The Kennewick courier-reporter. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1914-1938, 1923-03-08

the number of spindles in operation
for Pennsylvania the number of blast
furnaces, for New York the total
foreign trade, etc. The best baro-
meter for the Industrial West is the
total car loadings at Chicago. These
since January 1st, 1923, are running
well ahead of the corresponding
weeks of 1922 and compare well with
the total car loadings for the entire
country. For the current month of
1922 the net car loadings were about
100000. For the current month IF
1928 the car loadings will show fig
ures over Is per cent greater, possib-
ly final figures will show an increase
of 100000 cars. Moreover, of this
increase only 10000 were of an in
crease in coal loadings. In other
words, if the car loadings of the cur
rent month are 100000 only about
100000 of these will be coal cars,
compared with over 100000 coal cars
loaded during the same period in last
year. This shows that the great in
crease is in building materials, live
stock, merchandise, ETC., there being
no appreciate change in grain car
loadings. It is true that these figures
apply to the entire country; but pro-
portionately they also apply to this
section of which Chicago is the CEN
ter
"The middle cities and states are
recording increases Of from 10 to 35
per cent over year ago. South Bend,
Indiana, leads compared with last
year, but Des Moines, Iowa; Peoria,
Illinois and Kalamazoo, Michigan are
closely catching up. Indianapolis and
Terre Haute are not doing as well as
they should, owing to some unknown
reason. The largest cities of this Sec
ton, such as Chicago, st. Louis, De-
troit and Milwaukee, are reporting
about the same as last year. Some
think this is due to the natural lag
of the large cites; but others believe
that the medium sized cities are due
for much larger proportional
growth. 1 am inclined to this belief.
If SO, the best opportunities during
the next few years will be in the medi-
UNI sized cities which have better
available labor, lower rents and much
pleasanter living conditions. The heavy
increase in railroad freight rates and
the development of good roads should
also help the medium sized city.
"The automotive industry which is
largely located in this section, con-
tinues to thrive. Many talk Of this
industry reaching point Of satura-
ton. Of course, it will some day;
but when that time comes it will
require fully as many persons as are
now engaged in the industry, to sup
ply the cars and parts needed for re-
placement in order to keep the mar
ket saturated. 1t is true that some Of
the smaller companies will be forced
out of business and all companies
will tend to build lighter and cheaper
cars, but the industry as. a whole will
continue prosperous for many years
to come. This means to Michigan, IL
linois and Indiana. 1928 will be a
good automobile year.
This section tributary to Chicago
is also profiting from the great resi-
Dental building boom now on thru
out the country. have already re-
ferred to the cause of this boom
namely, the exodus of people from the
cities to the suburbs and the country
due to the convenience of the automo-
bile. The first industries to benefit
from the building boom were the ce-
ment and brick people, then lumber