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Show 4 ' f Panic Bogey Fades Away m u s i Prices Are Declining 0 0 . is 0 o Labor More Efficient By JOHN . MILL, Financial Fdltor Iron Trade Review and Dallj Iron trade. Only a tew months ago the country was helnc frightened b the bogey of an autumn panic But, like most of the calamities predicted for this car. the financial hobgoblin has not mater-la mater-la II-.C, 1 Instead, there have come sliphtly easier money and the assurance thai the worst of the credit strain Is ocr This does not mean that deflation has been completed, however. It merely fhnws that the descent from the dizzy war Inflation will be made without a violent shock to general conditions. The present outlook is for continued gTadual commodity price dc' lines. This Is due to a number of things, chief of I which Is the public s revolt against war prices In peace times. When the public pub-lic stepped buing, it suddenly was discovered dis-covered that tho alleged scarcity of goods was really due to manipulation or to the abnormal demand Ae a result, the cry of underproduction underproduc-tion Is little heard now. Shortages of silk, wool, cotton, clothing, automobiles automo-biles tires, lumber, building material, sugar and other products, changed over night. Into awkward surpluses This has created a buyeVs market in most lines. Business firms stunned bj cancella tions ana a slumping aemanu, are hottlnfc their axes for orders. Buyers who were .scorned six months ngo arc being courted now. As usually happens hap-pens In a declining market, however, buyers are gun-shy, and hand-to-mouth purchasing Is the rule. This Is causing a backing up all along the line, though the pinch Is more severe at some spots than In others. THE NATION'S CROPS An important counteracting factor, tending to sustain demand is the prospect pros-pect for enormous crops According to the government's latest report the wheat yield will bo 770.000,000 bushels and corn n,131.000,00u bushels. If present pres-ent hiich (Cr.tin prices are maintained the farmers wll wield a huge potential purchasing power In the commodity markets this fall. The late K H. Har-rlman Har-rlman used to say that big- crops and prosperity were svnonomous INDICATION OF CONTRACTION Indications that fundamental economic econ-omic changes are taking place Include1 Increasing commercial failures, declining declin-ing commodity prices, shrinking bank clearings growing unemployment, de-cre de-cre iinpr exports and higher imports, Industrial curtailment and stock market mar-ket liquidation. IRON AND STEEL Even the iron and steel industry, which has presented tne strongest front of all, Is beginning to feel the pinch of reduced buying and cancellations cancella-tions This Is shown by the drop of more than 300.000 tons in unfilled orders or-ders of the United States Steel corporation corpor-ation during August. AMERICAN WOOLEN Co. Re-openlng of the mills of to American Woolen Company has attrct-er attrct-er widespread attention. Its quotations stll are about 160 per cent, or more, above pre-war prices. This in face of the fact that raw wool, a drug on the market, has settled back virtually to the pre-war level. TTRES AlthouKh the liquidation In the entire en-tire Industry was exceptional drastic, I the large eombpanles are In better fl-I fl-I nanclal shape now than seemed possible pos-sible a few months ago. Production has been cut und surplus stocks are belli" reduced In the spring, when the automobile business was booming tire makers geared up their plants for an enormous output. Dealers were stocked up to the guards. Then the bottom crashed Raw rubber, which sold at around SO cents a pound before the war is now about 30 cents. Full 35,000 men have been thrown out of work in Akron, the world's rubber n-ter. n-ter. They have all been absorbed elsewhere, however An Akron employment employ-ment manager recently said that when ho wanted to hire men he had to go out and look for them. Tiro prices have held firm, but recessions are expected ex-pected before the end of the J ear. EMPLOYMENT AND WAGES A survey of 'S5 states by the Department Depart-ment of Labor shows unemployment! Increasing, while absorbtlon of surplus labor Is decreasing The country is not facing a serious unemployment problem, however. Principal reductions reduc-tions In working hours and forces have occurred in the automotive, tire and textile industries. Following the Napoleonic and Civil Wars prices declined sooner and more rapidly than wages This order will obtain now, although moderate wage! reductions' alread- hav e been made at some automobile and accessory planls lri the country Labor Is distinctly more efficient. This is tending to reduce re-duce the unit cost of production. FREIGHT MOVEMENTS . Under private ownership and with labor troubles over, railroad freight car movements are exceeding records' established at the peak of the war; pressure In 1918. As a result, the con-i gestlon of goods is meltlnr- together with the choicest argument of the pro- fiteer. Freight rate advances have not had the predicted effect of raisingi prices .because competition and deflation defla-tion are preventing sellers from tack- ,' Ing on the new freight charges. i |
