The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-09-01
FREIGHT LOADED WEEK. OF AUG. l6
 IS 1924 RECORD
Signs At Hand Of Ap- proach Of Seasonal Bus
 mess Increase

NEW YORK, Aug. 31.-Signs of the approach of the usual seasonal pick up in business, and holiday lassitude in the chief speculation markets sere features of the past week in finance and commerce.
 The quietness in the markets, no doubt, can be attributed partly to the | fact that strong speculative momNts had come to a natural halting iloint. It cannot be denied, however, that the vaca ton season, that winds up with Labor day, has reduced the size of the l'trading public and diminished the vol ume of buying and selling.
 One of the more interesting industrial reports concerned railroad car load ings. The number of cars loaded with revenue freight in the week ended Au- gust 16, was 953,O00, a new high rec ord for the year. It reflected the usual seasonal movement of goods. Larger shipments of grain, stimulated by higher prices for various products of this kind, were partly responsible for | the increase in the total.
 Decrease Is Slight.
 The present movement still runs be- hind that of year ago, as in the cor responding week of last year 1,040, GOO cars were loaded. The falling off amounts, however, only to about 8 per cent compared with Il per cent month ago. 1 Compilations of railroad earnings for July indicated that net earnings for | the month, when account is taken of the reaction in general business, would be relatively satisfactory. Estimates have been made that the roads will be able to show AZ per cent of the inter- state commerce commissions valuation. While this is materially below the flair return" of "A per cent, it is not at all bad for month in which the indus trial reaction probably reached its low point.
 Reports from the steel industry, in dicated that consumers were buying to cover current needs. This buying is sufficient to keep the country's plants operating at about 50 per cent of ca pacity, perhaps at a slightly higher figure. There is every reason to be- lieye that the low point was touched during the early part of July, when operations amounted to only about 40 per cent of capacity.
 Steel Prices Unchanged.
 The situation. in steel prices was un- CuduScu. buying was HOC strong enough to make the market really firm when manufacturers were not inclined to shade existing quotations except for exceptional business. Consumers still feel that with the industry in it's pres ent state there was a chance that prices ultimately would go lower.
 After all, for the steel market to turn strong it is necessary that distinct i'm provement occur in the industries that consume steel. While some betterment was noted here and there, these gains were comparatively mild affairs. They did not go far beyond an improvement il sentiment. However, the trend seems definitely upward rather than in the reverse direction.
 In the commodity markets the feature was weakness in cotton prices. The government crop report that indicated d yield of close to 100000 bales prompted selling that resulted in new low for the year, with the December future at about 23.75 cents to the pound. While this reaction may have an unfavorable effect on the textile in dustry, it's long range implications are bullish. What really troubles the tex tile industry is the fact that the high cost of. raw materials prevents the manufacturers from quoting prices that appeal to the trade and to the public 4 plentiful supply of the staple and reasonable price for it will ultimately bring revival in cloth making.
 Wheat prices have been fairly steady.