Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1924-08-18
Money Holds Easy
Industry Is Slow
Review of the Week

New York, Aug. II (By A. PD-
Continued ease in money. firm mar
kets. and a maintenance of the slow
condition in industry were the fea-
lures of the week in finance and
business. What change there was in
the money situation was in the direc-
ton of further cheapening. A
! limited amount of choice commercial
paper sold on "a per cent basis
at New York. Call money on the
stock exchange at that center con-
! tinued to be loaned at per cent and
was available in the Outside mar
llet' at l IL.
The behavior of the money market
was, quite consistent with the latest
federal Reserve bank statements. For
the system as whole, discounts con-
tinued to shrink, while the reserve
banks still made efforts to keep up
the total of their earning assets by
buying short-term government pa
per. AS circulation was lower and
reserves, chiefly of gold, increased, it
is quite evident that any added de-
mands for accommodation for COM
mercial purposes are not sufficiently
large to offset the continued imports
Of gold.
Reports from the steel industry
showed that the mild improvement
that developed within the past few
weeks has been continued. Produc-
ton of steel for the country as a
whole is now stated to be at nearer
| so than a. percent of capacity. Pig
| iron prices are firmcr. Those of steel
products, however. still are somewhat
heavy. Desirable pieces of bushes $
still bring concessions from the man.
ufacturers.
The condition of the steel industry
| is fair criterion of activity in its
COntributory industries. There is
some pickup here and there: but no
emphatic turn for the better. Some
automobile makers are running at
satisfactory rates but others are find
| ing demand disappointingly small.
Altogether the betterment in this
direction is a small one.
I An encouraging feature was fur
nished by the statistics of car load
! ings for the week ended August 2.
| The total of 945,731 is the highest for
any week this year and is about 90
600 cars greater than the record for
the previous seven days. The gain
is due partly to the heavier shipments
of grain that have come because Of
the harvesting season and the better
prices that the various grains no v
command. The latest total is only
s IL percent below that for the cor !
responding week of last year. Due
ing recent weeks the comparable fig
ure has been about IL percent.
In general the higher prices for
farm products were maintained. Corn
was particularly strong and reached
new high levels with September up to
s1.21 Wheat maintained within few
cents of the years best prices despite
! the indications of larger domestic
yield.
Reports of rain I'm the southwest
coupled with relatizat tons that the
crop in Texas has made good progress.
! brought reactions in cotton prices
Even here, however. the market show
ed considerable ability to rally. Never
theless, it is pointed out that cheaper
cotton is one of the chief necessities
of the present situation. The extreme
stagnation of the textile industry IS
caused by the fact that the high
prices for raw materials compel
prices for finished products that are
| not acceptable to consumers.
How great the curtailment has been
in the cotton textile industry is shown
by the census bureaus report on do
nestle consumption during Jrly. Only
546.611 bales were used by the coun-
try's mills. This is approximately
10000 bales less than were consumed
in July of last year. 1t is the SMALL
est total for any July since the war
began and is the smallest monthly fig
ure since December, 1920.
Continuance of strength in the for
eign exchanges has left the pound
sterling in the reighborhood of sls5s
and the French franc at about 5-sc
TIE progress achieved at the London
reparations conference and the fact
that the New York money market is
! now about / per cent. below that at
London are considered to be response
BILE for recent advances.