The Birmingham age-herald., 1922-09-04
DEVELOP|MENTS|N IN
 STRIKES HOLDING
 INDUSTRIAL STAGE
Soft Coal Production Appears to Be Approaching Normal. Prospects in Agriculture
 Remain Unchanged
By Associated Press

New York, September 3.-Devel- opments in the coal and railroad sit nations and anticipations on the na- ture of fall trade have occupied the center of the businss stage the past week.
 Car loading figures indicate that soft coal production is returning to normal, or to distinctly encouraging levels. Incomplete figures indicate that the total output for the week will run well over 5000, 900 tons.
 This rate compares ravorabiy with normal averages
 Reports on the general movement of railroad traffic show that recent rates which approximate the best of the year are being maintained. Total ioadings for the week ended August 10, the latest for. which figures are available. are s5s. .ooo cars, which rep resents an increase Of 6,s39 over the preceding week and 4l,oI2 oyer the same wcek year Ago.
 Hffcsf or Goal Movement IL stili Is too early to measure the effect of the growing soft coal move ment but usually well informed quarters see no improvement of the being seriously affected as yet. On the other hand it Is felt that a re- sumption of anthracite mining, added to the crop carrying burden will inn pose n severe strain on the trans- fprf bt s.... Interest centers on the railroads att tempts to put their shop forces back on normal basis.
 Even If the roads have the situation in hand by some time In October. it Is thought that a car shortage is inevitable. The consensus seem to be, however, that the shortage will not be so serious as to retard vital ly the revival in business. It also Is doubted whether it will cause a gen oral rise in commodity prices, al- though opinions on the point are by no means unanimous.
 Agriculture Unchanged
 Agricultural prospects remain al- most unchanged. The department of agricuiture's September 1 cotton crop report reduced the condition from 7o.S per cent in the previous months iiku tO bf per CtHL And cut tHt estimated yields from HAS. .000 bales to 10.575,0oo bales. The new figures were slightly more bullish than the trade had expected but not suffi- ciently so as to prevent profit talk ing. As result cotton prices were little changed.
 Both the prospective crop and the carry over are short but ~conserya- tive view is taken Of the willingness of both domestic and foreign spin ners to buy at the higher prices. Wheat futures continue to fIuctuate slightly above the dollar level at Chicago and these prices are taken to indicate conservative purchasing ot general merchandise on the part of the farmers.
 The commodity markets and that for foreign exchange reacted well to announcement by the reparations commission that Germany has been granted six months postponemcnt on this falls reparations payments. It is considered that major political crisis in Europe has been averted but that the reparations difficulty still remains to be grappled with.
 While the federal reserve ratio Is showing slight recession 1t Is felt that this circumstance is explained in part at least by the approach of the Setember l holidays, No sharp change in monetary conditions Is ex- pected.