San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1923-10-07
HSTOCKS GAIN
! ! moderately
! DURING WEEK
Selling Movement Of Sep
TENDER Was Overdone,
Says West.
FARM PRICES RISE
.Pessimistic Views on Agri-
!. cultural Situation
Disappear.
EARN PRICES RISE
By STUART p. WEST.

By STUART p. WEST.
Copyright by The San Antonio Light
New York, Oct. 6.-The past week
has been a period Of moderate i'm
proyement in the financial and in most
of the commodity markets.
Stocks rebounded after last months
selling movement which is now con-
ceded to have been overdone. There
has been a better inquiry with a ris-
ing tendency for bonds. Cash corn has
sold above the dollar mark for the
first time in three years following the
most remarkable upward swing Of the
agricultural season. There has been a
fair recovery in wheat, and cotton, de-
spite adverse developments, has held
within 2 cents pound of its highest.
One Of the principal points made by
/ those who took pessimistic view three
months ago was the alleged depression
in the farming sections. The conten.
ton was that the farmers were going
TO make little or no money and that
mis- would react upon the demand for
merchandise and bring about decline
in other lines. Even then the grounds
for this opinion were inadequate. But
such as they were, they have now en-
I, trely disappeared.
i, Condition Not So Bad.
Il The wheat farmers, of course, must
! reconcile themselves to the fact that
the 1923 crop cannot be marketed at
a profit. All remedial efforts will be
bent toward keeping down the planting
for 1924 by devoting part of the wheat
there is better demand. But the I'M
CT tnru yrh
more than offset by the advance IN
other farm products. Farm prices,
taken as a whole, are well above
where they were a year ago. At the |
same time. as the Federal Reserve
Board pointed out, there has been no
commensurate advance in retail
prices; that is, in the prices of what
the farmer has to buy. Hence, the
purchasing power in the agricultural
states turns out to be greater than 1t
vas at this time in 1922.
Trade Booming In Southwest
F4,How this has affected the general
ntuation in a large section of the
farming territory was set forth in the
latest monthly bulletin Of the Kansas
City Reserve Bank. Referring to the
rise In farm prices, the review said
that 1t had already resulted in a SUBJ |
Gtantial increase in the volume of fall |
trade. Later on it spoke of 'the enor-
NOUS volume of business at this sea- |
son" calling for bank operations on |
. tremendously large scale. These are |
strong terms, yet it is not to be as
pumed that they are an exaggeration |
1T only goes to show how very
much mixed the present situation is |
between different parts of the coun- |
Try. In sections which take their cue |
from the corn farmers and the live |
stock ,raisers, there is unusual activ- |
ity and q measure of real prosperity. |
In other sections, influenced more
particularly by the status of the whea.
grower, there is uncertainty and some |
thing of q slow down. IL one were to
gauge the entire outlook by the job
bling trade, which continues excep-
tionally large, he would be decidedly
optimistic.
I. Cotton Mill Closes
On the other hand anybody look
ing ahead from the standpoint of the
cotton goods mill owners would be
pretty much depressed. Those who
have ben skeptical or even pessimistic
because of the high labor costs, main
tanning that these were eating up
profit margins, set a good deal of
store BY the shutdown Of the worlds
aargest cotton goods plant and the
threatened curtailment at other mills
. 1t 10 noted, however, that the in
crease in wages is only one, and not
4 the main cause assigned for the clos
ing Of the Amoskeag cotton factory.
The principal difficulty has been that
. mill owners with reduced supplies of
! their raw material have had to pay
maximum prices and now find that
they are unable to pass the increased
costs onto the consumer.
If the cotton goods situation Is not
altogether unique. it IS certainly not
at all typical. The increase in pay
4 folls is serious problem in Some
lines. 1t is not so serious in others.
1t all depends upon the ability to
make up the increase through higher
prices without these higher prices re-
sulting in diminished demand With
the steel producers and the coal own
ers, the result of the experiment is
etill In doubt.
-. More Favorable Points.
\ There are more points that are
favorable in the business situation
than points unfavorable. Still the lat
ter are numerous enough to be taken
into serious account and to stand in
the way of any early revival ON the
stock exchange. Professional Wall
street was just as unreasonably pes
simistic month ago as it was in
September and again in November,
1922. On both these latter occasions
this pessimism was shown to have
been unwarranted.
In in the recovery Of the last mid
week it was perceived that specula-
ton for the decline had been overdons
and that the market, pushed down as
low AZ it was in the middle of Sep