The Birmingham age-herald., 1922-12-25
CHIEF INDUSTRIES. GOING 0N DESPITE CHRISTMAS PERIOD
Retail Trade Shows Remark able Activity Steel Makers Confident Freight Traf-
 fic Very Heavy
Bx AssociatntY Prnss

NEW YORK. Dec. 24.-while the holiday season has served to quiet tho chief financial markets appre- ciably during the past week 1t has brought distinctly active retail trade and has had remarkably little check ing effect on the major industries. Thus. steel production continues to approximate 80 per cent of capacity and trade reports state that the year-end closing down of plants will be for briefer periods than usually Is the case. Most of the producers will reopen their plants Tuesday rather than walt the week which more commonly elapses before oper- ations are resumed.
 Steel makers are confident, fur thermore. that their present satisfac- tory scale of operations will be main- tained throughout the first quarter of the new year. Order books are fairly well filled and prices of fin ished products remain firm. Even pig iron prices, which have been re- ceding ever since the coal shortage began to be relieved, have turned up- ward, a circumstance which sug- sests that the bottom of this market for which both buyers and sellers have been reaching for a number of weeks has been reached. One factor in hardening the pig iron market is a stiffening in coke prices. which in turn Is due to a quickened demand for soft coal with the advent of cod weather.
 Big Height Traffic
 Railroad car loading meanwhile continues to hold up remarkably well, although the normal seasonal slack ening is making itself felt. Load ings for the week ended December 2, aggregated 920.000 cars, which is 17s,00o cars more than were loaded in the corresponding week a year ago, and S2.000 cars more than in the same week In 1920, when the rail- roads were setting q record for traf- fic movement. Bituminous coal pro- duction is being maintained at the rate of 100000 tons week and the amounts made available to in dustry seem wholly adequate to reasonable demands.
 Commodity prices have shown dis tinct strength during the past week. Both cotton and wheat attained new high levels for the year. Insistent buying of the more distant futures carried May up to approximately 261s cents. It was apparently based on the Idea that a 10000. .000-bale crop and the present rate of consumption, which is high, means a shortage be- fore new cotton can be obtained from another crop. census bureau re- port said that 9,493, 900 bales of cot ton had been ginned up to Decembe CT 13 and this was taken as confirming g prevalent views as to the final yield
 Wheat Market Uncertain
 Influences were mixed in the wheat market. It seems probable that the firmness in prices was due largely to general optimism. Thus. the de- partment of agriculture revised its estimate for the 1922 crop upward adding some 45.000,000 bushels. Its first report on the new winer wheat crop placed the acreage at slightly more than 46,000,000 and the condi- tion at 79.5 per cent. As compared with the figures for the previous crop, acreage Is reduced about 3 per cent and conditions increased like amount.
 As the holidays approached, the absence of any pressure to liQuidate was noticeable in the markets. Tech nical conditions apparently had beer greatly improved during the past twa months Most observers are looking forward to the new year in cheer full mood.