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Show Business Conditions in the U. S. a This map represents business conditions in every state in the Union as set forth in the February number of Nation's Business, official publication of the Chamber of Commerce of the United Staleo Washington The process of liquidation and readjustment continued con-tinued in an orderly fashion as business entered upon the new year, says Frank Greene in his monthly review in Nation's Business Bus-iness Magazine, published by the Chamber of Commerce of the United States, Liquidation reached record-breaking record-breaking proportions in the last 12 months, the review points out. In fact, it notes, there were as many failures in 11 months of last year as there were in the 12 months of 1930. Business liabilities liabili-ties of all kinds in 1931, swelled by an unprecedented number of bank failures. Mr. Greene observes, indicated in-dicated an aggregate of failure damage, perhaps 56 per cent higher than the previous record total in 1930. The review draws some satisfaction satis-faction from the fact that in December a number of staple commodities com-modities displayed stubDorn resistance re-sistance against further price declines. de-clines. The grains showed comparatively com-paratively little weakness, while coffee, copper, cotton and rubber recorded slighi gains. "December retail trade," Mr. rreene reports, "advanced over I that of recently preceding months, ! while wholesale busmess, industry and collections receded. "However, mail-order sales for December, 1931, decreased 15.1 per cent from the December, 1930, figure, as against a 17.6 per cent decrease in November and a 2.1 per cent decrease in December, 1930, from 1929. For the full year the decrease in mail-order sales from 1930 was 11.1 per cent, as against a 10.9 per cent decline in 1930 and 1929. "Chain store sales for December, 1931 were five per cent below those of the like month of 1930, which in turn showed a decrease of 4.9 per cent from those of December, 19-29. 19-29. The decrease in November was 8.2 per cent. For the year, chain store sales fell five per cent from those of 1930, which in turn were 0.5 per cent above those of 1929. "Combined chain and mailorder mail-order sales for December, 1931, declined de-clined three per cent from those of the like month of 1930. Sales for the year were seven per cent lower than in 1930. The decrease m 1930 from 1929 was 8.1 per cent. "Department-store sales for December fell fifteen per cent below be-low December, 1930. For the year 1931 the decreases was 12 per cent from 1930, and the decline in 1930 from 1929 was eight per cent. "There were two things about 1931 which were not necessarily related but which were interesting. One was that public health was generally good the country over. Reasoning from this, there seema to have been no impairment of health despite the talk of undernourishment under-nourishment due to hard times, lack of work and consequent reduced re-duced earnings. "The other interesting thing was the statement by President Woods of the American Meat Packers Institute In-stitute that meat consumption Increased In-creased slightly in the United States in 1931. The increase was . mainly in lamb which moved into ' consumption in greater volume than ever before. Consumption of beef and veal changed little. Pork consumption was slightly largei than in 1930 and consumption of lard was ten per cent heavier than in the preceding year. It may be inferred that these mcreases were the result of the lower prices which certainly ruled at wholesale and presumably at retail also. Hog prices at one time in December were reported the lowest in 30 odd years. The steel industry was slack in December, with capacity at a very low point perhaps 20 to 25 per cent as against 35 per cent last year when total potential capacity to produce was, however, less by some millions of tons than it is this year. Prices were weak, with bars, plates and shapes off in the closing days of the month, due probably, to the slackness -in the automobile manufacturing trade. Still, one estimate of December output was 100,000 cars and trucks which compares with an actual output of only 68,867 vehicles in November the smallest output in I any month since the figures were first collected in 1921. ! "Final returns of size and value of the country's crops December 1 farm prices being taken as a guide to the latter by the Bureau Bur-eau of Agricultural Economics, reveal re-veal a sizable decrease in corn yield and smaller changes up or down in other cereals, with crop values and farm income lower than for at least 20 years. "Estimates of aggregate income made by the Agricultural Economics Econ-omics Bureau reveal that agriculture's agricul-ture's gross income in 1931 was $6,920,000,00026 per cent less I than in 1930 and 42 per cent less than in 1929, this sum including products sold or consumed in the farm home. I "It is figured that the crops provided pro-vided $2,900,000,000 of this income and live stock about $4,000,000-000 $4,000,000-000 and $1,400,000,000 respectively less than in 1930. When the gross inome of 1931, the lowest since 1911, is compared with the gross income of $16,000,000,000 in 1919 ' we get a better idea of the reduction reduc-tion agriculture has taken. "Study of some 40 odd farm crops over the two years. 1929 to 1931, shows that only two products have advanced in price. Grape showed an advance in 1931 over j 1930, the hops in 1931 over 1929. I "Bank clearings still tend down- : ward, which is not surprising considering con-sidering the bank mergers and j suspensions noted in 1930 and 19-31. 19-31. For December, clearings were rather uniformly lower than a yrar ago, in the neighborhood of j 31 per cent over the entire country ' and in the cities outside New York, while the decreases for the year were off respectively 24.5 per i cent. Compared with 1929. the outside of new York clearings were I 62.2 per cent smaller while the decrease de-crease in all clearings was 43.7 I per cent." |