Evening star., 1926-10-23

causes all point in this direction.
When only the immediate outlook for
commodity prices is considered,
would not be surprised to see some
strengthening this Fall and Winter.
Every commodity, however, should be
judged on it's own merits. They can
not be judged too generally. For in
stance, I would not be surprised to
see coal and rubber go up in price;
while crude petroleum, cement and
most building materials may go down
in price.
Labor today is generally quiescent
with the exception Of few unpleas.
ant and desperate strikes. Owing to
the failure of the railroad strike two
years ago and of the recent coal
strike both here and in England,
union labor is fairly quiet. The recent
convention Of the American Fedora
ton Of Labor shows that important
labor leaders have left their jobs to
enter private concerns. Notwith-
standing these conditions we must not
think that any permanent change has
taken place. The labor problem will
always be with US, and nation would
not be progressive if it's people were
satisfied with its lot.
Best Cities to Sell Goods.
Many localities tend to pick up in
the Fall, due to seasonal influences.
In such cases a larger volume Of busi-
ness may have little significance. In
selecting the following list of cities,
however, have made allowance for
the usual Fall stimulus and have
chosen those places which give EVIL
dence Of real improvement. In many
instances a city mentioned may be
not only active itself, but reflect SIM
liar activity in the surrounding region
Brunswick, Ca; Connellsville, Pa;
Enid, OKLA; Flint. Mich; Gary, Ind; !;
Hutchinson. Kans.; Iowa City, Iowa;
Little Rock, Ark; Moline, ILL.,: Mont
clair, N. j.; Norfolk, Va; Oshkosh,
wis.
There is evidence that the follow
ing industries are active in compari-
son with industry as a whole. In
picking out these lines l have been
guided largely by the employment fig
ures on numbers employed, amount
Of payroll, and the per cent capacity
at which the industry is reported to
be operating. have given weight to
Improvement in the underlying trend
rather than the more seasonal ac-
tivity:
Baking, chemicals, electrical ma
chinery, furniture, iron and steel, pa
per, printing, foundry and machine
shop products.
Money Rates Continue Low.
Owing to the tremendous amount
Of money which we have in this coun.
try, with the general tendency of de-
clining commodity prices. with the
possibility Of declining business, it is
believed that money rates will con-
tinue fairly low. OF course, if there
should be a panic. a temporary tight
ening Of rates would come also, but
this would be followed by still lower
rates than now exist. Low money
rates do not necessarily mean that it
Is easy to secure loans. With the re-
cent events In Florida and other places
where real estate booms have been in
evidence 1t is believed that there will
be more difficulty in 1927 to secure
money on building loans and other new
enterprises than 1t was in 1926.
Money rates, however, should be
low on high-grade collateral loans, and
banks will not make as much money
in 1927 as they did in 1925. II money
rates are to continue low, bonds should
continue about their present level, un-
less the large banks start in to liuui-
date their bond holdings. This has
already commenced to a certain ex-
tent and may be expected from time
to time. When banks, however, sell
their bonds and take profits they find
1t difficult to reloan their money at
satisfactory rate, and they enter the
bond market again. This accounts for
the spOtty bond market in evidence at
the present time.
1 cannot be bullish on the stock
market at the present time. OF
course, there are exceptions to every
rule, but the chances are nine to
market prices in 1927 than we saw
in 1925. If there ever was time
when people should take profits it
is today. The average Of the stocks
on the Babsonchart now stands a