Evening star., 1933-10-01
Strikes and Increased Costs
Held Only One Side of
N. R. A. Situation.
TRADE REVIEWS REVISAL
SPURT IN RETAIL SALES
New Wealth Being Poured Into
Lap Of Public at Rate of Nearly
$12,00O,O00 a Month.
BY GEORGE T. HUGHES.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
NEW YORK, September 80 (N.A.
N.A)-Choosing to look on one side of
the picture only. Wall Street processes
grave doubts about the effect of the
N. r. A. codes on business profits and
about the ability of corporations to
finance increased costs. pending COM
pensation In the way of larger sales. 1t
is also deeply distressed about the
epidemic Of labor troubles.
No one can deny that there is ground
for concern on all these points, but that
is not the whole story The NJ R. A. was
power be increased and the evidence Is
that success along this line is being
achieved.
For impartial testimony on this point
this weeks review of retail trade by
Dun & Bradstreet deserves more than
routine consideration.
September is closing better than it
opened" the report says, ''as trends have
become more definitely established, in
dustrial recovery has been accelerated.
and consumer buying is being pursued
with more vigor following the tagging
gait caused by inauspicious weather
conditions during the greater part Of
the month"
New Wealth Stressed.
Then comes this statement: New
wealth is being poured into the lap
of the public at the rate of nearly
S12,000,000 monthly exclusive of the
funds being distributed by govern
mental agencies to cotton and wheat
growers, pig raisers, and dairy farmers.
Consumer resistance has been neither
broad nor open to the advanced prices
Of many items, as these have been
moderate in most instances, wholesalers
and manufacturers cooperating with
retailers to make the mark-upS gradual
by the elimination of all extra and non-
essentials, which heretofore have borne
heavily on distribution costs"
It Is true that the accepted business
indexes show q moderate but unsea-
sonal recession. The trading element in
the stock market makes the most OF
this hesitation, but it neglects to poir
out that the reaction comes on top
the most rapid and pronounced re
covery. from March to July, Of which
there is any record 1t seems urreo-
essary to become alarmed about re.lod
of consolidation of the gains made.
Very likely the N. R. A. will not
when it was first launched, but that
Is no reason for going to the other
extreme and predicting complete fail
| ure. As for the labor troubles. of
| which so much is made. similar unrest
has accompanied recovery from every
major depression In the United States.
Short Interest Gains.
It is almost certain that when the
next report Is given out by the Stock
Exchange a substantial increase in the
short interest will be revealed. In itself
larger operations for the decline do not
signify that the operators are either
right or wrong. If right, however, the
short selling must bring out liquidation,
and so far that has not happened on
any important scale. If wrong. the in
crease in the short account forecasts q
sharp recovery.
Any statement about operations for
the decline in the stock market is almost
always founded on inference. The con-
stitutional bear, like the gold hoarder,
breads publicity.
The bull on stocks advertises his
opinion from the house-tops, but the
bear is satisfied If the unfavorable
aspects Of situation on which he has
founded his commitments are whIs-
pered about without involving any re-
sponsibility on his part. No one loves
bear, however they may feel about q
fat man.
Speculation in the exchanges cur
rently results in only narrow price
fluctuations. The dollar has been rela-
lively steady all the week between 64l2
and 66 cents. based on the French franc.
! Sterling has been even more stable,
ranging around 70 francs to the pound,
and the price of gold in London varies
between 1872 and 1873 shillings an ounce.
Continental buyers still are paying .
premium over the selling rate of the
Bank Of France. The latter institution
reports this week the third consecutive
decrease in its gold holdings, but the
total is still more than 100 per cent Of
note circulation
If France suspends gold payments it
will not be because of the lack of gold
any more than it was in the case of the
United States, and there Is this differ
ence-the French people are bitterly
opposed to another devaluation of the
franc whereas the American people are
becoming reconciled to devaluation Of
the dollar
(Copyrieht, 1888. by North American News
paper Alliance, Incl