Evening star., 1924-02-09
MARYLAND Business Gains IN Year;
Viroi,,iu Falls Off Fiue Per Cent
Babson Finds Vest Virginia Has Not
Changed--Sums Up Conditions il,
Big Eastern Industrial Centers.

possible. scene Of Industrial difficulties
this spring. Though the latest ten
denotes have been somewhat more
! FAVORABLE from a sales standpoint,
the labor outlook is rather important.
In summarizing the situation in this
section three rather interesting points
stand out:
1. There will be but few wage ad-
vaces during 1924 in New York, Penn
sylvania, Delaware. New Jersey.
advances, of course. are a direct and
powerful stimulus to local business.
In fact. some directors of sales re-
gard them as one of the most i'm
portant guides to a locality's buy
ing power, especially if their mer-
chandise is of kind that appeals
particularly to industrial wage work
ers. During 1924 it will probably be
difficult to find many localities where
wages are being advanced. At best.
on level, and in many places mod
crate reductions will probably be
witnessed.
Recent Wage Advances.
Among the localities in which wage
increases of various amounts, have
recently come to attention there can
be listed Steelton, Pa; Wilkes Barre,
Pa; Carbondale, Pa; Baltimore, Nd
NAoi eoi'o"H, w. Nd., rdiIihOHl, w.
Va; Binghamton, n. y; Syracuse,
n. V. and Buffalo. " Y.
: 81 Any Legislation resulting in a
reduction of federal taxes should be
beneficial to these North Atlantic
states, which pay-or. rather. "col-
, lect-about one-half the total taxes
of the government. Reduction of
taxes would be a boom to practically
every type of locality. The point
which many overlook is the division
of these beneficiaries into three dis
tinct groups. First, shere is the
younger city or town which has been
; bending every energy toward attract
ing and developing new industries.
Such programs have been seriously
. handicapped by the tendency of capi-
tai to shun tax-infested industries.
Undoubtedly many of the smaller
cities in this group of states have
suffered from this. Second. there is
the older locality. This has been
damaged not only by the attitude of
capital but by the loss of labor. La
terprise not directly productive.
, Third. there is the rural community
that has succumbed to temptation and
Saddled itself with mountains of debt
, because bond issues have been so easy
to put across. With reduction pro-
gram vigorously carried out, all these
groups of localities will get new
lease of life and new business oppor-
tunitieS will be created. If business
needs any one tonic. it is tax re-
duction.
Advertising Shows Trend.
3. Newspaper and magazine advertis-
ing play a very important part in the
activities of this section. 4 careful COM
parison of the volume Of advertising in
some of the important cities of these
states Indicates an interesting relation
between advertising and the trend of
local business. Newspaper advertising
surely increases local business. When
advertising falls off local business de-
, clines. In fact, you can almost take
|. the statistics of a locality's newspaper
advertising as Il measurement of the
trend of it's business. For example, the
figures indicate that both newspaper
advertising and business are increasing
almost in unison in Scranton, Philadel-
phia and Rochester.
With general business running about
3 per cent above normal. as indicated
by the current position of the Babson-
chart, it is probable that the district
is running slightly under normal, but
no definite trend in one way or the