Evening star., 1934-02-12
BUSINESS HOLDS
TO FASTER PACE
Auto, Textile and Steel
Activities Up With
Retail Trade.
snsc,al Dispstch 70 The Star.

Special Dispatch TO The Star.
NEW YORK, February i2.-Busi-
ness statistics were pretty cheerful
reading last week, according to Busi-
ness Week.
Automobile makers have a bright
story to tell; steel mills are speeding
up production; cotton textile mills are
swamped with orders; retail trade is
swapping up.
"The automobile men are at outs
with the steel men, and grimly bent
on forcing revision of various parts of
the steel industry's code, but they are
not so sore as to hold up orders. True,
some of them have disciplined the big
corporations by scattering their orders
far and wide, but the orders are big
enough in aggregate, and they are
all marked rush Nobody wants to
be caught short Of steel when first
quarter production reaches its peak.
Retail trade in January was good;
compared with last year, the figures
are startling. Business was almost
dead last year, of course. Neverthe-
less, one increase Of 30 per cent in
mail order sales over a year ago, and
substantial gains In retail stores are
enough to change the outlook of any
merchant from sour to cheerful.
Textile Orders Pile Up.
Backlog of orders in cotton textile
mills climbed, in the latter part OF
January, to the high point reached
last july. when every buyer was trying
TO get his order in before the code
became effective. Business for fully
seven weeks ahead has been booked.
January silk takings by domestic
mills Jumped So per cent over the De-
cember total.
Construction in January didn't.
after all, better December's mark.
Public works awards slowed up, and
since public works dominate the stu
alton still. the total receded. Still,
some sI9o.OoO,000 Of business was
signed I'D in the month in 81 States,
according to the F. w. Dodge Corpor-
alton, and that is a lot OF building.
It Is but 8 per cent below the 2-year
Deak OF SZOf f.UOOsOOO 4O4 A)1NO@AADNAs N-"N
fully 1913 per cent better than January
1898.
1.-The automobile and steel cities are
| the busy spots. Every leading manu-
| facturer Of cars has added to his
nav rolls. and In some instances Is
wishing he could find more OF the
skilled help which current production
demands. At Detroit, the employment
index Jumped to 83.2 per cent OF the
! 1e23-1925 average by the end Of Janu-
arv Our last reading Of only weeks
ago was no more than 52.2 per cent.
Steel Mills Busy.
"steel mill activity has risen TO the
highest levels since last october on
the combined support Of the automo-
bile and railroad industries. These
being two out of three OF steels best
customers. the squirt in production Is
obvious. The railroad orders have
! long been awaited. Formal announce
nent of an order for 12,775 freight
cars and l69 passenger coaches is ex-
pected momentarily, which will be
happily welcomed by equipment man.
ufacturers who starved on orders for
only 2,460 freight cars In the whole OF
1888 and l739 in 1882.
Freight traffic has been holding its
own during January, and during the
week of January 81 pulled itself 1e
per cent above year ago. Gains In
manufactured and miscellaneous
goods were more than sufficient to or
set the decline in coal loadings. For
| the first four weeks Of 1884, nlscel-
| laneous freight has gained 20 per
cent over 1922 and Is but fractionally
below 1882"
Business Weeks Weekly Index Of
Business Conditions shows a prelini-
nary reading of 66l for the week
ending February 8. against a revised
reading of $50 for the preceding
! week and 53.3 a year ago.