Salt Lake Telegram | 1923-02-26 | Page 7 | Business Outlook

1 IT i I I Busi Business ess Outlook ii 1 7 f CRAPE RAPE hangers changers art are routed by the news h hat t tl l more pig iron was WIS made in January than in in 10 any month since October 1920 Pass the word L I along along the the best in twenty-seven twenty months The pig iron output in January was the largest of any January ever er except in 1919 during the big boom an and antT even then the production was wa less than 4 4 p pe per f cent ent ent above the first month Do you r realize that America is producing a fourth more pig iron than in 1913 the best year before the war Th That's ts t's certa certainly getti getting g b back backup backup ck up up to normal and even above normal Farm implement makers report that their sales are are tre twice as Dig big as a year ago This is as IS important important im im- im as big production of pig iron for it indicates indicates indi indi- cates that the farmers farmer's buying power is returning When the farmers farmer's buying power vet reaches the same level as the city mans man's equilibrium will be restored to our economics system That will vill have to come before business generally can can go ahead smoothly I Rather bad export news Less than 65 million mil mu- lion bushels of wheat were wen exported last year compared d with nearly million bushels in 1921 Still Stitt in 1913 a good prewar normal year wheat exports were slightly under t 00 million million mil mil- mil mil- lion Hon bushels And the slump in wheat exports during 1922 was partly due to Europe's increased consumption of corn as a a substitute for wheat Amer American c.-an c. farmers exported over million bushels of or corn last year against about million million million mil mil- lion bushels in 1921 and an average of only forty-five forty million bushels a year in in 1909 Measured in bushels exports of our two leading leading lead lead- ing ng grain crops total more than twice as big as before the war despite the European situation The year 1923 has started out ver very encouraging encouraging- ly And the outlook is reasonably good for any anyone anyone anyone one content to make comparisons with normal times Trouble is most of us do our comparing with the he abnormally prosperous years of the war var war boom times such as will never repeat in our generation when we were spending the Liberty bond money oney mortgaging the he future You You hear a Jot lot of wailing wail wait ing about how hos our our foreign trade has fallen off since the war bubble burst Things look less blue when you take the figures for merchandise exports from the United States and find that they compare om are like this this 1922 1922 1913 The gain just about matches Ithe the increase in average wholesale prices Are we weon weon on a normal basis again without realizing it I I