Evening star., 1936-03-29
REPAIRS SPEEDED
|NFLOODED AREAS
Unexpected Spur to Spring
Expansion Is Predicted
by Business Week.
to The Star.

Special Dispatch TO Inc StdT
NEW YORK. March 28.-Recon-
struction is proceeding rapidly in the
recently flooded Eastern States and
will add an unexpected impetus to the
normal Spring expansion in business,
according to Business Week today.
Paint, machinery, lumber, glass, Struc-
tural steel, chemicals, drugs and retail
merchandise of all types are due for an
added fillip. Retailers whose stocks
were waterlogged just as the Easter
buying spree was getting under way
are pressing wholesalers for immediate
attention. This weeks shutdowns in
steel. textile and paper mills are tenn
pOrary. Motor plants suffered no de-
lay on steel deliveries, but continue to
increase production.
The full effect of industrial disrup-
ton caused by the flood is not reflected
in Business Weeks index which refers
to the week ending March 81, when
. steel operations hit the high of the
year.
Machine-tool and machinery build
ers believe the flood will bring them a
windfall of business. Many plants
will find that equipment now on the
borderline of usefulness will not be
worth the effort to clean,
Steel Mills Active.
Restoration of Pittsburgh steel
operations to As per cent of capacity
was achieved in short order, against
the so per cent rate attained just be-
fore the flood.
Construction steel business booked
so far has totaled Ats, 8,947 tons, against
S32,97l in the same weeks of 1885, with
private projects looming larger than
they did last year Reconstruction
work following the flood will also bring
in sizable tonnages.
Pipe fabricatorS are cheered by the
44000-ton order of 22-inch pipe which
the Panhandle Easter Pipe Line re-
Gently placed. constituting the largest
pipe order in five years. An Sl8,000,-
600 project, it will bring natural gas
from Indiana to Detroit 800 miles.
Railroad buying which turned quiet
early in March. is picking up again.
Improved earnings and the obvious
need of replacing antiquated equip
ment convince railroad equipment
makers that their turn for revival is
. next.
Trade Gains Continue.
In States outside the flood sections,
business continues to gain momentum
Retail trade is set for the biggest
Spring season in at least five years.
Delivery problems constitute the most
trying obstacles to sales.
Production in both hard and soft
coal fields has turned sharply down.
ward as warm weather set in over the
country Uncertainty about a new
wage agreement has caused anthracite
producers to delay the usual Spring
price cut until April Is.
After the recent introduction of a
new and smaller type of piano, the
piano industry has been operating at
capacity.
Last wee, Engineering NeWS-Record
reported contracts for 146 dwellings,
costing S410000, in one project; 70
dwellings, costing S500,000 in another;
q 10-story apartment. costing 100000.
February employment gains were
recorded in 48 out of 80 industl les, the
locomotive industry topping the list
with 18 per cent increase. Apparel
factories added workers in preparation
of the Easter trade. The machine-tool
industry has added new employees
every month since November, 1884.
The agricultural implement industry
now has the largest employment since
March, 1880.
Bonus money will be flowing freely
bV Midsummer,