The Washington times., 1935-03-12

But underneath is the fact that
the distribution" of goods, as
measured by railway carloadings
or retail sales, has not kept pace
with production. This is largely
explainable by the continued
political and monetary uncer-
tainty, the rising burden of taxa
tion, higher living costs, and the
failure of factory employment to
make as much gain as in previous
spurts.
In the business news from
various sections of the country,
we find such items as the fol.
lowing: Complaints of higher
living costs, especially for meats.
fats, and oils. Retail trade
also appears to be drag
ging in a good many sections.
partly because of unfavOrable
weather, but partly because Of
the tendency of consumers to
economic. BackwardneSs in
wholesale trade is rather gener.
ally reported, and does not sug.
geSt any early rise in retail sales.
Postponement of orders is no
table in the dress trade. And, in
general, the textile manufacturers
are experiencing dull and spotty
business, and find production
gaining on orders.
Temporarily at least, building
activity has fallen back after the
January squirt.
Some sections are doing better
than others, of course, and some
bright spots are found, as elec.
trical appliances and retail sales
of low priced autos. But on the
whole, the current trend of busi-
ness remains slightly reactionary.
This has not been helped by the
foreign exchange situation, which
is partly responsible for a setback
in the prices of such World-market
commodities as cotton, silk, rub
ber, tin, wheat, and coffee. Such
markets are hurt by the drop in
the pound.
In this connection, it is prob
able that the liquidation Of NRA,
which seems to be drawing near,
is temporarily an unsettling factor,
as price-maintenance schemes
under the codes are likely to be
disrupted by June.
1t is being suggested that vari-
GUS financial operations such as
that of Swift and Company may
indicate that the capital market"
is loosening up. These operate
however, all seem to be in the ma
ture of a refunding of obligations
which are already outstanding.
and do not represent the all-im.
portant new financing"
They merely show that the SEC
is not the real reason for stagnant
investment markets. A number of
corporations. like the government
itself. are taking advantage of the
abnormally low money rates" to
obtain lower interest charges. But
they are not expanding, or get
ting new capital. And you will
note that they are sticking to
bonds, rather than retiring funded
debt and going in for "equities!"
AS to the latest financial
move of the Administration, to
use its profit" on our gold, It
may be called clever but dubi-
Gus. This So-calIed profit repre-
sents the sOvereign's graft made
by debasing our money and
making 1.6 dollars grow where
one dollar grew before. Now the
New Dealers are getting ready
to spend it. They will deposit
upwards of $6OO,OOO,OOO in So
called gold certificates with the
reserve banks, which banks may
issue more than 1.6 billion dol
lars Of Federal reserve notes on
this baSiS-perhapS in exchange
for more Government bonds.
Temporarily, they make the
showing of a slightly reduced debt
(by retiring certain Government
bonds and national bank notes
based on them. But they open
the way for putting in circulation
that gold seizure "nest egg" which
adds to the inflationary potentiall-
ties. and for inducing the banks
i -