Evening star., 1939-03-26
Business Takes
Cautious Path
In War Crisis
Buyers Are Timid;
Industrial ACTIVITY
Uneven in Week
Bv THOMAS f. FLANAGAN.
Associated Press Financial Writer.

Associated Press Financial Writer.
The Nations business proceeded
gingerly this week as Europe suf-
fered another attack of war threat
nerves.
The Commerce Department, in
its weekly survey of business in 36
cities, said, European develop
ments had slightly retarding in
fluence on business during the past
week"
Experts saw two symptoms of
mounting cautiousness growing out
of the latest moves of Adolph Hitler
in building a bigger Germany. 1t
was noted that in New York, the
wholesale capital, buyers were in
a timid mood. Another indication
was the ragged fluctuations of share
prices in Wall Street. Some stocks
fell to new lows for the March de-
cline.
The industrial sector showed COR
tlnuing unevenness. Small decline
in steel and electricity productio,
contrasted with gains in carloading
dIlu duIOmODlle output.
Auto Output Gains.
AS in recent weeks, the motor il
duotry put on modest show
strength. Production increased an
Wards automotive reports said
there were further rises in imme-
diate prospect The Commerce
Department said deliveries of new
passenger cars during the early days
of March were more than one-third
larger than year ago.
One bright item entered on the
business ledger was the increased
activity of the capital market. The
Securities Commission reported a
furry of common stock financing in
February contrary to the trend of
recent months" Texas Corp. filed
a registration statement covering
the intended issuance and sale of
$40 900 900 of bonds with the S. E. C.
The company disclosed that the
money may be used for capital ex-
penditures, including the acquiring
of crude oil reserves.
The steel industry watched the.
European horizon. Iron Age said
whatever has caused the present
f1attening out of steel demand. the
situation is believed to be only tenn
porary, barring the development of
a more serious condition in Europe"
Reports on retail trade cited the
stimulus of the approaching Easter
season in the wearing apparel field.
practically all departments shared
in the upturn,' the Commerce De-
partment said For the first time
this year sales of New York depart
ment stores have topped those of
the corresponding period of last year
for three consecutive weeks"
Construction Jumps.
Miscellaneous business reports in
cluded:
Engineering construction awards
jumped Is per cent over the preced-
ing week. Class l railroads had
net deficit of S8,7OO000 after fixed
charges in January. Lewis H. Brown,
president of Johns-Manville Corp.
told stockholders at the annual
meeting that estimates of first quar-
ter earnings did not indicate the
possibility of resuming common divi-
dend payments
These industrial statistics were is
sued during the week:
The American Iron and Steel In
stitute estimated steel production
at 55.4 per cent of capacity, COM
pared with 557 the previous week,
53.7 a month ago and 1877 in the like
1888 week.
Production of electric power was
reported by the Edison Electric In
stitute at 2225 .486,OOO kilowatt hours
for the week ended March 18. This
was slight dip from the preceding
week but 1913 per cent ahead of the
like week last year
The Association of American Rail-
roads reported carloadings at 594 568
in the week ended March 18, a slight
rise over the preceding week and 10
per cent higher than the like week
last year.
Waro reported motor production
at 89,4O0 units, compared with 86,725
the week before and $4,000 in the
corresponding week year ago.
The Associated Press weekly in
dex OF industrial activity was un-
changed at 879 after two CONSECUTIVE,
weeks of small gains. In the like
week year ago the index was 68.L