The Daily Alaska empire., 1930-12-15
ECONOMIC REVIEW, BOTH DARK AND BRIGHT SPOTS, IS GIVEN BY SEC. LAMONT
Agriculture, Construction, Transportation, Foreign
 Trade-Each Analysed; Facts Given on Home
 Building, Industrial Waste; Work for Human Safety; Aviation Is Youngster with Bright ' Prospects

WASHINGTON, Dec. l5.--An un- broken advance in American pro- ductivity was cited today by Sec retary Lamont as the Fundamental cause of rising standards of liv- ing.
 In this factor, he found con elusive evidence" that bus n e S progress is not wiped out by pe- riods of depression. This cheering word went to Congress in his an- nual report.
 Tt has marked permanent achievement" he said, and when the present recession is over, the same upward movement will un- occasionally be resumed.
 "The causes at work are for the most part of a cumulative charac- ter, so that it may be said that each forward step leads to another step in the same direction"
 The report dealt with the fiscal year which closed June 30. It in cluded a survey of economic trends and a resume of the Commerce Departments activities.
 No Cut in Wages
 MT. Lamont said it was "a note worthy fact that practically no cuts in wages have been made by employers as a result of the re- cession of business"
 This he saw as contrasting sharp ly with the practices of previous slack periods and as evidence of a widespread conviction that per manent progress in prosperity is dependent on liberal wages aid consequent large buying power on the part of the masses of the peo- ple'
 Greater skill and intelligence among the workers, improved meth ods of organization and manage ment, advances in science and in- vention, and increased use of capi- tai as an aid to labor, Wecc list ed as the causes of increased out put per workman.
 Personal Productivity
 Gains in personal productivity have ranged from 57 to 115 per cent in the various branches Of economic endeavor over period of thirty years. Gains of 10 to 40 per cent were noted for the last decade.
 Among the major economic phe- nomena of the fiscal year, the Con- merce Secretary referred to a very considerable decline" in com modity prices, which broke the steadiness" that characterized the price levels of recent years The drop ran all the way througl the commodity list but was especially marked in farm products A de- crease in the value of crops was noted, together with an increase in that of animal products.
 Transportation Field
 In the field of transportation in- creased efficiency was noted. with railroads handing more traftic with fewer employees, fewer freight cars, and fewer locomotives than in any other year of similar business volume"
 The security markets dominated financial conditions, Lamon. said and loans for the sale and pur- chase of securities were generally regarded as having had "a most disturbing effect" on the money market. A decline in American loans abroad was noted.
 The Secretary mentioned at sev- eral points in his report that busi- ness depression had been world wide and said that in several for eign countries recession had begun even earlier than in the United States.
 Decrease in Waste
 Efforts to decrease waste in in- dustry, a home building campaign conducted on national scale, in-