Norwich bulletin., 1921-10-29

of building has not changed appreeia- bly during the past few months although it has had a downward tendency.
 Unemployment is undoubtedly lower in l this district now than for several months. The mayors of many New England cities have made provisions for expanding mu- nicipal work and appointed committees | to aid the unemployed in finding jobs. | One of the largest woolen mills is to un-1 dertake an expansion of factory space, | partly with the view of supplying work. l That is in line with the recently an nounced intention of the United States | Steel Corporation and Standard Oil l Company of New Jersey, of anticipating | future plant requirements. There is not as much talk of extreme distress during the coming winter as there was two or three months ago Usually manufactur- ing is more active in winter than in the summer and consequently takes on em- ployes at the time when out-of-door industries such as building and farm work are becossling quiet and laying off help. The two conditions usually bal ance fairly well If manufacturing shows more than the normal seasonal improve ment this coming winter, then the total amount of unemployment should decrease. l Retail trade was not particularly good 1 during September. The comparatively warm tenperatlFe, especially during the early part of the month, made it diff cult for dealers to interest consumers in fall merchandising. October was cooler 1 and brought a turn for the better, sales l improving. Stores are not carrying heavy ! stocks of merchandise as rule all | though they are increasing them now in anticipation of the late fall and holi- day business. Retail prices have shown 1 little if any change during the past few
 months. Cotton goods have been marked up somewhat as result of the extended rise in the price of raw cotton, but mer- chants hesitate to make general increas- 1 es because the consumer is critical and | is not interested in higher priced goods. He wants quality-at a price.
 Credit conditions continue to be sat 1 isfactory in this district. Money rates are declining slowly. This is particu- l larly encouraging when it is consid- cred that they usually increase at this time of year when so much money is needed to market the crops. The demand
 for credit to be used within the district l has increased coincident with the inn provement in the general business situa- tion. In the west, on the contrary, the demand tor credit to be used for crop
 moving purposes has lately subsided
 considerably, refecting the progress of
 
 try. An encouraging feature of local in
 terest is the fact that the country banks are continually increasing their pur- chases of commercial paper. Investment
 funds are accumuiating again.
 Many of the same evidences of i'm
 proved industrial conditions that are
 found in New England are seen through
 out the country. The iron and steel in
 dustry is increasing production. until now it is operating at about 40 per cent.
 of capacity as compared with 20 per r cent. in July. The output of soft coal
 has been growing since the middle of
 August, partly because of the approach
 of winter but also as a result of in
 creased manufacturing activity. The
 number of weekly freight car-loadings- an index of industrial conditions-makes a new high record for this year nearly
 every week. Here again the season of
 the year accounts for some but not all of the improvement.
 1 Commodity prices have had an upward trend> since the first of summer, accord , ing to several of the standard price in- dices. The rise of the average commo- dity has been moderate but several, such as cotton, calf skins, and oil, have made large gains compared with their low prices. Wheat and corn, on the other hand. recently fell to the lowest pric-
 es reached this season.
 Probably the largest source of new , wealth in this country is the annual yield of the crops, The gathering of these is l nearly finished by now. With the ex. , ception of the cotton crop, which is extremely small the other important crops promise good yields. In fact the T crops the world over are generally the average size or nearly so. The 1927 world wheat crop will be larger thar | last year and equal to the five year av craze in the period of 1914-191S. Th' | corn crop this year will equal that o . 1920 and will be about 15 per cent. larg CT than the 1909-191S average.
 Taken all in all. business is better nov than it was during the summer. fev industries are slowing down as winte . approaches building operations. agri n culture, and automobile production, fo a example. But, eliminating the gains du
 merely to the seasonal influences Cad
 mittedly large), there still remains evi e dence of a real improvement.