The Birmingham age-herald., 1922-07-03
STEEL PRODUCTION
 MAINTAINS GAINS
Reports From Industrial Gen. ters of Country Con-
 tinue Good
By Associated Pres.

New York, July 2.-While the usual uncertainties of the season and a few others of a special char acter have dominated the country's markets during the past week. re- turns from industrial centers con- tinue good.
 Steel production has maintained its latest gains, and reports from a num- Der of centers mention active com- petition for labor between makers of steel. automobile and railroad equipment on the one hand and the building trades on the other. Allow ing for the coal strike, which natur- ally affects the showing of railroads serving union mines. the May earn ings statements of the carries, which are now being published testify to a further gain in the volume of traffic.
 Regarding the seasonal uncertain ties, principally those relating to the new crops, little in the way of news has developed. Fair weather in the cotton belt improved crop conditions somewhat and took the edge off the minor crop scare of two weeks ago. It also resulted in the cancellation of the corresponding advance in prices. Interest in the trade has cen tered in tomorrow's government crop report, private estimates favoring a condition in the neighborhood of 73 per cent. The amount of damage which the weeXil. which has had an unusually favorable start. may ac- complish. and accordingly the ulti- mate size of the crop. remain large fly matters of conjecture.
 Wheat Stiffens
 Wheat prices stiffened slightly. partly on reports of smaller supplies ,of the cash commodity and partly on disappointing threshing returns. There were reports also of somewhat better foreign buying. In the course of falterins rally the July dellv- eryNreached the vicinity of s1.i5, but the market was thin and uncertain as Is. in fact. consistent with its be- tween-crop character. A good yield remains in prospect and mail order business is picking up well.
 Despite flurries in call money, which carried the rate on the New York Stock exchange as high as 51s
 per cent the money, Harket still holds at the low levels of the year.
 The disturbance in call money. a form of which is attributed. to spe- cial demands in the first half of the year, the best observers expected pronounced ease again in July. Opinion is divided as to whether the price of money already has touched bottom or whether 1t may still go slightly lower before taking an up- ward turn.
 Developments in the coal strike now are commanding close attention. Stocks of fuel are dwindling, and de-
 mand Is growing. Some quarters point out that the delaying of set clement for another month or two might occasion a car shortage later in the autumn. The uncertainty re- garding soft coal prices is mean , while producing corresponding doubts in related markets. Production of bi
 luminous at non-union mines has continued to grow, but still falls 7, short of normal demand by at least two thirds. Anthracite output re-
 mains practically nil. All parties concerned appear to be growing more anxious for a settlement, a circum- stance which favors a successful out come for the, conference called by the government.
 In contrast to their attitude re- garding the strike. most financial and business quarters have seemed but little impressed with the possibilities embraced ip the railroad walkout.