Evening star., 1938-12-25
YuIe Business
CIimbsAhead
OF Estimates
Uncertainty Of Year
Ago Reported Absent
In Retail Circles
BY THOMAS E. FLANAGAN,
Associated Press Financial Writer.


Annotated Press Financial Writer.
The Nations business rolled down
the final stretch of 1888 with good
momentum this week.
AS usual in the week before
Christmas, the spotlight played on
expanding retail sales. Trade ex-
perts who summed up progress said
activity was better than indicated
by earlier estimates and that the
uncertainty which harassed mer-
chants a year ago was absent.
Industry had it's normal year
let-doWn, with one exception: Elec-
trio power. In this division pro-
duction scared to heights never be-
fore reached.
Use of power continued we'll
sustained in the Middle Atlantic
and central industrial regions. In
the Rocky Mountain and Pacific
Coast areas the margin of gain
over a year ago widened noticeably.
Merchants and industrialists took
cheer from the report of Secretary
of Labor Perkins that employment
had scored better than seasonal
gain in November.
Confidence Aided.
They noted significant gesture
of confidence on the part of the
largest steel maker in the world
United States Steel Corp. This
company increased pay of salaried
workers and restored their 512-day
week.
Experts also noted a scattering
Of year-end pay boosts and bonuses
and other symptoms of increasing
income such as dividend payments.
At the same time they cited with
satisfaction the following miscel-
laneous items: Bank clearings rose
to the highest total in 81 months.
Engineering awards were about dou-
BILE a year ago. Financing during
the week was we'll ahead of the like
period of 1887.
Commenting on the business scene,
Daniel c. Roper, addressing his final
press conference as Secretary of
Commerce cited several elements
of strength" in the business stu
alton He predicted general gains
for 1899.
In his year-end report he called
attention to increased buying power.
improved demand for products of
heavy industry, comparatively steady
commodity prices and an improved
inventory situation. However, he
also mentioned the serious drag on
business caused by continued large
unemployment totals.
Steel Slump Moderate.
Iron Age said the steel industry
is expected to slump little further
next week. At the same time it
predicted that the first few weeks
of the new year would see operations
running around so per cent of
capacity, or about twice the speed of
II months ago.
1t noted that the two recent lag
gards-the railroad and construction
ndustries-turned in some fairly
sizable orders which are expected
to provide stout prop to produc-
ton. Whether the automobile in
dustry proves to be a good buyer
will depend on the volume of retail
car sales after the turn of the year.
In its weekly business survey of 36
cities the Department of Commerce
said:
Business in general was good and
above expectations of few months
past. The unusually large volume
of Christmas buying brought retail
trade above last years levels in
practically all centers.
wholesale trade generally was
adversely affected by vear-end in
fluences but with prospects for the
near future greatly improved over
those of last year.
Only Six Cities Behind.
Only six cities reported decreases
in retail trade from last year-Los
Angeles, San Francisco, Omaha, New
York. Dallas and Chicago"
Reports from major industrial
divisions which appeared during the
week included:
The American Iron and Steel In
stitute estimated production at SIT
per cent of capacity. This compared
with 57.6 the previous week, 6l.9 a
month ago and 235 in the like week
last year.
Electric power production, as re-
ported by the Edison Electric Insti-
tute, totaled 2,332,978, 900 kiloWatt
hours in the week ended December
II. This was a moderate gain over
the preceding week and SO per cent
over the corresponding week of 1887.
Automobile production declined to
92,890 units from 1O29O5 the previ-
ous week and compared with 67.23O
in the like week a year ago, accord
ing to a survey by Wards Automotive
Reports.
The Association of American Rail-
roads reported that in the week end
ed December IT, carloadings totaled
6O6,314, decline of 81 per cent from
the previous week but gain of