Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1938-11-06
Business Gains Back
Nearly 50 Per Cent
0fDepressionLoss
Over Million Workers
Restored to Pay Rolls
In Shorp Revival
By the Associated Press.

4
NEW YORK, Nov. 5.-The Ma
| tons business, entering the fifth
month of recovery, had reclaimed
today nearly half the ground it
lost in the slump from the rela-
lively high industrial levels in the
spring and summer of 1887.
Employment estimates indicated
well over million workers have
been restored to factory pay rolls
and pay envelopes fattened through.
added working hours as plants on
curtalled schedules speeded up pro-
duction.
October figures, presenting a pic
ture of sharp contrast with the
rapid decline of industrial baro-
meters in that month last year,
showed the vast building industry
far ahead of 1887 levels.
Construction Jumps.
Heavy construction awards, trade
sources reported, were the largest
for the month since 1929. The AS
ISOLATED Press index of residential
building, where signs of vigorous
revival first we're visible last spring
and early in the summer, by the
end of October had more than
doubled the figure at the 1888 low
point.
Building has been industry's
sleeping giant since 1881. Business
men have waited for its reawaken-
ing as probably the strongest as
surance of an enduring rise in en-
ployment and pay rolls.
Wi:dely-spread October gains
helped make the four month climb
out of the trough of the. 1878
depression one of the fastest in
years, Wall Street analysts noted.
The Associated Press weekly in
dex of industrial activity dropped
from a high around 108 last year
to 658 at the end of May, 1898.
1t now stands at 1885, up about
q per cent from the years low.
This index is based on the average
for the years 1929 and 1890 as. 100.
War Scare Passes.
Although recovery got up con-
siderable momentum during the
summer, it seemed to have been
aided last month by the passing of
the September war scare, which
threatened for a time to halt the
climb.
The automobile industry, leader
of the 1887 business rise, came
out of it's doWnspin to make a
powerful recovery teammate for
building. Producers, riding the rising
business tide, hurried the shift to
manufacture of 1899 models and
thousands of workers trooped back
to assembly and accessory plants in
the automotive centers.
Here is part of the record that
made October, normally a month
of expanding business in fat years,
notable in the 1888 rise:
Steel production for the first time
this year crossed the 1887 line, lift
ing the industry's operating rate
to 56.8 per cent of capacity from
46.7 at the end of September and
22.5 early in July.
Automobile output rose to the
highest level this year. approx
mating 10000 units weekly at the
end of the month compared with
about 10000 at the close of Septem-
Der, before production of 1899 models
was in full swing.
Power Consumption Rises.
Electric mower cons,1mption again
close to a new record, cut down
the year-to-Year lag to 1.3 per
cent at the end of October, COM
pared with per cent at the finish
of September. Power use was run
ming more than 400,000,000 kilo-
watt hours a week ahead of the
1929 figures, although most ba-
rometers were we'll under the levels
of that year.
Railroad traffic went above 70O,-
900 cars weekly and also shortened
the year-to-year decline.
The Associated Press industrial
index, which makes allowance for
seasonal fluctuations, moved up to
1876 from 1874 at the end of Septem-
Der.
Retail trade figures for the month
were incomplete. But october re-
ports of several big chains, IN
Guiding F. w. WoolWorth, showed
dollar sales only a little under the
total for the 1887 month. A wider
loss was recorded for city depart
ment stores, partly attributed to
warmer weather than usual in most
sections.