The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-06-27
Trade Conditions, AtPresent,
 While Rather Discouraging, Point To q Break For Better
Bank Resources Year Ago Strained the Utmost Are Again Becoming Liquid, and Are Available for
 an Orderly Extension of All Industry

 soon get underway. The great ob- stacle is the maintenance of high wage scales by the building trades unions. Skilled craftsmen, long idle, 1t Is said, may shortly be deserting the union ranks in order to secure employment at any wage To con- struct typical New York loft build ing today, the material costs would be approximately 25 per cent greater than six years ago, but labor costs would be 129 per cent higher. The volume of building in 1Ss cities of the United States in May was 4 per cent smaller than in April.
 As to conditions in the petroleum industry, they are succinctly stated in the following quotation from The Lamp, a Standard oil publication:
 There is little profit in producing petroleum in any field at the price new prevailing for crude, and in per haps majority of cases there is ac- tual loss on every barrel of oil lifted to the surface" Small wonder that there has been considerable less drilling activity with each succeed ing month since last December. Re liners have accumulated large stocks and the decline in prices has been felt by the whole industry.
 Production of bituminous coal in May of S32,55,ooo tons. while consid- erably below the output for May gor any recent year exceeded the output in May 19l4 and 1915. output for the five months ended May 3f 1881 was 11,000,0o0 tons below the year of depression 1914. Here, too, the price trend has been downward
 Of the industries in the category of luxury producers, although 1t is question whether automobiles belong under this heading, the motor nanu- lecturers appear to have suffered the least poor as business is, There are a. few shining spots, however The Studebaker Corporation is cur rentlyt producing cars in number to exceed all former records, and the Ford plant on July 1 will increase production to s4,oo0 ears a. day.
 Complaints of business stagnation from Japan. where merchants have refused to take their losses and cut prices to the same extent as In other countries, carry a-moral. The quick est way to put trouble behind Is 10 face it, and this we have been doing Cuba's financial difficulties are still pcrplexing, and a s49.000, O06 bond is- sue by. the government to purchase surplusk tsugat and dispose of 1t on long term credits is being talked of
 Revenue Freight
 Cars loaded with revenue freight in the United States in the week erded June Il totaled 7SS,997 the largest number for any week this year. and a gain of S2,4S9 over the preceding week. Railroad earnings for May which are just beginning 10 come out, show little improvement over the preceding month, but are encouraging in that they reveal greater control over expenses, all though the benefits of wage ~educ- tions have yet to be felt
 Reduction in the Bank of Eng lands rate from 612 to 6 per cent hardly came as surprise, fitting in as it did with indications which have been plain all along that remarkable improvement -ise taking place in the money markets of the world The Er glish bank in this instance fol- lowed, the lead of the New York fed eral reserve institution which low cred its rediscount rate to per cent a fortnight ago. The latest state ment of the federal reserve bank of New York discloses a reserve ratio of nearly 69 per cent, the highest figure touched since 1917. For the system as whole. there was a rise in the past week from 56.S to 6O.4 per cent in the reserve ratio. A fur ther reduction in note, circulation of 95,Ooo, 900 brought the total con traction in this item to no less than eT6b f00 mo in af ct months
 Under the circumstances; the lo- cal money market has naturally given evidence of; more genuine ease than at any time in a year or more. Call money was offered plentifully at 5 per cent, and time funds were put out in volume for the first time at around per cent Commercial paper has sold quite freely at 6l4 per ceny sat which rate some of the larger New York banks were free buyers.
 Tariff Schedules
 Tariff schedules will probably not be completed for one or two months more. and tax revision will perhaps not. be accomplished until october. It is gratifying to record the name of Charles G. Dawes, the Chicago bar ker. as the first incumbent to the office of director of the budget, a new post designed to promote gov ernment economies, Congress has been asked to grant authority to the Secretary of the Treasury to arrange for the refunding of some $10,l41,- 00o,0o0 of loans granted foreign gov errments during the war Payment of principal and interest by some of the governments at this time appears inn ossible, and will probably not be requested.
 Bank clearings for the week, as reported by Bradstreet's, are 21.4 per cent under last year. Making due al lowance for the declipe in prices. these figures continue. to indicate an increase over 1920 in the volume Of