The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1922-09-16
BUSINESS !
WORLD IS
MORE HOPEFUL

Interest Centers in Ex- T.
tent Of Industrial
Recovery G Q a |.
Output Increases.
New York, Sept. 1o.-With soft
coal production reaching satisfac-
tory levels and with the hard coal
strike practically settled, interest
in business and financial circles has
centered during the past week In
the extent of industrial recovery
and the prospect for fall business.
The steel industry, perhaps the
chief sufferer from the strikes,
shows signs of Improvement. The
fifty per cent of capacity level of
operations to which the industry
was reduced by the strikes has
been bettered slightly and further
gain is expected. With a contin-
ued restriction Of fuel ard car sup
PLIES. however, Til. trade is moder-.
ate in its antieipations. A. return
to a sixty per cent basis this fall
is considered more likely than q
full recovery to the IS per cent
basis reached early III the sum-.
'nter. Opinions differ as to the
probable duration of existing
higher steel prices but most OBJ
servers consider six months an ade-
quate aTlow:,,...e.
Reports on the railroad traffic
movement continue to be reason
ably satisfa ctory The latest avail
able returns, those for The week
ended August 2e, show .eral lnad-
ings OF $4,000 cars. a fgare which
tops the previous high record Ter
the year iy some 1900 cars. Coai
loadings. the statistics Of which are
ebtainable for later dates are good
and indicate movement of this
cornnfodity at a rate close to ten
million tons a week. While the
added demand for equipment on ac-
count OF the resumption of anthra-
cite mining Will be partly met by
use OF hitherto inactive rolling
stock belonging to the hard coal
roads. the opinion is held that it
will also offer test of the. acute
ness OF the much-taked Of car
sfsoratge. Financial quarters mean
while believe that the railroads are
getting their shop situation better
in hand and that transportation
difficulty will not be as serious as
recently was believed. Publication
OF September I values for two Of
the principal indices of commodity
prices failed to disclose any up
ward tendency. One Of the indices
fell half Of one per cent, while
the other remained practically sta
tionary.
Farm products. such as grain
and meal. continued to give ground
rather sharply and aside from met,
ais and fuel the other groups
moved bat little. Partly for this
reason, less credence is given talk
OF an inf1ationary boom during
the fall. The belief grows that
the price advances viii be confined
to. commodities in which tempo
rary and abnormal situation OBJ
tains and that the comparatively
low purchasing power OF Europe
and American agricultural districts
viii be. damper to any false
boom According to this view a
moderate but spotty Improvement
in business is on the cards.
Crop prospects remain little
changed. The department of agr1-
csslture has revised its corn crop
estimate downward from 3,911,-
coo .9O9 to 2.85s, 900, 900 bushels,
principally as a result Of the hot
weather damage in the Southwest
The revision had been amply an
ticipated by the trade, however,
and the department has placed the
yield Of wheat some 10000 900
bushels higher at S1S,960,000
basnels. The latter figure COM
pares with an actual crop last
rear of 7s5, 100000 bushels. The
returns show that supplies will be
plentiful. European crops are re-
ported to be short but While a
fair volume of Europe e n
buying has been going on. it has
been insufficient to st1h en
prices in this country. 1t is pointed
out that there is an obvious dlf-
ference between what Europe
might like to buy and what the
continent Will be able to pay for.
The reserve ratio Of the federal
reserve system shows another
moderate decline but the loss is at
trib,ted to holiday demands for
currency. Monetary conditions re-
main practically unchanged.
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