The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-08-05
NE W YORK IS SEEN AS MARKET CENTER
 FOR MILL STOCKS
Cotton Goods Buyers Con- tinue Indifferent NotWith-
 standing Price Easing

NEW YORK, August 4.-(Special.) New York may become a market cen ter for mill stocks, such as Sparta IT, burg or Greenville, S. c. According to reports in the financial districts here, number of brokerage houses are planning to go into this brarch of the business.
 There are said to be many holders of textile securities who are dlssat- isfied with having to deal with out of town brokerage houses, and are look ing forward to the establishment of increasing numbers of mill stock brokers in New York as a long rec ded nHces sjty.
 @ It is understood tha. the heads of one of the largest downtown invest ment Houses, members of tho New York Stock Exchange, recently toured the principal mill share markets Of the south for the purpose cf seeking information as to the real conditions in the market and that they intend to open mill share department in tEeir offices some time in the fall.
 The possibilities tlat New York holds as a center for trading in mill securities are regarded as excellent One large stock exchange house re- gently reported that while other de- partments in the company's organf- zation such as tobacco stocks, sugar stocks. etc. were very quiet, the tex tile stock department showed a great deal of activity. Daily the number of inquiries for quotations is grow ing. and sales are being made in in- creasing numbers.
 Gray Goods Business Limited.
 Business in cotton gray goods of all descriptions during the past week was extremely limited, in contrast to the large trading of the previous 10 days. Further sharp reductions in raw cotton prices and the approach of the government cotton condition report of August 1 were the factors responsible for the sudden disappear ance of interest. The report itself though bullish, had little immediate effect on gray goods.
 During the week before a mum Der of large houses had bought heavily of 3Sia inch, 64x60. 5.35 yard print cloths at 81s to S6s cents, and of 39-inch, 6SX72, 4.25 yard at 10 and 10& cents. Sheetings. drills, osna- burgs and other coarse yarn fabrics closed the month quiet and with
 Bombed yarn goods have also been very dull.
 Finished Goods Unchanged.
 The situation in finished goods re- mains about where it was a month ago. With the exception of fair ac- tivity in bleached muslins, on which prices are considered extremely low, buyers continue to mark time. Whole salers who had been waiting for &C., tion on percale prices, were satisfied during the past week when the big corporation printers reduced quota tions 21a to 3 cents a yard from their previous lists. Response of the trade to the new prices, however, was no better than had been expected, as percales have been and continue to he very slow in most parts of the country.
 several important lines of wash goods for spring. 1921, have been priced. but many more lines still await action. The leading distribu- tor of flock dot Voiles reports it's product sold up to the end of the year.
 Index Number I5.G94.
 D The F,Lirchild Cotton Goods Aver age Price and Index Number declined to l5.694 for the week ended July 2S. The week previous it stood at 1o.91S Raw cotton, which had been holding fairly steady while cloth prices were easing. sumped sharply during the past week. the average price drop ping to 23.7s from average 27.37 of the week before.
 The following table shows the movement of the index number for three months back:
 Avar, ea