OCR Text |
Show CROP PRICES IN DISTRICT GAIN Building Activity Increases r.s Conditions Show Improvement BAN KB.ANCISCO. Feb. 28. Prices of mot t of the principal fann pr.. ducts of th; Twelfth tedcral reserve district have risen materially since the first of the year, John Perrln, federal reserve re-serve agent, S;in Francisco, tlcelared In his monthly report made public here today. ' Wheal, wool and all kinds of live, stock benefitted parC-ttlarlv. did the citrus fruits, but ihe latter at the expense of d image by killing frosts and .. WtUs. estimated as hlh as 5u per cent of the anticipated crop." the report re-port said. 'Commodities such as barley, rico and f,.tton which did not participate In the general rise are nevertheless at prices comparing favorably with those of a year ngo. 1M RCAS1 D M r.M tl. "Slnco a large part of last year's crop ... iiircauy out nf ihe lartm rs' .1. Hid till feie!)'. fise 111 prices will ikj' oiM-nite nrlmarllv to Increase return to producer". It is significant in its bearing bear-ing upon returns to be received from crops now- In the ground. "That the increased pri-o have, however, resulted in u con-,,derab!e 'marketing of products would appear I from the condition reports of the JC ' 1. porting member banks in 'lie princl-IpaJ princl-IpaJ cities of the dlstrlcL The decline in their loans and discounts between January 4 and February S. was slightly slight-ly over $60,000,000 or t.9 per cent, and they reduced their borrowings frm the icil. ral reserve bank to $21,000.-oou, $21,000.-oou, a decline for the month of $12,-000.000. $12,-000.000. or ;$7.4 per cent. Bills discounted dis-counted from the fedcrul reserve bank ii.r all member banks on February 8 (f.5h608,0Q0) were ll. 9 ner cent less in amount than they were January 11, and Constitute a new low figure for tbe readjustment period; I 1 MJBJBR I.MU STItv "The lumber industry of the dis- 1 i triet continued to improve durinc: Jan- j uary. increases being registered in pro- ! ductfon; suipments and orders recelv- d, both as mupared with the month.s Of December and January. 1921. The cut of the largest lumber a.ssociation i in tho district for the week ending i February 11 (134 mills rcDortlng) was only 11 per cent below normal. The; export movement of Douglas fir during dur-ing 1921 (455.233,000 feet) exceeded' by 5,000.000 feet the exports of 1920. ,' "In the mining industry the noteworthy note-worthy development was announce- ' ment of decisions to resume operations 1 by five of the principal copper com-panics com-panics of Arizona, which have been cloaed since May, 1021. Their re-! Umptlon will mean that, seven of the 15 principal copper mines in this district dis-trict will be in operation. "Petroleum production in Califor- , nia. although decreasing 3 per cent In January, compared with December, L0S1, still outruns consumption and stocks are now at the peak since the low point of December, 1920 of 3d - : 000,000 barrels 1 MTU IYMJEX1 i Si 11 .i i "Employment conditions during . annual y were ju 11 1 icaiiy unchanged 1 as compared with December with much unemployment in the mining centers, in motal trades, at ihe shipyards, ship-yards, and arrjforig unskilled workers. Reel improvement is anticipated with the resumption of farm work and other oth-er outdoor labor in the spring. "In the field of conrmcroc and trade improvement is apparent in tho re-I re-I turns covering tho movement of exports ex-ports and Imports through the pnn-Icipol pnn-Icipol ports of the district during the i last six months of 1921. Hoth imports land exports in tho month of December ) 10 21. excelled in value those of 1 1 jeemner. 1920, tho former by l r4 per 1 cent and tho latter by l per cent. The greatest movement Is reported In the i. 1.1. with Japdn and the L'nlted Kingdom, King-dom, KIT Ml, TI! I1 Bl 1 I R "Retail trade as reflected in reports j from 33 department stores in the lead-Mnf lead-Mnf cities of the district continues to 1 exceed In volume that of a year ago. 1 The decline In value of total January I sales or these department stores, when Compared w-ith January. 1921. was 'only 6.3 per cent, whereas these stores ; n porl average prico declines during ; tho period considerably In excess of i ills percentage, 1 ha improvement in tho wholesale trade, WhlQb began to bo apparent In Ocl mi r, 1921, continues. 111 the lu I reporting lines of business, three re-pori re-pori the value of their sales during January, 1922. In excess of those of January, 1921. Six of the seven remaining re-maining lines report a percentage of decline in the dollar value of their January sales. which is appreciably less than the percentage of decline reported re-ported In the prices of their goods during dur-ing the year. Dl 11 i. TIVE "Building activity has again reach- J I'curd proportions, 1 r, by 5 1 3.MU0.000, or 155 per cent, the value "i operatlode rmortefj for January 1921. Of the 20 cities reporting. 14J advise a largt 1 number of permits 1s-BUOd 1s-BUOd during January. 1922. thnn during dur-ing January, 1921. "Business failures during January, following the national trend, were larger In number than In any month during recent years. "Tho volume of business being done throughout the district GTenerally as measured by debits to Individual :.c-couhta :.c-couhta for January continues larger than It was a year ago. The value of these debits during January. 1922. in 20 principal cities was about S.3 per cent less than it was in Jumiary, 1921. as compared ulih a decline of 21 pec cent in wholesale prices and Slightly less than this figure in retail prices during the same period." |