Evening star., 1938-08-18
ELECTRIC GOODS
ORDERS ARE OFF
Dun & Bradstreet Survey
Reveals Sharpest of
DoWnsWings.

After one Of the sharpest down.
swings in its history. the electrical
supply trade entered the last half Of
1888 with prospects appropriate for a
gradual resumption of activity. accord
ing to Dun & Bradstreet survey.
Low inventories and increased de-
mand arising from revival in residen-
tial building and in industrial activity,
the Government spending program,
and an intensified sales campaign In
household appliance lines were being
relied upon to improve the month-to-
month record and to bring volume at
the year-end close to the 1896 average.
During the first six months of 1888
new orders booked for electrical goods
were Al per cent lower than in the cor
responding period of 1937-the best
half year since. 1929. With untitled
orders at a minimum, manufacturers
were forced to slash production sched-
ules 80 to As per cent from 1887 levels.
Sales showed the deepest declines in
industrial equipment and heavy ap-
pliance lines, the average drop for all
wholesale volume being close to 80 per
cent, and for retail approximately rs
per cent.
10 Per Cent Less.
with demand for electricity reflect
ing the lowered activity Of general in
dustry, power output averaged 10 per
cent less than in 1887. Accordingly
electric utility companies revised down.
ward their estimated expenditures for
the year, planning an outlay of $780,
900 900 for construction, against a
total of 6,000, 900 spent in 1897, and
average annual expenditures of more
than s700, 100000 in the period prior
to 1881.
while activity in the industry re-
manned far below levels for the COM
parative period of 1887 through the
second quarter. evidence of slight
quickening in demand near the end of
the period made manufacturers more
cheerful about the trend than in many
months. A revival of interest in wire,
sockets, insulators. panel boards,
switches and kindred items accom-
panied the steady expansion in home
building. Orders booked for all types
Of electrical goods were per cent
larger In the second quarter than in
the first. chalking up the first quarter
to-quarter gain in over year.
r. E. A. Programs.
Extension of rural electrification
programs aided sales of wire and cable
in some sections, but in general the
volume of buying of industrial and
building trade supplies was down more
sharply than other electrical goods.
Data collected by the National Electric
Manufacturers Association revealed
that in the first five months of the
year the value of power cable ship
ments was IS per cent lower than dur
ing the same period Of 1887, that new
orders for large power motors and for
power switching equipment were less
than half comparative 1887 totals.
"Air-conditioning sales failed to
break out of the depression which fol-
lowed the record volume of early 1887.
Although orders showed some seasonal
increases during the first part Of the
year, they fell far behind 1887 levels.
The Bureau Of the Census reported
that conditioning equipment orders
booked by 125 manufacturers from
January through June were 43 per cent
smaller than in the first six months
of 1887. For June alone the drop was
40 per cent"