Evening star., 1936-08-03
BUSINESS ACTIVE
ON BROAD FRONT
Trade and Industry Hold
Recovery Stride After
Year of Expansion.
BY FREDERICK GARDNER,
Associated Press Financial Writer.

.
NEW YORK, August 3.-A Mid
summer panorama of broad business
revival unfolded today as Wall Street
sought to appraise the Autumn out
look.
Busy steel mills. record electric
power output, well sustained auto.
mobile production, q high level Of
retail trade, peak freight movement
for the year and demand for new
equipment by railroads were sketched
into the July picture.
Business analysts accepted the
latest statistical data as evidence that
trade and industry, under momentum
of a year of almost unbroken ex-
pansion, had held their recovery
stride instead of slowing for the hot
months in customary seasonal style.
How long the pace would hold was
a matter Of conjecture. Some
authorities have painted the Autumn
and Christmas outlook in bright COL
ors, taking the Midsummer record as
an indication of powerful underlying
recovery sweep.
Crop Losses Studied.
Others contend that crop losses
from drought and a rise in food prices
eventually would hit mass purchasing
power. They trace the unusual Sum-
mer showing Of sustained business
activity partly to the record peace
time outpouring Of Federal funds.
mainly for the soldiers bonus. and
argue the stimulus Of this money may
be on the wane in the Fall.
Business figures added to the record
in the last week depicted substan-
tial advance in industry compared
with a year ago.
Outstanding was steel. with opera
tions around the peak for the year at
It's per cent Of capacity, according
to trade estimates, against A per cent
year ago. when the upturn in heavy
industry was starting to accelerate.
Railroad carloadings made a peak
for the year at 731 ,062, an increase of
1856, 400 over the comparable 1885
figure. Power production figures were
14.5 per cent higher, and weekly auto
mobile production was reported as
between $4,000 and $4,000 units,
against about 69, 400 in the compare
Bile 1885 period.
Construction Revives.
Behind these figures analysts saw
the influence Of moderate revival IN
construction and some industrial plant
expansion and modernization, as well
as brisk demand for goods Of the every
day consumption variety, both at
wholesale and retail.
The stamina of the recovery was
traced by some to renewed demand for
what economists call producers dur
able goods"-heavy machinery. loco
motives, ships-after a long dearth OF
buying.
The demand remained for the most
part well below 1929 levels, although
some producers of textiles, tobacco
products. electric household appliances
and others consumers goods" have
been operating at or near top levels
OF past years.
Also conspicuous in the July picture
was a record run of domestic buying
in crude copper. attributed chiefly to
industrial revival rather than rearma.
ment orders. and reports Of brisk
wholesale trade in leading business
centers.
Buying Power Rises.
Mass buying power, economists
noted, was bolstered in the first half
OF the year by a further increase in
farmers income and industrial pay
rolls.
The United States Steel Corp an
nounced its pay roll in the first six
months increased Is per cent, COM
pared with the first half of 1885. More
workers and added hours accounted
for the gain.
Still blocking the path of the capi-
tai goods producers was the question
OF when a real revival of new financing
for investment in new facilities would
develop.
The major part Of new security
issues has been for repayment of old
oeotS. However, the proportion of new
capital to refunding has increased. and
some hailed this as favorable omen.