Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-11-11
Business Unaffected
By Political Campaign
BY HARDEN COLFAX.

If American business was disturbed
over the vagaries of the political cam
paign the emotion was concealed adj
mirably, for a decidedly upward trend
began soon after the June conventions
and continued a steady climb which
promises to bring some lines to new
high levels before the year closes.
The improvement in general business
and industrial conditions over the recess
sions of tlaSt Winter and Spring has
been obscured from public attention
somewhat by the shouting and the
tumult of a Superheated political cam
paign in which the sweet music of
greater prosperity was crowded off the
air by the voice of the partisan orator,
but it has been going forward just the
same.
Business quite evidently no longer
fears politics as such, however much
1t may dread to be confronted by some
politicians. Research fails to substantiate
the old theory that economic affairs go
to rack and ruin in presidential cam
paign, although they may pause.
y X X X
Measured by the value of check pay
nlentS, the volume of business for the
week ended November 8 was substan-
TALLY larger than in the corresponding
week of 1927, the Department of Com
merce reports, and this has been true
for number of consecutive weeks.
Postal receipts for october were
larger than year ago in the so key
cities from which the Post ONCE De-
partment gathers Geographic reports:
For the first time in more than a
year. customs collections on imports
entered at the ports showed an advance
IN fn IA IL
ing month of the previous year, al
though September came close to a
similar recovery.
Retail trade In September, in depart
ment stores, was more than 6 per cent
ahead of the same month last year,
and for the nine months of 1928 shows
q gain of eight-tenthS of l per cent.
contrasted with the corresponding
period a year ago. Wholesale distribu-
ton for the month was slightly less
than in September, 1927, and for the
nine lines reporting to the Federal Re-
serve Board was 1.5 per cent below the
same period last year for the first three
quarters. Stocks of retail firms are
smaller than year ago; wholesalers
have somewhat larger stocks.
X X X
Railroad freight car loadings have
experienced a sharp recovery and for
the last nine weeks have been larger
than in the corresponding weeks of
1927, although still below 1926 figures.
In the first nine months this year
class l railroads had net operating
income equivalent to an annual rate OF
return of ass per cent on their prop
erty investment, contraSted with AGO
per cent In the same period a year ago,
which includes the advance in recent
months. Reporting public utility cor
porations, excluding railroad and tele-
graph and telephone companies, show
substantial increase in both gross and
net earnings over last year.
The weighted index of industrial pro-
duction used by the Federal Reserve
Board, adjusted for seasonal variations,
was higher in September than at any
other time on record, while stocks OF
both raw materials and manufactured
goods were smaller at the end OF Sep
TENDER than the year before. PRODUCE
ton OF iron and steel for September
was 1877, using the monthly average of
1923-25 as 1O0 in contrast to SO IL
months previously. Food products, au-
tomobiles, cement, brick and glass, non
ferrous metals, rubber tires and tobacco
manufactures showed higher produc-
ton, while textiles and leather and
! shoes recorded decreases
n
Agriculture continues to lag. The
Department of Agriculture's index of
farm prices October Is stood at 1877,
which is a decline of 4 points in
month and is points below october a
year ago. The drop is attributed chiefly
to lower farm prices for live stock, wool,
corn and potatoes.
The current issue of the American
Bankers Association Journal deals with
the recent upward trend of business
and says it gives assurance that No
vember and December will witness an
unusually high rate of activity in in
dustry and trade" Continuing. the pre-
diction is made that so marked has
been the gain that many lines of busi-
ness will achieve new high records for
the full year, not only recovering from
the recession in 1927, but actually sur
passing 1925, which was the previous
record year
copyright. 1929