Milford chronicle., 1957-10-25


trict, we can find no significant
areas of resurgent strength nor is
there convincing evidence of addi-
tiOnal weakness. Overall activity
seems to have leveled off on high
plateau. And in many sectors it
is becoming apparent that this
years fall upswing will be less
pronounced than usual.
Factory employment and the pro-
duction of basic materials have
been largely maintained. The con-
struction industry's main area of
weakness still is BODYBUILDING.
Sales volume in the department
stores continued high over a great
part of the year, but their Septem-
Der business was not up to eXpec-
tations Automobile sales, so disap-
pointing through tn G spring
months, have not improved as ex
pected but neither has demand de-
Perforated to any noticeable ex-
tent. Freight volume on the areas
railroads continues a little smaller
than in 1856 and still shows no de-
cisive trend. Farm income, running
at last years levels to midsummer.
must soon reflect the losses in
Cured in record breaking
drought. Consumer prices here,
as elsewhere, continue to rise al
most without interruption.
LabOr-fOrce changes over the
summer rejected largely seasonal
Influences and the repercussions
of month-long strike in the Dis
tricl's important cement industry
However, one major labor markef
Observation-Disclosures reclassified tC
a category denoting a signifcan
increase in unemployment. This
came in mid-July because of cut
backs in the railway car shops
and the prospect of little Offsettinf
improvement in other local indus
tries. In a majority of our labor
markets, employers hiring sched
ules for the fall months indicated
a rise in area job totals, although
in many cases estimates were some
what less optimistic than those
made year ago.
Factory employment in the Dis
trict as a whole has risen a little
above the midsummer low. But this
reflects chiefly seasonal gains in
lines like textiles, apparel, and
food processing, along with a re
sumption of normal activity in the
cement industry. In metalworkine
lines, with the exception of cleo
trical machinery, little real i'm
provement is apparent. Trends in
working time in most industries
have been much the same as in en-
ployment.
In places like Harrisburg, Lam
caster, and Wilmington. employ
ment at factories has been rising
slowly for several months. Al
though seasonal factors seems to
have played an important role, il
is significant that stability is be-
ing achieved in several lines that
had shown persistent weakness
earlier in the year. These included
primary and fabricated metals and
transportation equipment.
The usual late summer upswine
has not been apparent in the Phil
adelphia industrial area. Renewed
strength has appeared in textiles
and apparel Some employment in
crease also is reported in electrica
machinery, but a more or less static
situation persists in other heavy
industries in this area. Factory
employment in Reading and Tren
ton continues we'll below the levels
of year ago. In the Lehigh Valley
activity has returned to about the
status prevailing before the cement
plants closed, while in York q
sharp downtrend in employment
has been reversed since midsum-
mer. The important textile and ap-
parel industries in Scranton have
resumed full-scale operations, but
that areas employment picture is
clouded by impending cutbacks in
ordnance plants.
Basic steel production in this
District declined, as it usually does
over the summer, from above-ca-
pacity levels that prevailed through
almost, the entire first half of 1857
T'y late September there was in
rIeasing evidence that operations
might stabilize around an S5 to go
per cent level compared with a
rate 100 per cent or better main
tanned in the closing months of
1856. Here, as elsewhere in the
country, a fall pickup in the de-
mand from fabricators has been
somewhat short of expectations
Delivery stretchouts seem to. be
the order of the day, partly be-
cause procurement for many steel
products has eased considerably in
recent months. Little capacity for
making crude steel has heen added
since spring, but new fabricating
facilities still are being built and
some existing equipment will be
modernized in the interests OF
greater efficiency and improved
competitive position.
Output of coal has beer. fairly
we'll maintained so far this year
Pennsylvania bituminOus tonnage
through mid-September suggested
a generally stable, although some
what less active, industrial demand
than prevailed over much of last
year Anthracite production has
continued at somewhat lower lev
els than in 1856. Domestic markets