Evening star., 1925-09-05
COAL STRIKE FAILS
TO RETARD TRADE
Fuel Price Boost Only Result
Yet of Mine Suspension.
Business Spotty.
BY j. C. R0YLE.
Special Dispatch 70 The Star.

NEW YORK, September 5.-Trade
volume undoubtedly has been affected
this week by preparations for the
Labor day holiday. The check will
become even more apparent next
week. but the dip reflects in no way
a real break in prosperity. The an
thracite strike has not yet served to
diminish carloadings, which continue
at extraordinary heights. So far this
year they have exceeded those for the
corresponding period of any other
year.
Retailers have increased the price
OF anthracite to consumers in some
centers, as was predicted in these
columns, but the strike so far has
! not rufffed the surface of business, in
tereSt being kept alive mainly by
you're another" statements from the
| miner and operator leaders.
Retail Trade Spotty.
Retail trade is somewhat spotty.
and seemingly is better in other cen
ters than in New York. But it is well
ahead of the business of last year,
both in volume and margins of profit,
and is expected to show a decided
squirt after the coming holiday.
Announcement that the Amoskeag
Mills, one of the large textile pro-
ducers, will open their Fall lines
shortly and will feature rayonized
cotton fabrics, is taken in the trade
to indicate that the vogue of the arti-
fetal silk goods is firmly established,
and that New England mills must
make them a part of their production
If they are to lift themselves out of
| the textile slump. The mills in the
New England district will reopen
after Labor day on schedules proVid-
ing for operations at about so per
cent of capacity.
Silks i'm Great Demand.
Demand for real silk goods is un-
precedented for the season of the
year. and mills expect activity to con-
tinue throughout the Winter About
$4,000 bales of raw silk a month are
going into construction.
On the basis of orders already
placed and those now pending. the
shoe manufacturers will have the
busiest Fall experienced for many
years. July was better than June, Au-
gust was better than July, and the in
| crease is expected to manifest itself
again this month. Business in wool
ems and worsteds is improving, but
| the gain is gradual.
New lumber business is coming in
at a rate which exceeds both produc-
| ton and shipments at most mills.
Building material costs are fairly
stable. with wages for common labor
for the country as a whole, at SO
cents an hour.
Auto Output Heavy.
Pig iron prices have begun TO stiffen
and the steel mills are we'll engaged
production averaging about 72 per
- 1.
price reductions have spurred automo-
bile output, and industrial employ
ment in Detroit rose $3.50 to a new
high for all time of 244, ,002 workers.
This was an increase of .S71 over the
previous high mark made in February,
1924, and a gain Of 46, 900 workers
since the first of the year.
In general the situation in the agri-
cultural districts improved during the
week. 1t was rather significant that
the Joint Stock Land Bank Associa.
ton, which met at Colorado Springs
announced it's plan to reduce interest
on loans to farmers to 5h per cent or
less at about the same time income
tax figures We're made public.
More Land Bank Bonds.
The plan OF the banks of the asso-
citation is to market bonds of the
banks, which are tax exempt, at a
rate not exceeding Az per cent. II
was indicated that about SIS 900 ,00C
of joint stock land bonds would be
fioated in the next four months.
Cuts in gasoline prices continued in
spite of the fact that the daily peak
consumption of the year probably will
be reached Sunday or Monday. The
destruction Of the dirigible Shenan.
doah undoubtedly applied some check
to commercial lighter-than-air avia.
tion planes, but promoters of lighter
than-air freight and passenger ma
chine routes are going ahead as fast
as possible.
Copyright. 1925.)