Norwich bulletin., 1921-12-03

assuring. Practically all of the federal reserve banks found 1t possible to make Iurtner reduction in their rediscount rates durfng November because of their strong reserve position gained by both a red1,c- tion of loan and an increase in holdtn0s Of gold. The federal reserve bank of Bos- ton 2'aned maximum of approximately 2Sl,000,000 in December, 1919 Through .ne cooperation of the member banks and their customers the inflated credit stru7
 ture of New England was brought untf control swithout disaster. In fact the loans ff the federal reserve bank of Boston have ben 1iquidated to such an extent that curing the first part of November of this year this bank the first part of Novers,er or this year this bank was loaning slight
 ly less than $64.ooo,ooo. Money rates nave become easier. coincident with the lower rediscfunt rate, and credit is more readily obtainable. The federal reserve banks in other sections of the country
 found it possible also to reduce their bor- | rowings fsom this bank, a reflection of the improvement in the agricultural sec tions. Se'0 Althought credit conditions are improv- ins rom banking standpont, the num-
 Der of failures each month in Na,y ,., Tas-r. iand Is large, particularly for this lime 1s |
 this district fuctuated between two arS | three million dollars a month hetveer
 way ana september; but during October dtnough the number of failures was large
 the liabilities declined to y1,550.A0o
 me activity of the iron and steel in.
 oustry Er the United States which is oft.
 en considered to be indicative of the gen
 eral industrial situation througho1,t tb,
 country, nas begun to snow signs of ,
 siackenhg following the decided i'm.
 pavement which started in August Tbi,
 .lnproFement was nH doub. largely season
 more than normalI,
 b-s- a railroad strike be
 -s"n lv cause consumers to withhold ,oiae
 A's lHeir ofoers in October and late. ; "neI lhere was lntfmation that raiiroat
 trelght rates would be reduced the, were given further incentive to waI;
 Consequently iron and steel nrfces be-, 5 been weak. HD'
 commodity prices as a whole hava bse, !, rising more or less regularly since th i lliuule FI the summer. The movenen . or the standard indices used to measur . "hoiesaie price fluctuations has been Q .. moderate proportions, amounting inn ,, Tar to only twe or three Der cent. owe the low point reached in the summer A
 the present tune an average Of over 30 commodities. calculated by the Unite
 states department of labor, indicate n that wholesale prices are now about 5 . per cent. above those of 1913 and ar
 prox1mately A per cent below the htyhes
 reached in the spring of 1920. The co,
 or living hswever, has only decline a l about 20 per cent. from the maximum ( Q lsz0. The cost of such important iten if m the family budget as rent and fuel i, Tt as sensitive to movements as the ger = eral average of commodities at whl54esal ,- tu Massachusetts at present the cost ( o shelter is as high as it has been at ar if rme during the past period of prosperit e Wholesale prices are rising very rapid e fn Germany During the first part ,v October the Frankfurter Ze!tune. a we "a known and authoritative German new l. paper reported wholesale prices as
 times the level of July, while at u ,r end of that month they had increas n to almost 27 times that level. Commoo d ty prices in England have been decrniI ,e for approximately the same length iof tin ,r as in this country. In fact, Engli. 1t prices fell decidedly during October, whi to prices in this country held their own in least.
 re To summarize. there is little doubt b T, that in New England at last. manufa h. curing activity is greater now than it ", d. during nid-suInmer-the seasonal trel at has been upward. Retail trade is certai Id iy better but it must be remembered tn a December is normally the best month
 the year regardless of whether or T ed there happens to be an industrial deprt r. sion for an era of prosperity at that tin 70, Even from the long range or fundamen- in point of view, it is probaly true that N If England industries as a whole have E. least held their cwn- and possibly e a tinued a5 improve However, the char 'c- in itself has not as yet been Of suffici. ed magnitude to warrant more than I
 amount of optimism over the tmmedii re- future.