Evening star., 1923-04-02
RADIO EQUIPMENT
BUSINESS RUSHING
Electrical Firms Enjoying
Splendid Trade-Copper
Demand Remains Strong.
BY j. c. ROYLE.

BY j. c. ROYLE.
Special Dispatch TO The Star.
NEW YORK, April 2.-Electrical
supply houses are facing the great
est year they have ever experienced.
The volume of building construction
already under way or which it is
known will be undertaken and the
tremendous development of electric
power facilities for Industrial needs
are responsible for the major por-
ton OF this trade, but the activity
! which has marked demand for radio
supplies is factor which cannot be
overlooked either by dealers or
| manufacturers.
March. II is claimed, was the big
gest month the electrical supply
naputacturers ever knew. This ap-
lnghouse and General Electric, West
ern Electric and others, and to the
Smaller firms as we'll. The fact is
| OF the electric firms operated at little
! more than q cost basis from 1921 to
the first OF this year.
Radio Demand Soon at Peak.
| Prices for switches. cutouts and
other products have advanced and
manufacturers now see period ahead
in which they can count on active
profits. The cost of basic raw ma
| terials has advanced and wage scales
/ are on the increase, but higher prices
| have not tended to cut sales.
/ Demand for radio equipment is ex-
] pected TO reach its peak for the year
within the next month. according to
| Bernard s. Berlin of the Heinnemann
Electric Company of Philadelphia
| one firm, he said, had sold 10000
| pounds of copper wire for aeriaIs
! alone in the last month. Sales, he
| stated, however, might be expected to
tall off toward June, in which month
static conditions are unfavorable and
! interest in indoor amusements gives
way largely TO outside sports
~ that time, however. sufficient
| building enterprises will have been
/ partially completed and in shape To
| furnish demand for electrical goods
| which will counterbalance any drop
/ in profits through dulIncss IN radio
! equipment.
Copper Demand Active.
George w. Heyser of the L. T
Hungerford Brass and Copper Com
pany, large consumers of refined cop
per. predicts 1S-cent copper within
| the next two months. Old stocks, he
| said which had hung heavy on the
| market since 1920 had now passed
into consumption and demand was
such that the mines had difficulty in
| meeting it IN view OF present labor
| shortage.
This demand" he continued. is
coming from domestic sources and
from Great Britain, the orient Spain,
italy and Scandinavia. Buying by
! France and Germany, which formerly
| was one of the big factors of the for
eign trade, has practically been cut
of. There is firm feeling III the
PfnE Fll Irr- - -
justment of the Ruhr controversy
viii be arrived at and that those two
countries will again enter the market
for copper. When they DO, their pur-
| chaSe viii more than counterbal-
ance any probable falling off in do
mestic demand"
Zinc consumption in the last three
months has been higher than any
peace time period.
Floor Covering Prices Up.
| Formal opening of the fall lines cf
/ the carpet and rug manufacturers
! took place today, and while prices
were generally advanced the ir-
creases were not of extreme propoT-
tions Heavy business was booked
before the opening and it became evil
dent from the trend OF the market To-
day that most manufacturers would
be compelled TO run at capacity To
fill their orders and that some orders
Crop Conditions Better
Storms and snow fiurries have re
moved all danger from dry weather
and lack of moisture for the agr!-
IcuIturists of the west. although they
have retarded spring work 70 some
textent The changes in the Weathe
proved hard on feeder cattle, out far
! stock weathered the storms in fine
ishape Stxty-two implement dealers
of Kansas. Oklahoma and Texas are
lin Milwaukee today to inspect the
iAllis Chalmers factory. They Will
itake home with them $50 tractors for
the southwestern farmers, the largest
individual shipment OF the kind ever
made in the industry.
| Grain Outlook Bright.
| FORT WORTH, April (Special)-
From indications in the great wheat
fields of the Texas panhandle and the
Isouth plains, grain growers of those
ivast districts will have only one bur
den this year The harvest VIII re
Hate. This was caused by lalGness o.
fall rains Estimates today place the
condition of the growing Wheat as
high as 90 per cent, and none places
lit lower than rs per cent. The acreage
is about normal
Three New Lake Lines.
| DETROIT, April tSpeciaD-TheTe
have been announcements mere ~ eIss
last few days of three new boat hnes
to to- operate on the great lakes, ono Of
them running between Montreal and
Chicago Shipping authorities mere
say that not since the rallroadS gaEe
Iun their lake boats has there been
such a promising outlook for lake
shipping as this year Industry IN
states bordering the lakes, they say,
has grown faster than the railroads
can handle II.
| Good Trade in Northwest
SEATTLE. April . (SpeciaD.-De-
tmand for the principal commodities
iof the Pacific northwest continues to
equal or exceed the available sup
Div, except in tho case OF farm
products Prices in nearly every case
Dtstribution of goods, as measured
by bank debts and wholesale and
retail sales. is proceeding at rate
hitherto unequaled. Collections have
Improved materially, rejecting tho
! imnroved financial condition of the