Norwich bulletin., 1922-07-01

T. writes Frederic H. Curtiss, chairman and 1 chairman and Federal Reserve agent of the, Federal Reserve bank of Boston in his monthly review. The change, if any | was so small. however, that it has been l. difficult to measure accurately. There l was not enough improvement | to arouse much enthusiasm. Business is good, taken on the average, although. | considerable irregularity is still evi=1 dent. The expectation that many lines | of business will soon be quieter, due l ed to the growing realization of the l seriousness of the coal strike, is serv- ing to check a material improvement in the situation at this time,
 New England misunderstanding 1ac- tfvfty has been increasing at a nom inal rate for the past two months, al though there has not been a correspond ing increase in carloadings In fact, during June there was a slight decline in the number of freight cars loaded in this district, compared with May. While I these tfo factors-production and ship. i merts-seem to have opposite tendencies the number of checks drawn Cboth by
 individuals and corporations} which
 is ordinarily a good index of the vol-l une of business was larger in the past month than in May. The volume of goods distributed through retail chan. ners was good during the first two. weeks of June. but it has suffered a decline since the middle of the month
 because of the indictment weather, so
 that the total for the month will prob
 ably barely equal that of May. Employ nent offices report that the call for
 workers-eontinues to grow, a11d the nt1n-
 Der of people applying for jobs is.-be-
 coming less. This can be at least part-' Fly accoSRted for by the seasonal demand
 for artisans in the building trades and work of@a similar nature; although it is
 apparent that the call for employees, t5 fill permanent positions is also better-
 These few instances of contradictory
 tendencies could be duplicatel several
 times, and the irregularity of the sit
 -uatien would become even more ap-
 parent.
 Conditions in the coal industry are,
 of course, receiving much attention,a yet. even with the, recent publicity, the se- riousness of the coal strike to. New Eng Iafdf is not fully-realized. The con sumption of soft coal for power uses
 has been so much larger than output since the strike started on April that
 storage stocks have been reduced to a 1 dangerously low mark. Evidences of an impending shortage are beginning to appear in reports received from New England manufacturers, stating that the 1 closing of some of their factories is prob able lii&less relief is soon hat1, ThG; condition is not yet general to be sure l but even if the strike is settled imFne- l diately it will be a matter of weeks be- | fore the danger is entirely averted., The strike of the anthracite miners affects ] New England in a peculiar way-differ- entely,. even, than the soft soft coal strike. All the hard coal mined in this
 country comes f&on one. coIIGaratively small field in Pennsylvania and .prac- l tical1y none has been taken out of the
 ground since April 1. New England, in ] proportion to it's area, uses more hard
 coal for household heating purposes l than any other part of the United States. 1 The northwest, with it's more extensive l territory. is also a large user of hard 1 coal. Where New England is peculiarly taffected is through the method of trans 1 gortation of the coal from the mines
 Hard coal going to the northwest is car
 ried by railroad to the great lakes, and l then shipped by boat. Naturally coal entering that territory in that way must | be shipped before the lakes freeze Over. 1 Therefore, when anthracite mining is resumed the bulk of the output, until | cold weather arrives. will tend to go to the great lakes, and then New England 1 will receive it's share later in the win | ter. Such a situation naturally makes for uncertainty as to the adaquacy ot | the supply in this district, especially if i railroad traffic is hampered by heavy storms next winter. While nothing is tc be gained by taking an alarrnist ats 1 ttde it is a matter for serious con l siderat1on. and. taken together with the i scarcity of soft coal for power purpos-
 es, tends to unsettlet confidence.
 oAIanuaacturing-Co reports fol
 may indicate that the rate of manufac
 turing activity in New England was
 greater than during April and prelimh
 ary statements would indicate that thC gain continued during June. Atlieast {
 part of the increase evident recently lIas
 been due to seasonal influences, al
 though a gain has been made by tn,
 textile industry The strike in sever
 al of the New England cotton mill cen
 ters served to reduce activity to- '
 level comparable with that prevailin!
 during, the worst of the depression i;
 year and a half ago. While5 the strik has not been finally settled, many o the mills have been reopened and 1t i reported that employees are gradual. | going back to work. As yet, howevr l'the number of returned workers is com paratfvely small The wooden iYldustr- : became quiet coincfdent with eettSi : manufacturing, although there have bee, few recent instances of strikes, curtail ment being due to lack of erders. Th increase in shoe production during Ma ; and June has been largely of a season al character, but has been aided by tn : return of many of the workers in LynI : Massachusetts, where partial settle r ment of labor disputes has been reach ] leaJs Ia Of ba al , did not start as soon. as that of man other industries, but has lately bee l persistent and noteworthy. Incomin ] orders have increased stIadily ,for sex = eraI months. .. e The combined index of the manufat t turing activity was at the rate of al 7 proximately 80 per cent of ,maxinlul e capacity during May-a rate not far bt a low normal, although of course mue : less than during the period of prosper
 Iity. Two different factors indicate ths 5 l caution. should be used in forecasting } further Improvements in manufacturih d Lactivities in this district. In the fir n place, the textile industry is known 1 |, be one of the first to feel the effect : of either an oncoming depression or e recovery. Since late last year it has il 7. ciined to be reaotionary. Another ca1 ' tionary factor is the recent trend of -s g ourity prices. For over two Anontf e there has been no real Increase in II d average of industrial stock prices. S d Icurity prices are well enough Known P n a. barometer of future conditions to d 9 mand that attention be focused On the if recent trend. f ~"H e Retail Trade-The volume of, reta e trade in New England during the Ia tt half of June was not very faVorabl e largely because of the poor weath )f t1onditio41S Trade was fYiS1x dltrirer il