Evening Star Newspaper, February 1, 1929, Page 13

TRADING IMPROVES | AT D. . MARKET Potomac River Fish and Oys- . ters Scarce—Commodi- ties Plentiful. Tee in the harbor in the vicinity of Municipal Fish Market this morning did not seriously hamper business; it only slightly retarded the movements of boats in the harbor, according to re- ports, but small craft with cargoes of fish from points below Alexandria were few and far between. Low temperature did not serve to prevent retailers from being on hand during the early morning hours looking for supplies of marine products for their Friday trade, and business was reported fairly brisk. Potomac River fish and oysters were scarce. The only fish received from the netters were carp, yellow perch, catfish and sand perch. There were so many other fish to be had, however, frozen fish from the North and fresh stock from the South, that light receipts from the Potomac did not affect the market to any great extent. Increased number of buyers were in evidence in the wholesale district this morning, dealers reported, and an in- creased volume of business was reported. A similar condition also was reported by retailers. ‘There were ample supplies of all com- modities to be had of wholesalers this morning. Haulers hurried to the local market with truckloads of eggs yester- day, fearing lower temperature might interfers with hauling the next few days. Receipts of eggs were not much in excess of demands, however, and prices ‘were not affected. It is belleve‘:! ‘t‘hat!;n easing reported in egg markets else- ‘where yeaph:rdly will be reflected here the first of the coming week unless bliz- zard weather should intervene. Prices of most commodities this morning were substantially the same as Erlbes quoted yesterday, pork prices g the exception. Today's Wholesale Prices—Jobbers’ Prices Slightly Higher. Butter—One-pound prints, 51a52; ‘tub, 50351; store packed, 30a35. ‘Hennery, 40a42; fresh, selected, 38a40; current receipts, 37a38; storage, 30a3: Poultry, alive—Turkeys, 36a37; Spring chickens, 35a36; Leghorns, 30; fowls, 28a30; roosters, 19a20; ducks, 25; geese, 20; keats, young, 50a60; old, 30. Dressed —Turkeys, 40a45; Spring chickens, 38a 40; Leghorns, 30a32; fowls, 28; capons, large, 45a46; small, 38a40; ducks, 32a 33; geese, 25a30; keats, 80a1.00. Meats, fresh killed—Beef, 18a21; veal, ; lamb, 30; pork loins, 24a25; 1 23a24; fresh shoulders, 16a 17; smoked hams, 26; smoked shoulders, 16; bacon, 22; lard in tins, 13;; in PiING Stock—Calves, 17a17%; lambs, 13014, Fruit and Vegetable Review. ‘The daily market report on fruits and vegetables (compiled by the Market News Service Bureau of Agricultural Economics), says: Apples—Supplies moderate; demand ket ; 1s, no sales 1, 21 inches up, Staymans, .85a1.85; U. B".& No. 2, Z‘Z inches up, m 1.35a1.40, c«n::fl;;n Wledne‘: Tepol nnsylvan. U. 8. No. 1, 2% inches up, Black Twigs should have read 2% inches, U. 8. No. 1. lies liberal lually ed and 4-6 dozen, 3.00a3.50; Cali- ornia crates, few sales holdovers, 5.50. Lettuce — Western stock: pplies moderate; demand light, market steady; crates Iceberg type, 4 to 5 dozen, fair quality end condition, 3.00a 3.50; California, Imperial Valley, crates Iceberg type, 4 to 5 dozen, 4.00a4.25, mostly 4.00. Southern stock: Supplies light; demand light, market dull; Flor- 4ds, 1}>-bushel hampers Big Boston best, 1.50; fair quality and con- bushel baskets Big Bos- 75a1.00; ity and condition, 75. lerate; d 5.| tween $7 and $8. BY KENNETH S. VAN STRUM. NEW YORK February 1.—Last year the automobile industry made a new roduction record of over 4,500,000 cars. ven thg most conservative expect pro- duction during the coming year to reach at least 5,000,000, and there seems to be an excellent possibility that in the next few years the industry will average 5,500,000 cars annually, These figures indicate that earnings of the larger com- panies should be greater in the future. Rivalry. It is unwise, however, to estimate conditions within the industry by pro- duction, for low-priced cars are far out of proportion to middle and high-priced ones. Ford and Chevrolet alone will probably produce about 60 per cent of the total production in 1929. But the other low and medium priced models, as well as the higher grades, are all ex- pected to expand, also. The only ques- tion seems to be who will get the busi- ness. Public favor shifts from one manu- facturer to another so rapidly that the companies with widely diversified models are most certain of their future. This factor is encouraging the trend toward combinations and larger manufacturing unigs. In Many Price Fields. General Motors, in many ways the largest industrial concern in the world, is the most widely diversified motor companye It has a car “for every purse and purpose,” each of which competes favorably in its own price field. The company’s growth in recent years has been reflected in the sharply rising prices of its stock, yet present prices are not out of line with those of other standard industrials. Making allowances for many changes in capitalization, o l||||||||ll|| 70 |||“| HUDSON |I||I|||l|||"|lll'|'I i earnings in the past six years have in- creased steadily from $1.73 a share to $5.27 in 1927. Earnings for 1928 are expected to be around $6.20, and, of ‘course, better things are expected in the future, ‘The of Chrysler since the old days is little short of phenome- has diversified its interests along the lines of General Motors, fol- lowing a policy of expansion, which to- T th its recent absorption of ige, has greatly improved its position in the industry. The rapid developments make it difficult to_estimate the future of the company. During the last few year Chrysler has averaged $5.83 a share, and the 1928 net will run be- Optimistic forecasts Maxwel nal. It | Of $12 a share for 1929 are made, vania, 150-pound U. 8. No. 1, 2.25; New York, 150-pound sacks whites, U. 8. No. 1, 2.25a2,35. &4 A Spinach—st moderate; demand light, ml.rm“ux"eldn No. 1, 1.90a2.00; Maryland, Edst Shore, bushel T yellows, No. 1, 1.75a2.00, mostly ‘Tomatoes — Supplies light; demand light, market steady. Originals: Flor- ida, sixes, ripes and turning, wrapped, fancy count, 3.0023.50. Repacked: Un- known origin, sixes, ripes, wrapped, fancy count, 4.50a4.75. String beans—Supplies light; demand light, market about steady; Florida, 7g-bushel hampers green, 4.00a4.50; fancy, high as 5.00; wax, 2.50a3.00, few high as 3.60. Peppers—Supplies moderate; demand light, market slightly weaker; Florida, ge'wer crates,fancy, mostly 4.00; choice, | :003.50. Eggplant —Supplies light; demand light, market slightly weaker; Florida, geo%per crates fancy, 4.50a5.50, mostly “Squash—Supplies light; demand light, market _steady; Florida, pepper crates | foothold in the medium-pr fancy, 5.0025.50. Cucumbers—Supplies very light; too few sales reported to quote. Strawberries—Supplies moderate; de- mand light, market slightly weaker; Florida, 32-quart crates various varie- tles, 30a35; varieties, 358372, per quart. Caulifiower—Supplics liberal; demand light, market steady; California, pony crates, 1.50a1.75, mostly 1.75; few high as 2.00. | Carrots—Supplies moderate; demand fight, market steady; Texas, bushel baskets bunched, 2.25a2.50; Western lettuce crates, 3.25a3.50; California, Western lettuce crates bunched, 3.50a " Beets—Supplies light; demand light, market slightly weaker; Texas, bushel baskets bunched, 2.25a2.50; Western let- | tuce crates bunched, 3.00a3.25. ‘Oranges—Supplies moderate; demand light, market steady; Florida, boxes No. 1, large size, 4.00a4.25; small size, 2.50a3.00. Grapefrult—Supplies moderate; de- mand light, market steady; Florida, boxes No. 1, medium size, 3.50a3.75; few fancy, 4.00a4.25; No. 2, 2.50a3.25. Peas—Supplies light; demand light, market dull; Mexico, 45-pound crates, 5.5026.00. S IS eale January Trading Report. NEW YORK, February 1 (P).—Jan- uary ‘'was the second largest trading month on record for the New York Btock Exchange. Sales totaled 110,- 803,940 shares, against the high record of 115,433,835 shares set last November. gony refrigerators various | Low and Medium Prices. Willys Overland, a long established concern, has cut the price of its Whip- pet. in an effort to compete in the low=- est priced class. It also produces the medium-priced Willys-Knight. It has had a very successful year, has added 50 per cent to its dealer organization, and looks forward to even more pros- rous times. But a large part of its is in the price fleld, where the keenest competition will be felt in 1929, ‘The company's earnings during the past six years, though erratic, averaged $2.44 & share, and 1928 is expected to show $3 or better. It pays $1.20 and an extra, Hudson, an outstanding producer of medium-priced cars, has shown a steady increase in business for the past seven ears. In 1927 it suffered somewhat Y not changing its models when other manufacturers made radical style changes, but has recently followed this trend. It remains to be seen what these new cars can do. Average earnings dur- Ing the past six years were $7.88 and in 11928 they were $8.43. It is paying $5, Concentrate in Medium Field. Studebaker, a veteran in the medium- priced field, showed slowly declining | earnings from 1922 to 1927, when they | dropped to $6.09, after averaging $7.84 llot that period. In the meantime other manufacturers were gam;ng a ced field, but, despite yielding slightly, Stude- baker maintained remarkably steady earnings. The company has | recently taken over Pilerce-Arrow, but | the outcome of this venture in the | higher price field is still to be seen. The 1928 earnings are estimated at $7 | & share, the drop from the $7.84 av- erage being attributed to the expense of moving Detroit business to South Bend. If present production schedules for 1929 are carried cut, earnings for the first six months should be consid- | erably better than a year ago. { pany which has always produced popu- lar medium-priced models. Earnings have shown steady expansion, except for a short while, when models were { being changed. The price of the stock, however, has risen steadily over a period of years. Earnings from 1922-1927 av- eraged $6.46 a share, and in 1928 they were $7.62. Larger earnings are an- ticipated for 1929 and the strong posi- tion of the company may make better than a $6 dividend possible. Hupp illustrates the importance of style in the modern motor. Since its announcement of a radical style change in 1927 earnings have risen rapidly. Earnings for the 1922-1927 period av- eraged $3.41 a share, but those for 1928 will be much better. The outlook for 1929 is somewhat confused by the acquisition of Chandler-Cleveland. (Copyright, 1929.) ——— Dividend Payments Gain. NEW YORK, February 1 (4 idend payments in January For the New York Curb Market the month _established a high record of 42,994,900 shares, compared with 38,- 482,000 in November, the previous high, otal $246,781,436, against $198,507,930 in| January, 1928. December payments, usually larger than in January, were!l $408,006,108, |SHARP RISE IN UTILITY STOCKS IS JANUARY MARKET FEATURE Special Dispatch to The Star. ‘YORK, February 1.—The month of January, which is traditionally an uncertain period in speculative markets, will go down in financial history as one in which a larger number of new high records were made for public utility stocks than at any time during the bull campaign and in which so-called in- vestment railroad shares exceeded the level attained 20 years ago. r It has been the rise this month in these two classes that has added ap- | preciably to the market values of all se- curities listed on the New York Stock Exchange and on the New York Curb. The rails were late in starting, but with the gains made today the average for the group is considerably higher than at the end of December, in which month there was a decline in railroad stock prices. The public utilities have been “boiling” for several weeks. Net changes in them since the end of 1928 range all the way from 5 to 75 points. A third group that has 1.gged, but which was taken up this month, were the tobacco stocks. Iron and steel is- sues did better for a while under the leadership of U. S. Steel common and with the resumption of dividends on Bethlehem Steel common, but the group as a whole ends the month with not much gain. One of the weakest bodies of stocks during January has been that repre- senting the ofl refining and producing companies, in which there have been heavy net losses, especially among the Standard Oils. As all of them have enormous share capital, the depreciation of January, combined with that of De- cember, will erase much of the huge gain made in November. Motors in January were also irregular, with indications that professional trad- ers were shifting into other sections of the list. The weight of this selli fallen chiefly on Chrysler, which is off 20 points for the month. Studebaker reached a new high during January and has held most of its gain. The metal shares have been strong at times and ngain weak, with International Nickel Jeading the market for consider- able periods in point of turnover, but with most of the other active coppers showing net losses. The chain store and distributing stocks have not been so prominent as they were in the last quar- ter of 1928. Altogether, January has been notable for the shifting currents of speculation. Groups of stocks that have been popu- lar for a while have been suddenly abandoned and the entire attention of the Street focussed elsewhere. This sug- gests a large volume of liquidation in issues that have long been prominent and the transfer of sales of these stocks into other groups that have long been lying dormant, RAIL LINES INTERESTED IN SUSPENSION FIGHT Spectal Dispatch to The Star. BALTIMORE, February 1—Steam railroads and electric_lines operafing between here and Washington are greatly interested in the fight which the Interstate Commerce Commission is making to have Congress give it power to suspend all lines deemed un- necessary. ‘This 1s -especially true of the Wash- ington, Baltimore & Annapolis Rail- way, but the Baltimore & Ohio and the Pennsylvania Railroads also are watching the move with considerable interest. ‘There are five bus lines now carrying passengers between Baltimore and Washington—the Red Star, Nevin, Miller Tours, Marion Coach and the Greyhound. Many other lines through- out the State operate In interstate service and would find themselves forced to prove their service more es- sential than the rail lines connecting places on their routes. The W., B. & A. has been hit as hard as' any line, because the five bus lines skim the cream off its traffic. The B. & O. and Pennsylvania Rail- roads suffer also, but not so much, Nash is an efficiently operated com- because their longer routes, even when paralleled by bus lines, are not so much affected as the 45-mile interstate cross- ing to Washington. DANVILLE T.RACTION CO. DANVILLE, Va, February 1.—The Danville Traction & Power Co. lost over $8,000 the past year, it is revealed in the annual statement to stockholders by C. G. Holland, president. It was the heaviest loss ever sustained and was ascribed as due chiefly to the tendency of automobile owners to pick up friends who are waiting for stree cars and give them a ‘lift,; thus losing a cash fare of ‘This is a wide practice in a com- munity of this size, where most people kxmwd one another, Mr. Holland re- rted. poAnmher factor was the curtailed time schedules in the local textile industry, which helped to reduce patronage. Mr. Holland has been re-elected pres- ident of the corporation. NEW YORK BANK CLEARINGS. NEW YORK, February 1 (Special) — New York bank clearings, $2,088,000,~ 000; New York bank balances, $165,~ 000,000; New York Federal reserve credit balances, $157,000,000. LEADERS IN INDUSTRIAL WORLD FORGING AHEAD Special Dispatch to The Star. NEW YORK, February 1.—Those two industrial giants—the United States Steel Corporation and General Motors— have just published their 1928 reports. United States Steel, after paying for all the material used in its manufac- ture, wages for 300,000 employes, in- terest on its bonds, found $192,202,000 left. This the auditors call “earnings.” From this great amount first was de- ducted depreciation and sinking fund charges of $67,314,000—more than $5,000,000 a month, Next was sub- tracted other items, mostly interest. And the sum of $113,998,000 was left. From this amount preferred stock dividends of $25,219,000 were paid, and then $49,813,000 in dividends on its 7,116,235 shares of common stock. The balance, amounting to $38,965,000, was added to surplus, Tax refunds are not included in this statement. G&ner‘al Mat&%d m better. ]Alter paying for mal g wages, large depreciation, its officers had $279,- 100,000 left. This is equal to $15.50 & share on the old stock and $6.20 on the new stock, after preferred stock dividends were paid. Compare this with $235,140,000 earned in 1927—a gain of 18.7 per cent, or with $186,231,000 :;.\z—ged by this automobile leader in Follow these reports up with the du Pont, which earned net, after in- terest and Federal taxes, a total or $64,097,000, equal to $21.96 a share on its 2,674,107 average number of no-par shares outstanding during the year. This company, dominated entirely and owned almost exclusively by one family, shows total assets on December 31, last, of $463,333,000, an increase of more than $111,000,000 during the year. The natural accumulation of the proverblal snow ball rolling down hill seems to hold true in business, too. LAUREL BANK ELECTION. LAUREL, Md., February 1 (Spe- clal) —At the annual election of officers of the Citizens’ National Bank the fol- lowing were chosen: George W. Waters, jr, president; Willlam Stanley, vice president; D. Fisher, chairman of the board; C. E. Little, cashier, and W. M. Cole, assistant cashier. . TROEROLDNG P NFFTH DTRCT Sales Seasonal, Bank Loans Lower, Building Permits Doubled, Report Says. By the Associated Press. RICHMOND, Va., February 1.—Sea- sonal levels in volume of business were maintained in the Fifth Federal Reserve district in December and early January, while business showed the usual ad- vance over that of November, it is stated in the monthly review issued by the bank here today. Retail trade as reflected in depart- ment store sales last month was a frac- tlon of 1 per cent below the volume of business done December a year earlier, which had one more business day than December, 1928, the review said. Debits to individual, firm and corporation accounts in 24 leading cities during the four weeks ende January 9, 1929, set a record for four weeks, not only exceeding debits for the corresponding periods ending De- cember 12, 1928, and January 11, 1928, but surpassing the previous record of the four weeks ending January 12, 1927. Loans and Discounts Lower. A decrease was shown in the loans and discounts of 63 regularly reporting member banks in the larger cities of the fifth district between December 12, 1928, and January 16, 1929. ‘These banks also reduced their rediscounts at the reserve bank. Country banks, however, being more directly dependent on agriculture, have not been able to liquidate their in- debtedness at the reserve bank as promguy as the city and last month additional accommodation was extended to the country banks in suffi- cient amount to increase slightly the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond's holdings of member bank pn%er. Rediscounts held by the Richmond Reserve Bank on January 15, 1920, totaled approximately 50 per cent more than rediscounts held on January 15, 1928, and the circulation of Federal Reserve notes was also higher on the 1929 date. Deposits in member banks at the close of 1928 were materially lower than a year earlier, time deposits ]n..s. e“u as demand deposits decl year. Fewer business failures were reported in the fifth reserve district in 3 1928, than in the same month of 1927. Building Permits Doubled. ‘The valye of building permits issued in December for new work was more than double the amount reported for new work in_ December, 1927. Coal production in December was below pro- duction in November, 1928, but ex- ceeded that of December, 1927, ‘Textile in the fitth district used less cotton last month than in either November, 1928, or December, 1927. Prices for fire-cured and burley to- bacco were higher last month than in December, 1927, but flue-cured to- bacco, which makes up the bulk of the crop in Virginia and all of the mp in the Carolinas, brought lower prices than llx;zgllther November, 1928, or December, The volume of business transacted in 1928 was moderately lower than that of 1927, the report said. Tobacco Marketing. DANVILLE, Va., February 1.—The ‘Tobacco Board of Trade has decided to terminate the present tobacco market- ing season on February 28. This is two weeks earlier than usual, but the course taken is warranted, officials say, because of the short crop and realization that it | has been virtually cleared. Final figures M. | for Danville are expected to show 46,- 000,000 pounds sold for about $8,000,000 since last November, when the market- ing season began. < VYENUE &f . Jrom the The Finale of Our Semi-Annual Clearance Sale This will be your last opportunity to benefit by the clearance reductions of P-B Suits and Overcoats For Men and Young Men We've gathered them into two assort- ments—making very decided downward revision of prices— $27-50 and $37.50 One must consider the values involved always in measuring the importance of any opportunity. This is P-B Clothing— models that have been featured in this season’s regular stock—which gives-added meaning to the climax of clearance. 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