The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-03-09
BUSINESS K ON ,.
 HEALTHY BASIS
Nation's Industrial Condition Declared By Writer To Be
 Gaining Daily
,. y wlLL ioHnsoM

NEW YORK, March S.--The indus
 trial condition of the country despite
 isolated setbacks, most of which have
 proved to be legacies from the past
 year. or. even farther back--as, for in-
 stance, the frozen credits Of the fer
 tuizer companies--improves daily.
 Theresis no:denying the facts. We have
 record car loadings. we have reduced
 crude oil production,; copper consump-
 tiop is catching up readily with produc-
 tion--and so on. !sa
 Yet the stock market acts as though
 IL had lost every power of interpreta-
 ton that has ever been ascfibed to. it.
 The past week has been the dulicst
 period of the stock exchange in ,years.
 The whole situation was In the hands of the ptofessionals, but they were hes ftaut about carrying matters too far.
 They could not ,disiodke stock. Conse-
 anently these professionals. who were
 shorts, were forced to cover.
 However, 1t is well to bear in mind
 ness, despite the lack of forward buy
 Ing IS healthy.
 Advance Is Overdue Saturday the news came out that the Il oil companies had announced an ad- lance in crude oil prices. This advance IGWass overdue when one considers the |t tnssts Of the oil industry. Leaders in the petroleunh trade have been hesitaiit to snnounce advances while the oil hear inss iny Washington were in progress
 but courage was gained toward the Il weekend as 1t became more recognized tn at politics and their ramifications wsre ealling for major attention.
 H Praifie Oil and Gas advanced crude oti prices 15 to 25 cents in the mid H Sentinent area. and all of the big com | ps nieA there met this advance Imme- 0iAteiy Afterwards the Ohio oil com rany advanced grades of crude 15 r pts>tn the central area. It Is rumored .aet another advance in mid-continent pf tces VIII be Announced next week. | Tonnage Gain Expected
 Another item on the constructive side | Y lexpected to be the monthly tonnage | tlfures Of the United States Steel cor ns ration, which will be made public II pnday. They are expected to show a | q 8ht increase over the figures of lasi l "a pnth. New, orders and deiiyeries. it I is EsaidS have : been very evenly. bal | A1eed. As a whole, the. stock market I NTkes evidence of having quiet confi- Stsnce with no disposition for a break French francs made another new tecord low, but this reaction had no effect on local markets. 1t is the gen. | rat realization that internal French I eondltions,; combined with a concerted I snort selling campaign, are responsible I or the repeated breaks. A flood of sell. inS orders, mostly <from European sources, poured into the local market the opening and continued through. floM the trading. The low mark was soa411s: In a,little over week French francs have lost nearly full cent. AitnouGh emphasizing that conservs. ism stiH prevails in business, the week. \ trade reviews were not interpreted I pessimtstic by any means. One 4 $ency pointed out that while current
 9psiHess lacked the feverish activity nscn prevailed year ago, it also
 marked the earlier rnovernenf anS which led to setback in many quar.