Evening star., 1925-02-15
F|GURESLAy BARE
TREND IN BUSINESS
Weekly Summary Gives Spe-
ciaI Insight Into Most Vital
Factors in Finance.
BY STUART r. WEST.

Special Dispatch to The star.
NEW YORK, February 14.-wall
Street long has valued what the aver
age citizen is just beginning to rec
ognize as an accurate business ba-
rometer-weekly summaries of finsn-
cial and business statistics. Far from
being merely heavy, dry reading, these
summaries disclose at a glance the
trend of business, affecting the cor
ner grocer and small Investor, as we'll
as the great banker and Industrial
magnate.
For instance. in the statistical table
published in The Sunday Star will be
found comparative figures on railway
car loadings, which In themselves
present a picture OF progress UP or
down in business conditions. The
volume Of traffic passing over the
railroads of the country is accepted
as the most accurate measure of the
rise and fall in trade. II gross ton
mage is on the decrease, then business
is going down hill. If It is on the in
crease. then business is moving for
ward The state of the coal industry,
Tor example. can be got at more ex-
acliy py the variations week by week
In the amount Of coal hauled than in
any other way.
Value OF Comparfsons.
why does every big Wall Street
mouse make such point about keep
ing these records? Simply because 1t
can go pack over its files and see by
comparing car loading figures with
tHose or a year and two wears ago
Just what was the relative business
acllVlty or the two periods.
Statlstics on stock and bond aver-
ases, included in the same table, tell
priely out fully the course OF the
markets. One wants to know how
present prices compare with those of
the Dig boom OF 1919. These tables
OF averages give him the answer
mere Is unusual interest, since the
recent German. French and Belgian
issues In foreign government bonds.
Never before have American inyes
tors held this class OF securities on
any such scale. They will be asked
to buy probably a good deal more
within the next few years. Accord
ingly they are very much interested
TO see how these average up from
week to week and how they COM
pare with year ago.
Close Watch on Money.
The money market is being watched
with more than ordinary concern
because many think that the period
Of very low interest rates Is over. If
this is true, then bond values and
investment values generally have
seen the top. Hence, the weekly
comparisons Of call and time money
rates and of Federal Reserve ratios
are of much consequence. They do
not mean so much, perhaps, to the
person who is following the market
day by day, but they do mean a great
deal to the holder of investment
bonds and stocks who check up his
position at the end Of the week to
see IL anything has happened.
Every month when the United
States Steel Corporation puts out its
statement on untitled orders. 1T alb
serbs for the moment, the interest of
the market to the exclusion Of every
thing else.
Steel Orders Held Vital.
The reason is that steel has always
been known as the key note indus
try and, over the entire "a years
since the organization Of the United
States Steel Corporation, these figures
on orders on the books have not
failed to give a true idea of condi-
tions in the steel industry, more often
than not pointing ahead what was
going to happen. Therefore special
interest attaches to records OF un-
filled orders week by week.