Evening star., 1924-01-31
BUSINESS IS GOOD
IN FIFTH DISTRICT
Federal Reserve Board
Finds Buyers Cautious.
Mills Need Orders.
By the Associated Press.

By the Associated Press.
RICHMOND. Va, January 3l.-bus-
ines in December in the hith ieu
erl reserve district. while not e
ceptionally good. was up to the sea
sonal average and on the whole c"i'i
pared favorabIy with December ~.
Notwithstanding year "eo
country appeared to be eh'ei '"s
boom period" according 10 ."e
trict's monthly review OF
and agricultural conditions isueo
here.
South Carolina, says the repof' y
"has made a splendid recovery ,oa
the condition one year ago when'
cause of the ravages or tus tnt,a
boil weevil> and production nta sno was
in other staple crops, the s.ate sf,b
termed the DARK spo'
business men of all classes throusn.
out the district, are tradlnE me-, ,o
cautiously than they did year VT
but they are apparently buying ,rade
they need and a large volume ..
is going on. the review .oeclale9'
Plenty Of Funds Available. +.
Condition reports of menetlr etlr
hanks in leading cities of the nltm
district" the review continues Lii,
some increases in loans ana lsut ,anr
counts outstanding in colnpa 'louN ,r
with January, 1928. put ila.t ., of The
tinued. ability on the paTl ~ ,in,etc
hanks to care for all legitlmate
needs Of their customers. Depos.'s . ,
show a substantial increase durimE =
the past month and are lhu1' i
than they were a year ago. ..a
Fewer business failures were no.e osa
In This district during December' IL 10.
than in that month one year ea' ~,
and the districts average loI 'n
tire year in this respect a,;nn Ma
Coal is declared to be plentitul d anu !
soft coal is much cheaper than IL was
in the winter of 1922-2o.
Textile Mills Lack Orders.
Textile mills are suffering from
scarcity of orders the review say >.
but the mills of the ffth dlstricl
have not materially curtailed the.I
fifth district mills used 39.4 per cent
nf the cotton consumed in the United
States.
Cotton prices have recently shown
some declining tendency. but are sun
around $50 bale above the same pc
riod a year ago. and the yield IN tne
district last fall was 35.9 per cent
greater than the 1922 crop.
"Cnseasonably mild weather was
held chiefly responsible by the review
somewhat slow" i'm December \
large volume of holiday trade was re-
ported, however. Wholesale trade
was seasonally dull. but up to the
average for the corresponding month
of 1922. Business in West Virginia,
asserts the review. "is slower than In
other sections of the district because
Of lack of orders for bituminous
coal, but outside of that state condl-
tions are satisfactory"
Increase I'm Crops.
Referring to South Carolina's
splendid recovery" the review re-
ports increased production in the cot
ton, tobacco, corn, wheat, oat. irish
potato and peanut crops. Satisfactory
prices were received for practically y
all these crops, particularly the cot
ton and tobacco. The report asserts
that "in the arduous task of COM
batting the boil weevil the influence
Of the newspapers was of incalcuiable
value.n
The labor. situation remains. about
as a month ago. says the report, add
ing that the demand for common
labor has somewhat declined, with
the coming of cold weather. though
without causing any appreciate
amount of unemployment.