The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-01-10
Business Barometer ShoWs Early Return To Normalcy
 MayBe Expected in America

dication signifies that trade durlhS De- cember was at least equal. to last year and in many instances greater, ana the opening of the New Year has seen fully the expected number of cut-price and clearance sales which are drawing to the stores many buyers of staple ar ticles who postponed their purchases all fall in anticipation of price reductions
 IDLE HAVE MONEY
 In view of the widely circulated re- ports of unemployment, including the estimate of a labor magazine that 2.325, 900 workers are without jobs, these trade figures are amazing. To account for them it must be realized that little distress has so far accompanied forced idleness. and that workers apparently have shown more wisdom than they have received credit for by saving part of their high wages for rainy day. Tn New York city, for instance, where only 5000 or 5000 clothing workers ehave employment, no call for charitable re- lief is reported. The municipal lodging houses are no more crowded than they were a year ago. and no improvement is reported in the pawnbrokers buS1- ness, which has been stagnant since the days of the war boom Meanwhile every train entering the city brings it's quota of buyers feeling the return of optim- ism, and 1t must not be overlooked that | the building needs of the country. estl- mated by the United States chamber of 1 commerce to include 1.250,000 houses, tare alone sufficient to occupy much Of 1 the surplus labor and to cause sub 1, stantial business revival.
 [ Investigation in Europe seems to lay i the ghost of the impending Immigrant l invasion" showing that the total emi 1 grafton expected has been grossly over 1 estimated here. An important decision 1 by the supreme court last week de- i clared illegal the secondary" boycott
 or the agreement not to patronize any | patron of the person boycotted This decision has been widely heralded as an 1 attack on union labor. but labor union ! ism rests on no such foundation, and 1 the court has acted with commendablf regard for public policy in delegalizine l such a weapon of class war
 CLEARINGS DECREASE
 { Bank clearings for the week as re- ported to Bradstreet's show a decrease 1 of II per cent from the corresponding
 week last year. Failures totaled 422
 against 4T0 the previous week and 129 ! 119 and 324 in previous years. Dun: 1 report of failures in 1920 shows thu l largest liabilities since 1915, though tho number reported is. with the exception l of 1919 the smallest in the history 0 the compilation. More failures were re | corded in December than in any montl since January. 1917, and the total O liabilities made new high record fo all time. These figures are, of course
 retrospective and not prospective, ant
 the turn for the better makes it unlike ly that any more new records will b.
 hung up.
 There are other happenings of bus 1 ness interest and importance during tn week which should be recorded. Secre tary Houston announced a reduction il the national debt during December 0 approximately $200.000,800 The Ney ! York federal reserve bank reporte' earnings of 210 per cent during tn year. following 127 per cent in 1919, an the Chicago bank earned 1SS per cent ] Most of these earnings revert to tn
 government, but their magnitude quit properly has raised the questio whether the banks were created a agencies of taxation or to serve tn public The excess of our exports owe imports for 1920 is placed at $2723, 00o. GOO. But little of this huge balance ha
 been paid, and it is the heaviest burdel our private credit. facilities have t bear
 i Abroad the strength of the Londol stock market is notable, but smal British bank has suspended, the Paris
 Mexico bank of Mexico City has close it's doors and Cuba and Paraguay hay both extended their. moratoriums.
 These items indicate that countrie not so fundamentally prosperous as tn United States. and in which deflatio was slower getting under way. ar ] slower in recovering. They have ha very little effect on business here, an in so far as our domestic trade is con cerned, the indications seem to favo an early return to normalcy.