Evening star., 1934-04-08
More Than | 100000 Work.
ers Helped Directly in
Many Fields.
AUTO OUTPUT REACHES
HIGHEST MARK OF YEAR
Power, Bituminous Coal and Lum-
Der Productions Also Show
Gains; Steel Activity Lags.
BY JOHN A CRONE.

SpCIldl bAopdtNil " HS Dt0i'
NEW YORK, April IA brisk post
Easter retail trade, the resumption OF
wholesale buying, numerous wage in
creases and rising production. steel
excepted offset renewed threats OF
labor disturbances, a decline in car
loadirgs and uncertainty caused by
legislative proposals during the last
week.
Washington adviceS, indicating that
the administration was inclining more
toward recovery than reform, were not
without positive effect in industrial
quarters.
Wage increases, ranging from 10 to
IL per cent, affecting more than l.
100000 workers in such varied fields
as automotive. steel, metals, textiles,
surgical dressing, carpets, electrical
equipment and flour, lifted purchasing
power to some extent.
Also Show Increases.
Electric output, bituminous coal
lumber and other lines recorded in
creaseS. Automobile makers this week
turned out the largest number of cars
so far this year.
While the sales of women's dresses,
suits, millinery and Shoes" said the
national weekly survey of business by
Dun & Bradstreet. Inc. ''receded from
the extraordinary high totals of the
week preceding, particularly in those
districts where adverse weather con-
ditions prevailed. sales of furniture
housewares, electrical refrigerators and
rugs increased by a wide percentage.
Sales of mems and women's wear
ing apparels. however, still are in the
lead, stimulated by radical style
changes and increased advertising,
while there has been no diminution in
the call for drygoods. Sales of hard
ware, paints, gardening tools and
seeds showed every indication of out
distancing Spring figures for the last
three years.
while millinery, hosiery, gloves
and dress accessories sold close to the
totals set down for a week ago, and
there was more response to the offer
ings of furniture and housewares, it
was in the staple lines, particularly
drygoods and white goods, that the
heaviest movement was recorded. One
significant demonstration of the in
creased earning power of the masses
is given by the abrupt advance in the
paid admission of motion picture
theaterS during the week"
Stocks Depleted.
The better than expected Easter
trade found many stores with Spring
merchandise unequal to their needs.
Therefore, there were many fill-in
orders placed during the week. Mail
orders were especially numerous for
dress accessories, some OF the most
popular sizes of suits. millinery and
handbags. The wholesale market also
reported rush for cotton goods in
anticipation OF national cotton week,
which is scheduled for May IA to 10.
Orders for locomotives in some CEN
ters during March were the largest
for any month in the last three years
and about five times as large as those
booked in March, 1888. Untitled
orders are nearly doubled, reaching
the highest total since March, 1882.
All of which cheered other manufac-
turers of capital goods.
Brisk business at Eastertide natur-
ally sent larger groups of buyers to
primary markets to get merchandise
for April promotions. They found
that the decline in wholesale COM
modify prices had been checked-in
fact, their rise resumed-and wages in
many quarters being advanced. Faced
with depleted stocks and prospects
of higher prices, buyers bought, but
their selections were made cautiously,
on the theory that public purchasing
power has not expanded sufficiently to
risk stocking merchandise that seems
out of line
Bank clearings continue upward,
March commercial failures were the
lowest in four years, though retail
store failures increased While weekly
food indiceS declined last week, they
still are II cents above January 2
levels, So cents above a year ago
and SO cents above this time two
years ago, according to Dun & Brad
street.
Copyright. 1934)