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Show most cataclysmic year. . It soared in the early summer, touching the highest production point in several years, then shrank back to new lows. Now executives are looking forward to 1934 with gratification. The first quarter of the new year is expected to be exceptionally favorable, fa-vorable, i Textiles Production has gone down, while employment and payrolls have advanced. economic Highlights (Continued from page 1) imports a greater than seasonal decline. de-cline. The chaotic money situation is; naturally a barrier to any major gain in trade at this time. Construction Value and volume of contracts are rising constantly, due to a great extent to public works activities. Residential building activity ac-tivity has likewise shown gains, but nothing resembling a boom has yet materialized. Transportation Carloadings failed to show their customary seasonal jump. The financial position of the carriers, however, has substantially improved. For the first, eight months of the year railway net operating op-erating income was 87 per cent above the same period in 1932; the last quarter will be less favorable, but the year's total will be encouraging. en-couraging. Automobiles Curtailment in the industry in-dustry always precedes the introduction intro-duction of new models each fall, and it is yet too early to know how well these have gone. Generally speaking, speak-ing, retail sales of new cars have been firm. Labor difficulties, particularly par-ticularly in tool shops, have been a problem. For the industry as a whole, employment has been well over a year ago. Chemical Industries Activity has kept to a uniformly high level, despite des-pite slackening in most of the industries in-dustries to which chemical manufacturers manufac-turers sell. Prices have been firm. Employment and payroll gains have been sharp. Agriculture There have been small increases in crop forecasts for corn, wheat and oats. Prices have varied to but a small degree. The department depart-ment of agriculture forecasts that the gross income of farmers from sale of crops in 1933 will be 25 per cent above last year, and somewhat below that for 1931. Lumber Higher prices, fewer orders, has been the late experience. Production Pro-duction has'declined while stocks on hand have increased. Since April there has been a 60 to 70 per cent increase in employment, and payrolls pay-rolls have more than doubled. Steel This industry has had an al- |