The border vidette., 1933-12-30
ECONOMIC HlGHL,GHTS
12 25 80

uICp III OuSIueSS uUIIEk Lu0 l6ll
disheartened the nation. an un.
looked for i'm provement in bust
ness Of all kinds at this time is
brightecing now. The fal! lows
have been left behind, aud most
industries ere approaching the
spring highs. Some late reports
| follow:
Chain S:ores-Iucomplete No
vem6er reports indicate Is per
cert Improvement over Novem
Der 1882.
Rstail Trade-Dun ard Brad
street, expert feelers OF The in
dustrial pulse, say tha5 the sea
sons volume is at the best level
in two years. This is in direct
rebuttal to earlier reports, which
showed q lag in sales.
Building contracts-In states
east of the Rockies Novem Der
totals were "a per cent above q
year sgo.
Steel - Operations recently
rose to where the industry was
! operating at better than 81 per
cent OF capacity, as compared
With 25 per cent at the same
time last year.
Motors-November sales in IA
/ representative states were 115
per ceut over November, 1882,
and truck sales were 90 per cent
ahead.
Perhaps the most accurate
way of getting at the heart of
the matter is through corpora
ton reports. These have been
almost uniformly improved. The
Federal Reserve reported net
profits of 295 corporations as be
ing $162, 100000 in the third
| quarter. as compared with S25..
1000 net loss year earlier.
According to New, York Times
tabnlssion, Z corporatins i n
creased dividends this Novem
Der, where elk did last Noyem
| boz; 81 declared extra dividends,
as compared with 28; 30 resumed
dividends, as compared with z;
10 reduced dividends. where SO
did 40 year ago; l3 omitted di
vdends entirely, where IS sent
the bad news to the stockholder
IN the previous period The best
dividend showing of any indus
trial group has been made by
textile companies.
There's not a great deal going
on ct Washington now. but
there's more talk about the past,
present and future state of af.
fairs than ever. Every body is
waiting for Congress - either
with fear or iubilation, depend
ing on whose side they are on.
Principal topic Of speculation is
how potent the Roosevelt power
over the two houses will be. All
the unbiased observers believe
that the voting will be closer
than it was before, but that
when the ballots are counted the
White House viii have plainly Of
ma jority for anything it wants.
Money, hard, soft and medium,
will! be the prime topic. A tre
mendous amount of criticism has
been directed at Mr.. Roosevelt's
goldbuying campaign and his
refusal to stabilize the dollar.
He shows 40 sign of deviating
from his present plans, and q
congressional minority will work
out on him vocally on that score.
There will be endless talk con
cerning i. tation and dehation.
lis probable that the Administra
ton will continue to steer a mid
die course, between the extreme
inlatiouists on the one hand, and
the old line hard money men on
the other.
uC iGSiOCub iS uoVAuB VIC
securities ect examined to elimin
ate features that have made
much legitimate financing impos
sible-If q liberalizing change is
made, he will get many bouquets
from business. Also on the Pre-
sidenlial memorandum are bank
reform and stock exchange legis
lative proposals.
Congress will be asked for
several billion additional emer
gency dollars, above the regular
budget. to carry on tbs recovery
program. Most of The bureaus
created have allocatad the bulk
OF their funds. and want more.
The worm is turning. The
worm 10 this case is the railroads.
which have suffered for years