Evening star., 1921-04-16
ously tax the scanty mill and dealer
stocks of the country.
No Fear of OverproductiOn.

! 1t is not to be assumed by the pro-
| spective builder that the manufacture
| ers of building materials will rush
| to overproduction. Some of the far
sighted through the recent dull pc
| riod have kept their mills going at
or near full capacity. Others have
closed their plants or greatly re-
stricted production. Some mills have
only just begun to resume operations.
Building material dealers are pro-
ceeding just as cautiously in their
stock purchases as are the manufac-
turers of building commodities, who,
| in turn, are gauglng their production
schedules upon the buying movement
Of prospective builders. who are, in
turn, proceeding cautiously.
Railroads Seeking Business.
Too much complaisance cannot be
placed upon the present dearth of
business in the transportation de-
partment. Railroads are hungry for
business. They have many idle
freight cars. They also have the
largest number of bad order cars
cars that are in need of repair. than
largest number of 'bad-order cars,
are not being repaired. Therefore. If
business should suddenly resume,
and, indeed. the turn is near, it would
not take many months to absorb the
available supply of empty freight
cars and turn a surplus into short
age, and by June the building season
! will have been about half spent.
Manufacturers of building material.
accustomed in the past to fill orders
for big construction contracts, are
finding it difficult to adjust their
shipping departments to meet the de-
mands for small builders who are ap-
parentIy the only active customers
this spring.
The preponderant volume of de-
mand for building materials until
! June will be for this comparatively
small order construction work. such
as private home operations. 1t takes
many such structures to take the
ment of a single large commercial
project. The larger jobs are out OF
the question at present, in view of
high money rates. cost OF materials
and the Indifference of labor, declares
the current Dow service report.
Change in Market Needs.
Since last autumn this big-order
business has been out of the market.
Commercial projects started before
| that time are just finishing up. When
work on them is completed there has
| not developed enough new work TO
call for materials or to supply en-
ployment for labor in sufficient vol
! ume to take up the sag.
There is a rush Of habitation build
| ing under way, but it is SO far only in
! preliminary stages in architects and
engineers hands. A month or more
j may elapse between preliminary
sketch of building and the actual
award of contract and call for sub
| contracts, depending upon the size of
| the operation, and since the turn in
| the tide of building affairs is still
| less than a month old, it is eviden Mt
| that this market vacuum about which
| the building material production and
| distribution industries are .at present
complaining has been, developing e
| since late autumn.
! Prepare for New Business.
| During this interim of waiting for
the actual building material market
! to develop building material manu-
| facturers are throwing in new ca
| pacity for the purpose of anticipat-
ing the later-year market. All but
| three cement manufacturing plants
in the Lehigh valley district have re-
! sumed operation. Structural steel
plants are taking more business in,
! thus throwing in more capacity.
Lumber mills throughout the south
Aare reSuming operationS in full sat