Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-01-03

1921 a net income of about $600,000,-
900. Their net income in 1920 was
S21 100000. The year has not paid
big dividends for the carriers, but
it has been infinitely better than
1920 was.
Much Of the Improvement is due
to wage reductions. Also the roads
have so stressed the Importance of
paying some sort of return to in
, vestors that they have failed to keep
their equipment in good order. One
| locomotive out of every four in the
United States is in the shop out Of
commission today; one car out of
every six. Even at that, the show
ing is declared better than 1t was
during the days Of government op-
Grafton.
The railroads prove that all pros
perity is comparative. Their record
for 1921 shows, in tonnage, that as
much freight rolled over the rails
as was hauled in 1915 And 1915
was considered an extraordinary
year, at the time, for the volume OF
freight hauled! AS the writer re-
calls it, that year was a record.
There is ono class Of American
producer who will remember 1921
for the message of disaster 1t
brought, to the third and fourth gen
Grafton. That producer is the farm
err. To him, 1921 has been twelve
months of despair, from which he
is gradually beginning to emerge.
The farmer has hit the bottom.
The year dawned as a year of hope,
but mostly it was year of hope
untitled. 1t was not entirely black,
however, cotton crossed twenty-one
cents and the south lifted up its
head and began to sing again. The
10 900 ,OOO-bale crop of 1920 had been
followed by an 5000, 000-bale crop,
and the wide span between the two,
with increasing demand from abroad,
lifted cotton from the abyss OF eleV'
en- cents, nearly 100 per cent. Whlle
recessions have occurred since the
high mark was reached, the year
closes with cotton selling around
eighteen cents and measure or the
south's prosperity restored.
Worst of Troubles Over
Generally speaking, the farmer
still is in the woods. There arc
bright rays here and there to guide
him. however. His official spokes
man, Secretary Wallace, told the
president the other day that the
worst period of the farmers troubles
had passed and that from now on
times would improve.
Not a little of the improvement
must come from the expansion OF
American export trade. Here again
we come to some comparisons thai
show how far we have Travelled from
the pre-war days.
Our exports in 1921 have not yet
been run up in total. For the first
II months of the year, however, they
exceed four billion dollars-a SUM-
which would have made even a pro
fessional optimist stutter to say in
-bellum days. For the first II
months of 1920, they exceeded seven
and one-half billions. Imports, Jan
uary to November, 1921, exceeded
two and a quarter billions-in 1920
more than five billions. The bal
ance of trade in our favor will pass
the two billion dollar mark for the
year.
That figure, in the days before
1913, would have been regarded as
the dCIllS Ol pIOSpSL4Iy' IL p" GU Ca
ceeded in 1920 by about seven hun
bred million dollars. The measure
however, is not accurate when put
in terms of dollars. In terms OF
tonnage, exports in 1921 are almost
up to exports in 1920. In many no
table cases they exceed the tonnage
figures. Eighty-two per cent more
wheat was exported in 1921 than IN
1920; per cent more cotton; 70 pei
cent more lard; 800 per cent more
corn; so per cent more iron pipes
and castings; 200 per cent more Oil
cake and meal; 80 per cent more
barley, and so on. These commodi
ties are sizeable factors in the ex
port trade. The dollar showing is
less than that Of 1920 because prices
have declined.
Production Of most of the basic
and manufactured articles declined
during the year, largely because Of
! the so-called buyers strike, which
/ in turn, was due to the necessity OF
paying off loans.
Coal slumped sharply, production
running now about seven million
tons q week as compared with ter
million tons normally. Copper pro
duction virtually ceased in the early
part of the year, while the country
absorbed the large leftover stocks
In November, production hat
! reached twenty-one million pounds
| Wheat flour production, down tt
eight million barrels in June, rose II
| fourteen million barrels in Novem
| Der.
| Employment Situation Better
Sugar was stagnant during thu
! large part OF the year, but nearly
all the big surplus was assimilatet
as the year went out. A year ag(
revenue stamps were issued to cove
twenty-seven million pounds of man
ufactured tobacco; last montl
! stamps were issued to cover nearl!
thirty-five million pounds. Crud
petroleum production rose to abou
forty million barrels a month durin!
the summer and dropped back t.
thirty-five millions in the fall.
Pig iron production dropped t
803,OOO tons in July as against 2,
| 100000 tons in October, 1920. With
in four months, however, the Pre-
duction more than doubled, reach
ing 100000 tons in November last
A year ago nearly half of all tn
looms in the country We're idle
today wool is going through fou
looms out of every five. Production
of leather has jumped IS per cen
since the first day Of 1921; WOO
pulp and paper production is u,
sixty per cent from the low mari