The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-05-09
Trade Indicators Continue
 ToShowRemouaLofSpectres
 That Brighten Business Men
Elimination of Word Liquidation From Business Vo cabuary Is Now Due-Steel Corporation Wage Cut Will Lead to Other Industries That
 Have Lage:ed Behind

credits for bank reserves are not made to be hoarded, and it is to be hoped that our improved position will soon bring about better support of the foreign trade financing corporation, still dormant for lack of subscriptions, and of other plans to facilitate the disposal of our surplus
 goods badly needed abroad.
 INTEREST RATES EASIER
 Interest rates of the chief foreign banks are also easier. Cuts were an- nounced in Copenhagen and Stockholm last week, and since the first of the year there have been reductions in five countries, but it is to be feared that the slackening follows a decline in the de- mand for credit, due to deflated business. rather than excess of supply. The Bank of England's reserve ratio still hovers around 12 per cent, an abnormally low figure
 The stock market, responding to the fa- vorable developments noted. and to the spread of the belief that steady recovery is ahead, is buoyant, reflectfng as it al- ways does the activities of the far sighted who are accommodating securities for the higher prices to which every in- dication is pointing. Many stocks have made new highs for the year and deal ings in bonds in the last fortnight have been on a heavy scale. The foreign ex- changes are strong. Francs and lire reached new highs for the year and sterling is so steady around $3971a that it is quoted in sixteenths. The improve ment in French and English exchange seems Justified by their better balanced trade position, but their continued strength in the face of the unsettlement l.of the reparations question is notable and the assumption is that well-informed dealers look for a resolution of the im- passe by the time the allied ultinatum expires May F.
 At home the various trade indces show that business is good and promises to be- come better. I was told recently Of an ignorant colored man who on seeing rail- road tracks for the first time exclaimed that no train could run on them because they came together a little way ahead. But as he walked along them he found that they opened up on his approach. Similarly facts and figures show that trade has opened up to men who few months ago, thought they saw fit closed little way ahead. Business failures dur ing April, while showing an increase over March in number. were 42S per cent less in liabilities, according to R. G. Dun x Co Bank clearings show a decline of only 19.6 per cent from last year, and Sears Roebuck's sales 24.T per cent, both indicating an increase in volume at low CT prices. Montgomery Wards sales are reported to have shown indications of
 betterment during the past few weeks and the plight of the farmers has been relieved somewhat by a sharp upturn in grain prices, Iuly wheat climbing last Friday to IS cents above It's recent low, while May, at approximately $L50, was 30 cents up Cotton has advanced slight | ly and the tone of the market is the i strongest in weeks. Demand both for goods and spot cotton for export shows l improvement.
 ORDERS COMING IN
 1 Although pig iron production during | April was the lowest since 1908. more or ders for iron and steel are now coming in. sentiment is undeniably better and lit is probable that the month marked the bottom of inactivity. Textile demand Ills broader and mill operations are in- creasing. Price cuts are helping the tire trade and expansion of automobile man
 ufacturing is continuing steadily. The hide markets have undergone a decided
 change and prices have advanced from lc 10 10c pound. Petroleum is an ex- ception, economy in the use Of gasoline
 being reflected in price declines both in refined and crude oil.
 | Wholesale purchases during the week. according to the credit clearing house, were only 63 per cent less than last yea l in money. Retail sales during March. as compiled by the federal reserve board
 showed an average decline of only 3.4 per cent in money. which reveals an aston ishing increase in volume because only
 those retailers who have cut prices to re placement costs have maintained their
 business at such a high comparative | level
 Criticism of the failure of retailers 10 ] reduce their prices still persists. The latest statement of the federal reserve
 board characterizes 1t as the chief "sticlx- Ing point" to reconstruction. Many rs-