Imperial Valley press., 1923-02-27
BUSINESS GOOD
ON COAST SAYS
RESERVE AGENT
January Was Best Month
Since 1920 - Less
Unemployment

The following summary of busi-
ness conditions in the Twelfth Fed
eral Reserve district has just been
issued by John Perrin, chairman of
the board and Federal Reserve
Sgent:
/. Not since 1920 has the opening
= month Of the year been character
lied by the industrial and business
activity which marked January,
1923. The total volume of business
transacted, as Indicated by debts to
individual accounts at banks in 20
clearing house centers, was l6.5 per
cent greater than in January, 1929,
80 per cent greater than in Janu-
ary, 1921, and 1.5 per cent greater
than in January, 1920. A recent
survey conducted by this bank
showed that there had been an aver
age increase of 27.2 per cent in the
number Of men employed in the prin
cipal industries of the district dur
ing the year ended February /, 1923.
in the majority of cases increases
|. in employment had been accompan-
led by advances in wages.
Lumber Active
The lumber industry is expcrienc-
ing great activity. Handicapped by
adverse weather conditions the
camps and mills Of the district have
been unable to supply the increasing
demand. Production during Janu
ary, 1929 was II per cent greater
than during January, 1922, ship
ments 20 per cent greater, and ord
ers received so per cent greater. I'm
filled orders at the end of the month
were 64 per cent in excess of orders
held on February l, 1922. The short
age of experienced workers previous
ly reported from the mining camps
OF the district has become less acute,
and production of copper, lead, sill
yer, and zine, is increasing. New
records Of production are reported
from the oil fields of California, the
daily output of petroleum during
January, 1923, having been 530,Ss5
barrels, an increase of &c per cent
over the previous month and 68.1
per cent over January, 1922, raising
the amount of oil in storage to g.
G35,5SS barrels, new high record.
Reporting flour millers of the dis
trict are producing nearly 90 per
cent more flour than they were one
year ago. Building activity is again
increasing, after diminishing tenn
porarily during November and Dec
ember. Both number and value of
building permits issued during Jan
nary, 1928 were greater than in the
previous month or the same month
of last year.
Public Buys Literally
n, Trade at retail during January,
\ 1923 was greater in value and vol
Ame than in January of the two
previous years and was approx
. mately at the level of January 1920.
Wholesale distributors in all of the
10 reporting lines of business ad-
vised substantial increases in the
value of their sales in January,
1923 compared with January, 1922,
significant among which was an in
crease of 66.l per cent in the value
of sales of agricultural implements.
Business failures during the first
month Of 1923 were the same in
number as in January, 1922 but the
amount of liabilities involved was
less by 6l.2 per cent.
Credit Need Grows
Expansion of productive and dis
tributive activity has increased the
demand for bank credit. Loans and
discounts of 66 reporting member
banks stood at 1919, 162,0 900 on Feb
rnary 7th, 1875, 900 above the fig
.slres for January 10th. Total de-
Posits of the reporting banks con-
! tinue to rise, each new weekly figure
being a record one. At 1925, ,000,-
600 on February 7th their deposits
were $lS5,000,0O0 above the low
point of 1920 (November l2th).
There was a gain of $l0,077,000 in
total discounts of the Federal Re
serve Bank during the period from
January 10th to February l4th, all
of which occurred in the city of San
Francisco. Borrowings of country
member banks were practically un-
changed at $18,000,000.
Prices of the principal products
of the district fluctuated within
narrow limits during the month, but
disregarding seasonal changes, the
general trend was upward. Import
ant increases in the prices of cot
ton, wool, lumber, copper and lead
! were reported.