Evening star., 1923-09-16
PROSPERITY WAVE GROWS.
EVEN FARMER BENEFITED
Government Surveys and Those of Busi-
ness Bodies Show Every Line of
Industry Feels Boom Period.

EAR and 29,914,000 in 1920. which
as the best previous record except
.e war peak of t918-S1,111 900.
Business Increases.
The railroads have been doing better
and better as the year went on. Prior
| to 1923 the railroads loaded million
| cars a week seven times in all their
history Five of those weeks were in
| the fall of 1920 and two in the fall Of
| 1922. Thus far this year they have
had eleven million-car weeks. with
| the heaviest traffic of the fall months
| still ahead of them. Prior to 1923
| the largest number of cars ever load
I ed in one week was 1.01S,539, for the
| week of October 13, 1920. This year
I they have already exceeded that peak
seven times, and the average for the
| whole month of August was 1,041 900,
which was more for each week than
! for any previous week in their his
tory. TIE last week in August, the
| LAST on record, the car Ioadings totaled
l,O93,000. They have had a million
car week every week since June, eX-
! cept for the week of the July holi-
day and Of the late President Hard
) ing's funeral. So that the railroads
! have been consistently loading more
. than million cars a week.
There is a helpful thought in why
the railroads have been able to handle
this unprecedented business and at
/ the same time have $4,000 idle cars
on the tracks. something that never
/ happened before. "a They had good
weather; (2), there was peace in the
railroad industry, and generally with
no serious labor troubles: (3), the
railroads kept their equipment in bet
ter shape, which means about $50, OGg
more serviceable cars than ever be-
fore, and tD they got splendid CO.
operation from the shippers. with the
department Of Commerce giving the
! Stanchest support. In other words.
the railroads did their share in I'M
provement and handling their eauip-
ment; labor did its share In avoiding
trouble, and the people did their share
IN cooperation. So there has been a
real ERA of good feeling" the last
few months, which have accelerated
the arrival of general business pros
perlty and better times for all.
Survey shows Gains.
Amazing increase in business and
most encouraging Improvement in
business conditions is shown in a
comprehensive and reliable survey bv
the Department of Commerce. This
survey was made by trained trade in
Veshgators and is nationwide. COW
ering all phases of domestic business,
including textiles, metals, fuels, au-
tomobiles, construction, transporta-
tion. employment, retail trade. adver.
Using, postal receipts and financial
actiVltles' comparing figures for the
hrst seven months of 1923 with the
corresponding period in 1922, as fol-
lows:
consumption of wool by textile
mills increased from 36I.052, 900
pounds. grease equivalent, in the first
seven months of 1922. to S99. 2Io. 900
pounds in 1929. gain of lO.G per
cent, in spite OF smaller receipts of
domestic wool.
Cotton consumption in textile mills
increased from 3,424,S61 bales in the
lSzz period to 4,002,506 bales in 1923,
2 gain of 16.9 per cent.
The output of knit underwear in
creased per cent over the 1922
period and untitled orders for the
product at the end OF July, 1923, were
90 per cent greater than a year ago.
indicated consumption of raw silk
through Withdrawals from ware
houses increased 14.8 per cent over
the first seven months of 1922.
Pig Iron Production Up.
Pig iron production, with an output
of 23,50s,000 tons in the first seven
months of 1923, has exceeded last
years period by 62.6 per cent, while
steel ingot production has increased
from 1S,9S0,0o0 to 26,729,00o tons, or
40.S per cent.
Untitled orders Of the Steel Corpor-
alton at the end of July totaled s.
9l1,00o, as against 5,776,0o0 a year
ago. Bookings of commercial steel
castings for seven months increased
52.2 per cent, and fabricated struc-
tural steel bookings were 3.8 per
cent higher than year ago. In the
Independent sheet mills production of
sheets increased 44.3 per cent.
Shipments of locomotives from
manufacturers increased from 400 to
1,644, gain of 1855 per cent, and
unhlled orders at the. end of the
period were over twice as large as
year ago.
Coal production is not a fair COM
parison with last year on account of
the miners strike, but crude pc
troleum output has gained 2S.4 per
cent over the corresponding period
last year, with a total output of 402,-
$4,000 barrels in the seven months of
1873. The output of petroleum prod
ucts has also increased, gasoline
gaining rs per cent, kerosene So per
cent, gas and fuel oil 1877 per cent
and lubricating oil 1874 per cent.
Auto Output Higher.
The output of automobiles has in
creased 6S per cent over the seven
months of 1922, with 2,126,se5 pas
senger cars and 227,100 trucks made
this year from January through July.
Consumption of rubber by tire man.
ufacturers increased 40.5 per cent.
Building construction has exceeded
the seven months period of 1922 by
4S per cent, based on contracts
awarded in the twenty-seven- north
eastern states. Lumber production
for all reported species except North
Carolina pine was considerably larger
than in the 1922 period Face brick
output was 10.2 per cent larger than
last year, cement was 2S.2 per cent
larger and all classes of enamel ware
showed large increases.
Panama canal traffic has been the