Evening star., 1923-11-24
BY STUART r. WEST.
.pecial patch to The Star

Specidi Dispdtcn 10 L ne otar
NEW YORK. November 24.-The
upward movement in the stock mar
ket has gone too far to be regarded
any longer as a mere recovery. 1t
has been a fresh advance, expressing
| more general feeling Of confidence
in the business outlook for 1924.
The main contention of those who
looked pessimistically at the future
has been that, while the general trade
volume was admittedly large, condi-
tions in certain basic Industries were
| unfavorable and were likely to
spread. Moreover, it has been claimed
that producers could not put up
( prices sufficiently to offset the In
| crease in labor and other costs.
| Hence, the conclusion was drawn
that there was to be a steady
| dwindling Of the profit margin all
along the line.
Pig Iron and Rubber Improve.
Recent events have all been against
these two propositions. A week ago
signs of Improvement were noted in
copper, one of the basic Industries
| included in the list of the depressed.
! During the past week two other con-
| sp1cuous weak spots have shown de-
cided Improvement. One is pig iron,
| the other the rubber and tire trade.
/ iron prices, after six months of un-
| interrupted decline, finally reached
| a level where buying was attracted
! in great enough quantity to bring
about a turn.
! There has been similar evidence that
such over production as existed a
while ago in automobile tires has
been corrected. AS for the idea of
mounting costs eating up profits. this
| has not been borne out in the earn
roads or Of the general run of the big
manufacturing and mining enter
| prises. Railway net revenues were
held back during the first eight
appropriations for maintenance for
equipment repairing the damage done
by the shopmen's strike of 1922. But
in the two succeeding months. with
these appropriations more normal, the
net has gone ahead rapidly and the
railroads are making more money
than they have I'm many years.
shorter Day Has Not Hurt steel.
In the case Of most of the larger
steel companies the wage increases
instituted last spring and the shorter
working day put into effect in the
summer have not had the unfavor-
able effect which many were predict
ing. The Steel Corporations third
quarter report was a revelation of the
ability to absorb increased overhead.
Equally surprising were the third
quarter statements of the porphyry
coppers, which showed that the labor
problem had been successfully met
and that costs had been reduced so as
to offset the decline in copper prices.
Even the oil companies have made a
good deal better showing lately than
was looked for.
Wall Street Sees Good Times.
The Wall street markets of the
| last week have had something more
| in mind that the discovery that the
| pessimism of the summer and early
| autumn was overdone. They have
been looking more TO the future and
! have been registering the opinion
| that even in cases like oil and steel
| whereas yet there has been little
! improvement, the turn Is near al
| hand.
In fact. from the prices received
| Texas districts, telling of restricte ed
| crude oil production. it will be 4
surprise If the figures during the
! next week or so do not indicate
, much more of a change than any
| suggested up to now. In the ca se
| of steel IL is pretty well established ID
| that supplies in consumers hands are
| running low and that the time can
| not be far distant when new busi-
ness will be flowing in more freely.
Tnx Reduction Would Help Busineess.
The apparently universal sentiment
| in favor of tax reduction would seem
| to make il reasonably probable that
something will be done a the COM
| ing session of Congress. How much
good this would do the business situ-
alton depends upon the size of the