Norwich bulletin., 1922-09-02

crease in the volume of production and trade in New England during the past few months that 1t has made some think that the Improvement in New England is not keeping pace with that in the rest of the country This may be true at the moment, but 1t should be remembered that the major part of the recovery in the output of the leading industries of this district has. already been made. New England started on the upgrade while condition in other parts of the country continued to be- come worse; or at the best merely held
 their own. At the present time the average rate Of n1anufactIr51s activity
 Tn this district is not far below normal. and the volume of trade Is good. Profits are poor, and this has ezHssd scene to lose sight of the relative volume of business. Business men are generally optimistic, although many of them have postponed the date at which they look for the complete return to S6-cafied prosperity. with the passing of the period Of summer dullness and the com l ed production due to the coal and rail- road strikes. the outlook sor faff is en- couraging.
 1fanufaeturinE Aetavity .-NeW Eng. lands industries have been heavy pur- tehasers of bituninous coal mined in the honsunion fields of WsIt virxinl4 and have on> the whole been able to ees f through the Strfks period of the past few months very satisfactorily. There have been times when # seemed as fl shut were imminent in certain i sections, but this has been almost ert- tireIy avoided. This soft coal from non
 union mines has for the mos part been shipped by boat to New England ports and thence by rail to a1auufac<artnf
 centers. Routed in this wsy, 1t has caused earloadings of coal by New Eng land roads to De excep<fonally high I Reserve stocks of soft coal in New Eng land are low and while danger Of sornt curtailment of misunderstanding nas no' | yet been entirely 6verted, the chance. are very good for the industries in this district to run unhampered by f1e shortage during the fan months. | The latest compiete statistics at pre- I sent available indicate that the averag, I rate of manufacturing activity in New , England during July was slightly lesl than in June. but greater than in May
 The decline from June to July wa | caused almost entirely by the cottol II gaining operatives who have been ou on strike, Is at the same time failing to obtain a large volume of new orders Prospects in the wooden and worstet I industry depend to a considerable ex tent upon the success of the recent open ings of lines for the spring Of 1923 Early reports have indicated that fo several companies these have been a ' least moderately successful There i ] but little doubt that enough goods haT been sold to warrant operations at th . present rate or better, for severz ] months.
 ' The boot and shoe industry has ap : proximately reached the height of it 1 fall run, although production should b ) well maintained during September.
 The majority of the factories in tn . smaller industries Of tliis district cor
 tinue to increase the number of eIT
 ployees on their payrolis, as well q their output. New orders In some ( , the metal trades industries increased a
 a very rapid rate curing the spring aft
 while, as is natural during the ssIInrNe Ne . further improvement was not mad , nevertheless the volume of sales hel f at or near the highest point reached i : the spring.
 ,, Anthracite CeAf. - The recent strik 5 started on the first day of the currei g l coal year. Since then there has bee 2 practically no hard coal mined, 60 tlfz , | on September l, i've months Efodu f ton had been lost. Under averak9 col ! ditions this would amount to 40 milliC q net tons.
 What are the chances of making U I this shortage before or during the vii V hter? In the first place, not all of tn
 40,000,o00 ton deficit will have to 1
 made up in order that as much hal
 coal can be used in New England dn
 ing this present coal year as wou II normally be consumed. The reason f
 this is that dealers in this district pro
 ably had a two months' supply on haI on April 1.
 Previous to the beginning of the stris l. some householders, fearing that tn . would have difficulty in getting co; ,F started putting in their next wintel ,e sEpply. Last winter was not a particl to arly severe one, and the probabilit! ,s are that the average consumer had ft Io weeks supply left over last spring. ,sl other words counting the leftover su
 ply of last winter, plus the amount tn h. some farsighted consumers put 1T If their bins before the strike started, pl n the two months supply in the han ,s of the retail dealers on April 1, 1t a obvious that probably less than an avt = age ten months instead of an averz
 twelve months output need be produc he for New England consumers to get tn be usual requirements fof the current c st year If the supply is equitably diStribl . ed.
 :" Can ten months average output. st nearly 77 million tons, be produced m the seven months between September
 and April To do 50 would require r- constant rate of production 30 per ce f. higher than has ever been attained a fore during even single month. Ct ,e sidering the condition of railway equ cb Imant and ths none too hrge number i+t surplus serviceable coal cars, it does I i at seem as if this rate of production cot d be reached.