The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1925-10-14
BUSINESS IS
BETTER THAN
A YEAR AGO
Preliminary Survey Shows
Improvement Quite General
Over Northwest

Business in the ninth Federal Re
serve district during October con-
tinued on Il level well above that %
Il year ago, both in physical quaint
lies and money value, says Il pre-
hminarY survey of agricultural and
financial conditions prepared By the
Federal Reserve bank OF Minneap0-
lis. This improve ment appears to be
quite general, as carloadlngS IN
creased I per cent in the aggregate,
in spite of the fact that the carload
ings OF grain and livestock declined.
The movement of commodities into
this territory. which may be roughly
measured by the classification known
as "misceIleaneous freight, increas-
ed mere than II per cent as compared
with the preceding year. The total
Of debts TO individual accounts re
ported TO US by selected banks were
IL per cent larger than a year ago.
lie cities showing the greatest gains
were Sioux Falls and South st. Paul.
owing to the good prices received for
livestock, and the North Dakota
wheat belt cities Of Grand Forks.
Fargo, Mnot, Jane stown and Dick
lnSun. Shipments Of flour. iron ore
aud linseed products increased sub
Stantlally as compared with Il year
ago. The price situation for agricul-
tural commodities continued favor
able, although there have been de
clIneS recently tor some of the
grains. All livestock prices listed by
this office were higher, except for
feeders, and the prices of grains eX-
hlbited mixed tendencies as compared
with the prices prevailing one year
earlier. Grain stocks in elevators at
Minneapolis and Duluth-SuperiOr
were As per cent larger at the end
OF September than on the same date
last year, the important changes con
sisting of 4 trebling of flax stocks
and increases Of about 10, 60 and 40
per cent, respectively, for barley, oats
and wheat stocks.
Livestock Movement Heavy
When the September volume is
compared with that of the preceding
month Of August, debts increased
10 per cent, due very largely to the
seasonal increase in grain moved to
market, receipts Of which were doubl-
ed, and large movement of live
stock, Of which particularly slGnifi-
cant and unusual increases took
place in the receipts of sheep, hogs
and calves. Since the range move
ment reached abnormally large pro-
portions in August, a decline in
cattle receipts during September was
not unexpected. Prices of agrlcul-
tural products exhibited no pronounc-
ed trend for the month. Prices Of
hogs, calves, lambs and flax advanc-
ed, while prices declined slightly for
all the other grains and beef cattle.
The -4vy movement of livestock.
coupled with the advanced prices
noted for the same, have created a
much larger volume Of potential pur-
chasing power during September, not
only as compared with last month,
but also as compared with Il year
ago.
Coal Receipts Larger
Coal receipts ut Duluth-Superior
from the opening of navigation to
September 30 were 26 per cent larg-
er than during the same norton Of
last year for soft cCal and 80 per
cent smaller for hard coal However,
the receipts of hard coal for the sea-
son to date were somewhat greater
than the average of receipts to Sep
TENDER 30 during the four years 1927
to 1924.
Member banks in the larger cities
of this district experienced an in
the five weeks ending September 30,
accompanied by increases in country
bank deposits and time deposits. The
twenty-five selected city banks re-
porting to this office had an increase
Of Is million dollars in loans, pre-
sumably largely for commercial and
agricultural purposes. During the
same five weeks this Federal Re-
serve Bank experienced reduction
in loans to member banks, chiefly in
the country districts; but Federal
reserve bank loans to member banks
increased during the first week of
October
Building Activity Increase
Prospective building activity, as in
dicated by building permits granted
during September in nine leading
cities of this district, increased as
compared with last year. The per-
mits granted were 81 per cent arg-
err in total valuation and per cent
larger in number. AS compared with
the preceding month. September per-
mits issued were slightly smaller in
valuation and slightly larger in num-
Der.