Evening star., 1924-08-03
PRICE ADVANCE PUT
AT s2,0D0,0(0,0()D
Enormous Increase in VAL
ues in Marking-Up Process
of Past so Days.
LIVING COSTS RISING
Buying Power of Dollar Wanes As
Commodity Rates Are Moved
Upward.
LIVING COSTS RISING
BY HARDEN COLFAX.

BY the relatively simple process of
changing price tags. American m
dustry and finance have marked up
their wares within the past 60 days,
an estimated $1,000, ,000.o 600 to $4,000
o00O During that time, the entire
country, from the farmer to the in
dustrial magnate, apparently has
plunged into Il period of speculation
secondary only to the imitation era
Immediately following the war.
Farmers are holding their live
stock, whca- and cotton, expecting
better prices; manufacturers are
marking up their products here and
there. notably in the case of several
we'll known makes of automobiles,
and are ready to go still higher; iron
and steel producers are taking orders
at present prices for only limited
period, apparently secure in the con-
Nirtion that prices have reached the
turn and soon will rebound; and
vendors of stocks and bonds are
hailing the present bull market as
return of the good old days that
spelled prosperity with a capital p.
Dollar Losing Buying Power.
The whole country industrial, agri-
cultural and financial seems to be
betting on the bull side of virtually
all markets. Even the railroads,
after years in rags of poverty, are
hlithely leading the stock market
into new high values. Liberty bonds
arc at the highest points ever reached
and money is both cheap and plenti-
full. To find "a parallel to the pres
eQt situation in presidential cleo
tfon year it rs necessary to go back.
with the Single exception of 1915,
when the European war was acceler-
ating all American industry, further
than the memory of most living
voters.
AS commodity prices rise. the buy
ing power of the dollar wanes. d tru-
ism reflected in the last cost of living
figures made public by the Depart
ment of Labor. When those figures,
however. the upswing of values had
however, the upswing of values has
only started. The next showing Will
cover period when tie trend was
in full operation and will show, il is
believed. surprisingly long step
upward in the cost of living.
Living Costs Going Up.
Almost all the staples that go on
the table have risen in company
with the prices of wheat. corn and
live stock. Meats are higher, flour is
much higher and the price of bread
will rise soon. it is thought, in some
localities if wheat prices sustain
their present tendency. The price of
cotton has risen cents a pound
within three weeks and raw wool
values. after dropping to their low
est since 1922. have strengthened
greatly and are still advancing-a
tendency that will inevitably increase
the cost of clothing. it is believed
here
Fuel costs are tending upward also.
The coal industry is almost unani-
nous in the belief that it has come
TO the end Of its long dullness. Prices
are hardening as business grows bet
ter. Signs multiply that the steel
trade has touched the end of the de-
cline. Indeed. the price of steel
scrap. one of the most sensitive in
dexes of values in the trade, already
has turned upward, selling today at
81 a ton and better over the price of
mid-July.
Building construction alone shows
a tendency to continue its decline
and that is due. it is believed here, to
two factors. The first is the belief
entertained by many in the industry.
that the country is beginning to
catch up somewhat with its building
program. The second is purely sea-
sonal. One expects a decline as fall
approaches.
Grent Advance in stocks.
OF the $4,000, 600. 900 to 1000, ,000,-
600 advance in values recorded in the
past two months, approximately half
it is estimated, has been registered by
securities listed on the New York
Stock Exchange. One of the leading
trade reviewers places the rise in 233
stocks alone at more than $1,000
100000 within that period. Bonds
also have risen to much higher fig
ures than early in the year. but no
measure of the total has been at
tempted.
The remaining half of the general
advance has gone, it is estimated, to
mine operator, the automobile maker.
the silk manufacturer, the rubber
producer and to other producers and
sellers of staples.
Government specialists here regard
the advances as an expression of a
general belief that better times are
at hand.
Gain Partly Psychological.
To some extent, however, the ad-
vances are regarded as psychological
Wall Street houses, which will
handle s10,000.000 in bets on the re-
suit of the presidential election, have
sounded the keynote, it is thought. Of
speculation, which exists in indus
trial circles as well as political.
The tendency to bet-whether on
the election. the stock market the
prices of wheat. corn and cotton, or
the likelihood of higher prices of in
dustria1 products-is greater now
than it has been for some time. 1t
will become even stronger with the
approach of fall, it Is thought by
many here. and sharp fluctuations are
looked for as the fever rises and
falls.