down to a point
where some buying is. possible Ga sur
prisingly large number of commodities.
foods. raw materials and manufactured
goods are off so per cent or more). In
the fact that some varieties of cottonS
that have been unsparingly cut havo
shown a renewal of buying interest that
the securities markets have shown n
tendency to dull and contract rather
than liquidate further. and that while
the outbreak of labor troubles in Britain
makes for a bearish outlook in some
lines Of export trade, one immediate ef-
feet probably will be that this country
will be the recipient of big orders for
coal from Europe and other countries.
Back Of this. too. is the feeling that
past and present repressed buying means
the gathering up of q large potential
buying demand, which will be released
when weather and other conditions re-
sumo their normal sway"
Duar's Reuieto says: widening Of the
scope of the economic readjustment,
which began some time ago, Is UNI
mistakably reflected In reports from
practically every industry and trade of
Importance, and in the different statisti-
cal barometers that indicate the trend OF
conditions. After a period of unprece-
dented expansion and initiation. due to
unnatural stimulus, business is now ex-
periencing the inevitable reaction. with
varying degrees of unsettement and
embarrassment accompanying the tran
sition.
From the abnormally low levels OF
last year, failures have risen abruptly
in both number and magnitude, showing
that many of the weak spots are coming
TO the SURFACE, ana liquidation Is stllk
being forced In not a few instances by
the sharply curtailed consumptive buy
ing and restrictions on bank accommo-
dalton. Scepticism as to the genuineness
Of the downward price movement has
been dispelled by the progressive and
rapid yielding Of many markets. and
evidence accumulates that the declines
are extending to the retail counters.
where clearance sales remain a con-
spicuous feature.
Public resistance to high prices.
which has become an increasingly IA
miliar phase is many quarters. has
made for accommodations of goods In dis
tributing channels. while the spread OF
idleness at manufacturing establish
ments has tended to automatically lower
the general purchasing power and to
cause a reversal of the attitude of some
classes of labor"