Norwich bulletin., 1922-12-04
Chicago Grain Nrarket.
FALL MOVEMENT OF
 TRAFFIC CONTINUES LARGE

New York. Dec. (By the A. P.)-I Indices of industrial and trade activity continued satisfactory during the past week. If a tendency toward slight
 slowing down in production has been apparent, this is regarded as a natural de. e-opment at this season and IS com penaated for by the improvement in re- tail traQe which comes with cold Wea-
 ther and the holidays.
 As a matter of fact, industrial activ.
 ity is holding up remarkably we'll Car loadings for the week ended November
 Is toualled 959.000 cars, which is close
 to the high record for the year and well
 above anything prev.ously, accomplish
 ed at this season. It is probable that
 the actual car shortage which developed during October has had the effect of
 throwing part of the traffic movement
 over .nto November. but the evidence
 of gradual improvement in. transpor- tation conditions is strengthened by decrease in the excess demand for ire -ght cars, as reported by the Amer
 ican/ Railway association. Taking ev- erything in,o consideration, it would ap- pear that the fall movement of traffic has been the largest and best sustained in the country's history. s.-
 Steel production a.so continues to ma -nta.n a better rate than had been
 expected. Various authorities place cut
 put at close to 80 per cent of capacity, which means that no diIninution has
 taken place from the years best rate
 Pig iron prices are still showing ten
 oenty to work lower in company with
 those of coal, and the pr.ces of finished
 steel products, which have been remark
 ably steady for a number ct weeks, are
 being shaded slightly. The nub of the situation seems to be. that while the U. s. Steel corporation and some of the in dependents have accumulated a good backlog Of work, other independents are
 not so favorably situated. No large re-
 auctions in steel prices are expected, however.
 One of the developments which 1 caused satisfaction ln financial circles was the publication of a large propor-
 tion of the October railroad earnings statements. Bearing in mind the seri- ! ous after effects of the strike, the car rierS' efforts to put their equipment in shape for max. mum service during Oc- tooer and the disappointing character of the September returns, which gave only 2.9- per cent of valuation, most obse1y- CTS had anticipated poor earnings in October. At first glance the actual re. ] ports might be taken as indicating that expectations were fulfilled, as the com parisons with. October a year. ago dis
 closed general falling off in net. oc-
 tober 1921 was. however. an unusually good mnth, 5.4 per cent of valuation
 being earned. Meanwhile the compari- son with September is encouraging. The 1 54 class I roads earned net of s71iUuO,. 0O0- in October as compared with s45,- ! OO0,o00 in the previous month: As a heavy traffic movement continued, il, November it is apparent that the car
 rlers' purchasing power is likely to be
 considerably better than recently had ] been supposed. 5.@ :. T 1 Possibly the better railroad state. ments had their effect on stock prices: :. In any event, the latter rallied vfgor
 ously during the week. active short .cov- eri9s being in evidence over the entire list Monetary conditions continue com
 tortaoie' and there is little expectation Of any considerable disturbances in fhs
 money market during Sthe rest of the i year. =
 Tue commodity markets have lansed