Mohave County miner and our mineral wealth., 1922-09-08
BUSINESS CONDITIONS
 IN FEDERAL DISTRICT


 month has been the inherent sound- ness which the general business sit nation has manifested in the face of the difficulties encountered. This has been shown by the continuance of ac- tivity at a relatively high level des- pite labor disturbances and despite the recession of activity normally expect ed at this season of the year. Prices of imporatant commodities continued their upward tendency during July but during August conflicting tendencies were apparent. The excellent agricul- .tural prospects provide an encourag- q ing outlook for the fall trade. Fur thermore, increase of demand for cer- tain commodities to compensate for restricted output or delay in placing orders Is also in prospert. Even so, business must necessarily proceed un- der handicaps for some time to come, as result of fuel shortage and trans portation difficulties. Manufacturing activity in general has been maintain ed at a high level. In those industries, such as automobiles and building con struction in which seasonal recession is shown, activity is still far in ex- cess of year ago. Cotton manufac- turing likewise shows some decrease but the reverse is true of woolen man ufacturing. The output of non-fer- rous metals other than copper has al-. so increased but iron and steel activ- ity shows some decline. Bituminous coal production has increased steadily during the present month. 7.
 The labor situation showed consider able improvement during August. The bituminous coal strike has been set tied in many fields and the majority of the New England cotton mill work CTS have returned to the factories.
 Agricultural prospects on the whole continue very satisfactory.
 Wholesale trade suffered decline during July as compared with June in all lines except dry goods but most lines were in a better position than a yea rago, especially hardware. Retail trade, however, was slightly smaller than last year. Financially few dew elopments occurred during the month. The rapid decline of the mark has been the outstanding feature of the foreign exchanges.
 As comparison of the business of the various harbors of the Pacific en- try ports the showing dwindles the i'm .portance'of Los Angeles. The follow lowing is the exports for the six months period, ending June 30, 1922:
 Los Angeles ................. S3.783, ,065
 Portland ....................... $27.O88, ,867
 Seattle ........................... $48.T59, ,734
 San Francisco ................ $57,427, ,985
 For the same period the imports of the same ports was as follows:
 Los Angeles .................... $7,784, TOO
 Portland ........-................. $3,820, COS
 Seattle ........................... $89, 9,287 ,109
 San francisco ................ $83,919, ,l12
 A peculiar feature of the report is the enormous importance of Seattle as an entry port. Of course Seattle is in the direct line of travel to the Orient, but it is no more so than Portland, but it will be noted that it entirely outclasses all the entry ports of the Pacific, with, the exception of San Francisco. Its growth during the past year has'been wonderful, the im- ports at that port rising from $23,- 752,087 in the si xmonths of 1921, to 279.9 per cent above that mark this year.
 Distinct improvement in all bran ches of the metal mining industry has been noticeable during the past few months of this year, and compared with one year ago there is greatly in- creased activity in both production and marketing. This improvement is re- flected in the following figures which show the national production of cop per, silver and zinc in June, 1922, and June, 1921. a.#&itt q.
 Copper (mine production) for June,