Show S Inside t S 1 Stuff B By PAUL MALLON W WASHINGTON ASHL March 29 Some 29 Some of ot those sighted sharp-sighted Wall street seers could use some new glasses As they always 8 see it ill the only business in this country is making steel and the other durable S DIJ Durable able goods Goods Not Nol Statistics of ot these Only Ones i industries n d u s t r i e s are stressed so much t that you rarely see any others played up or adequately considered Consequently Conse Conse- when steel started slipping sUpping a a afew few weeks week ago the stock block market went down with it and the general Impression is broadcast that the t while national spring sprint business rise has gone I r I I If you ou look at a balanced chart chartor of or business statistics you ou can see without any glasses that such a viewpoint view point is slightly out of focus e a The governments government's private chart of business shows that factory employment employ employ- ment wages and department depart ment store sales have shown a conI constant con con- S. S I stant lant seasonal extra-seasonal improvement in the past three months Even build Ing contracts have improved incan incon a sequentially and prices h have ve remained ed I i table stable S The only decline has baa been in Industrial inS in- in S production product n. n and this Is due to 10 the decline in S. S Employment steel more than vAnd And Wares Wages anything else 1 Show w Gain If It you average up all these factors fac fac- tors you will Ij find d the Januar January index t i of business seasonably adjusted i about bout per cent of normal 1923 1925 February and March 70 This could hardly be called calle going i backward a I 55 iv It does docs not mean that the existing S business busine situation would justify asking asking ask ask- I Ii ing i the boss f for r a raise Essentially we are aw tod today just st about at the level S of af March last year The prospects for lor the next few months are not in in- in view of ot the bulge in pro pro- ducton at the turn of ot the year This bulge will undoubtedly be taken laken out S. S af oi of the spring figures s and may force torce a continued shrinkage ir M hi production f 1 ft But it does mean that the averaged S 'S Continued on Page Pur Two 1 T Inside Stuff Continued from horn Page One Ond troubles of steel machinery transportation tation equipment General lumber metals Business glass brick autos Index Lifts Lilts have obscured the fairly Rood averaged aver aver- aged encouragements of textiles tobacco tobacco to to- bacco leather shoes food lood paper chemicals rubber Employment in the first group averaged averaged aver aver- aged only per cent of normal in inthe inthe inthe the official February figures while employment in the second group roup was In other words the arc are within 6 per cent of or their employment employment em em- during 1923 4 You can figure out the general lay out for yourself from the monthly fig fig- tires ures carried in the table at the end of ot this article The price index is isba ba based ed on 1926 1026 as but all the the- others others oth oth- ers are based on 1923 All except payrolls and prices prices' are adjusted for tor seasonal variations which means that each figure is the actual estimated percentage of ot normal for tor the times stated S 0 It Il is true there have been few Increases Increases In In- creases in any major lines of oC production production pro pro- lately Steel was unchanged in February but will be down in March The automobile demand for steel has cased up Rails are not buy buying nJ and building construction on is not using much The average o of steel production tion for lor March I Steel will be beabout about 47 or Textiles 48 per cent The Decline trend will ill continUe continue con s slightly Ii g h t y downward rd Textiles suffered a seasonal contra decline in February and March The break reak in cotton prices had something to do with it Lumber is down due to o high stocking and low demand building again Cement is up a litle lit lit- tic tle le shoes unchanged and tobacco down I S 0 Automobile e production is b being strung trung- out more than expected The February production was slightly more than seasonal but in one week of or March production went vent over cars This is more than any any week yeek of ot 1934 However the final figure for March will probably not note be e more than seasonally expected Three lines of car cars have been unable un able to meet their market demands deman demanso so o far although Ford is now supposed supposed sup sup- posed to be caught up 0 0 0 You may have wondered how factory fac- fac tory ory employment and factory payrolls pay pay- rolls oils could increase while production was falling The answer is that the employment and payroll figures cover coveri a much wider range of small smaIl industries indus indus- tries ries than the production figure which is heavily weighted with steel steal autos textiles etc This is ii further evidence that there is some iome some other man manufacturing in the countr country outside the he big industries e 0 e. e 00 Ca are running better be be- cause ause of ot demand for bituminous coal Some consumers have been stocking uP p fearing tearing a strike when the wa wage e agreement expires shortly althou although h the best authorities here heredo do not ex ex- peel a strike to materialize Comparative table ot of industrial data dal I i hj S tj en 0 ri g l 0 ri n tj q 0 I c 3 0 j 0 E s s' s i o 0 e 0 0 Oi n 0 in Q- Q S. S Year 1 3 go n. n in 1 n L' L 4 n ir t to o a tit dil 2 g.- g. 3 ii r I n. n 1926 equals F r 1929 average 1048 10 1 Ii lii 1930 1030 average 6 87 n 22 92 1931 81 31 75 92 63 73 I 0 1932 average e 64 61 56 69 28 6 1933 January 65 56 60 22 February 63 54 60 19 March larch 60 58 9 71 50 57 14 1934 January 78 64 68 49 9 72 2 February 81 64 71 44 4 March 85 48 66 77 33 July July 75 61 72 27 October 73 10 57 74 31 November 74 59 72 31 76 5 December 85 64 76 33 1935 January 91 64 72 12 27 78 8 February 89 65 75 28 March est 87 65 76 29 |