Evening Star Newspaper, July 22, 1930, Page 15

FINANCIAL. . CURB ISSUES GAIN || NEW YORK CURB MARKET “INQUIET MARKET Irregular Opening Is Followed by Firmer Tendency in List. BY JOHN A. CRONE. Epecial Dispatch te The Star. NEW YORK, July 22.—-Mixed price trend ruled at the opening of the New York Curb Exchange today, but it was replaced around midday by an advanc- ing tendency that spread to most parts of the list. Trading. however, remained dull, Public utilities, the first group to re- act Monday, were the first to advance today. Electric Bond & Share was up about 3 points, American Superpower up about one-half point and American Gas & Electric up almost 2 points. Cities Service recovered virtually all its Monday decline, but Standard Ofl of Indiana worked lower. Vacuum was & trifie higher. Pennroad was a feature of the rails, as its earning report and its holdings revealed some surprises. Pittshurgh & Lake Erie went through one of its characteristic wide fluctuations, United Founders Corporation proved the weakest spot in the holding curfm- ration group, as it sank to & new low level at the opening and moved nearly & point lower before meeting support. rd Motors of Canada A was the outstanding motor stock in the after- noon, running up 1% points on fair volume. Ford Motors Limited in the same period was lower, and so was Cord Manufacturing, while Durant Motors remained unchanged. Natural Gas Shares, despite the sta- tistical showing of the industry, moved slightly Jower as their sponsors stepped aside and permitted them to find_their level. United Gas new, Memphis Natu- ral Gas, Lone Star Gas, Arkansas Natu- ral Gas A, Dixie Gas & Utilities and esne Gas shared in this fractional declipe in the first three hours. ‘The most prominent radio stocks were Pilot Radio &, Tube, De Forrest Radio and Canadian Marconl. Strauss-Roth AA was one of the most active indus- trials. Zonite Products continued un- der pressuré, Bell Telephone of Canada, which re- cently announced a large expansion pro- gram, opened down 112 and later partly recovered, Southern California Edison ferred rose 2% points on its figst lew sales. Indiana Pipe Line opened up 1'% at 31, Derby Oil preferred on a sale of souri-Kansas Pipe Line shares and 25 shares scored a gain of 2!5. Mis- rights were inclined to heaviness. Mi roring the gain in business, Todd Ship- yards rose 1lg. Markets at a Glance NEW YORK, July 22 (#).—Stocks strong; leaders rally 1 to 4 points. Bonds' firm; foreign issues show pro nounced strength. Curb firm; active shares make general advance. Foreign exchanges firm; Belgian and German advance. Cotton steady; trade buying. Sugar steady: firm spot market. Cof- fee lower; increased Brazilian offerings. CHICAGO, July 22 (®).—Wheat firm; black rust Manitoba and firmness Winnipeg. Corn firm; Iowa damage re- E'flm. Cattle steady to weak. Hogs wer. BONDS ON THE CURB ousands. 1 Alabama Pow 55 ' Co 55 'S d 35 48 0 TR 4 100 85 °A '58 B3% tinen_Oil 8%s '37 97 dahy Packs 35 '46 1 72728 38 ntersta Po § lowaNey LAP P =a=§E§s====:s§ N 32232353 Niag Falls P Niag Shares Slos ' Ind P 8 5 D 50. . 103 228222383 pezasy aBoaSaunlSans 5 HEEE 3=EE 29D tal B mon S HOREO! SRR FEERE 3 n’«&".“%_ Terni Soc Shas s S s BT 2 - Notice—All stocks are soid in ene mnfi:gmflm designated by the le whic those stocks tosbe sold In ~Prev.1980.— Stock and Bales— Righ. Low. Dividend Rate, Add 13% 5% AeroSupply (B) N i 24 B4 «© 28% 3344 28% 37 6 22 on 76% 38% Am For Pwr(war).. 157 104 Am Gas & Eleo (11). 16% 74 Am Invest, Ino (B).. 75 50 Am Laund Mach(4). ,B0% H2% Am Lt& Traec (2%). 60% 46 Am MfgCo(4)..... 1008 33 29% Am Potash&Chem(1) 1 39% 20% Am Superpwr (1)... 190 101% 94% Am Sperpwr 1st (6). 1 120 16% 01 30 Am Capital pt (3). 1284 Am CP&L(B)(10%) 20% Am Colortype (2.40), = [ O TSR arere 111% Am TobBnew (D4). 2 7% Am U&Gen B vic 40c 43 8% Asso Rayon pt 141 Atlantic Secur Corp. 36 Axton-F Tob A (3.20 214 Bahla Corp. . 50% 45 BancomitCorp(1.60) 157% 146 Beli Telof Can (8) 30 Rlauners (22), 18 BlisaCo (K W) (1).. 6% Blue Ridge Cp (40e). 33% Blue Ridge ev pfiad) 8b% Brazil Trac & Lt(h2) 23 Bridgept Mach (25¢) 24% Buft,N&EP pf(1.60). 2% Cable Radlo T v.te.. 31 Cable&Wire (B) rcta 314 Canada Marconi. ... 28 Carman & Co(A)(2). % Carib Syndicate. 26% Carnation Co (J1%). 28 Cent P8 (A) (al115) 25% Cent Pub Sv 19 CentStates 215 Chain Stores Dev. 17% Chath Ph Al nv (30e) 17% Chem Nat Asso n-v. 24} Cities Service (g20¢). 88 Cities Srvo pf «6). 434 City Sav B, Ltd(2.79) 50% Clev El Iilum (1.60). 14% Clev Tractor (1.60).. 224 Colts Pat Fire A (2). 8% Col Ofl & Gas vte.... 3% Com'with & Sou war. 114 Comm Wat Serv b6 % % Comstock Tunnel.. . 15 Consol Alrcpaft % ‘Consol Auto Merch 3% Consol Copper. 214 Con 7 Con Retail Sti 28 Cooper Bess 5 Copeland Prod.Inc A 6 Cord Corp. . 9% Corroon & Reynold: 32 CosdenOil...... 6% Creole Petroleum 15 Crocker Wheeler. . % Crown Cent Petrol. 30 Crown C&S pf(2.70). 34 Cuneo Press (234)... 1% Curtiss Wright war. 12 Darby Petrolm n (2) 82 Deere & Co (m1.20), 2% De Forest Radlo. 80 Derby Oil & Ref pf 4% Detroit Alrcraft.... 10 Dixie Gas&Utilitt 8% Doehler Die Casting. 41 Driver Harris(new). 4 Dubiller Cond & Rad 8% Duquesne Gas Cp w.i 2% Durant Motors. . 5% Duval Tex Sul w.} 7% Eastn Utll Inv (A).. 9 Eisler Eelectric(1%) 95% 92% Fl Bond&Sha cu pt(5 117% 70% El Bond & Sh (b 109% 1034 Kl Bond & Sh pf ( 19 Elec Pwr Asso (1).. 16% Elec Pwr Asso A (1) 78% 281 Eles Pwr & L op war 84 8 Empire Corporation. 2 % EngineersGold.. 3% Euro Elec deb rts. 2 Fabrics Fininsbing. Fairehild Aviation. k4 SBomm BN S o M o -] - S 5 8 1 2 3 5 6 1 . 1 4 1 % First Natl Copper 34% * 13% Fokker Alreraft.... 381 28 Ford Mot, Can A 1% 19% 104 Ford Mor.Ltd. 37 7% 2% Foundation For S| 17% 2% Fox Theater Cl (A). 23% 20 Garlock Pkg (1.20) 4% 2% General Baking 2% P 46% 18 Goldman Sach T C... 6 1% Gold Seal Elec new. . 264 16} Gramapho rets (20e) 31% 26 GtLakesDDn wi(1) 5% 3 Guardian Invest.... 166% 117% Guilf Oll of Pat1). 2%, Handley Pag pf t15e Candy » RO BTN e BN B e B £ 053 900 5 O 00 N9 OB 0 e i 0000 O 84 Hygrade Food Prod. 18% Imp Ofl. Can. n(50e). 31% Indian P L n (12%) 26% Ind Terr 1llu Ol (A) 26% Ind Terr Illu O (B) 17 Ind #1n otta(b10%) 63 InsCo. No Am (13).. 15% Insurance See(1.40). 17% Intl Petroleum (1).. 6% Internatl Utll (B). 7 Intl Util war (new).. 37 interst Eqev pf(3). . 8% Irving Air Chute war 12 Irving Air Chute (1). 8% Itallan Superpwr A.. 1% Jonas & Naumburg.. * Kerr Lak 1% Kirby Petroleum 15 Kolster-Br (Am Sh) 224 Lake Sh Mines (1.20) 1w Leonard Ofl........ 23 Liberty Dairy Food. 17% Lily Tulip Cup 1%.. 00. Open. Hirh. ™ % THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, ’.l"UESDAY, JULY 22, 1930. ~Prev.ise. Ao g’ Hich, Low. odd lots only. o 1% Niag. Niag Nia Ry! 20% 6% 5% % | annual payment. 221 1 2215 251 1% 221 25% cash or stock Stock Dividend Rate, 84} Lone Star Gas.n (1). Long Island Lt (55c) 2 Louisians Lan Hud 8 em-P (12%). Nipissing (30c). . Noranda Mines (2). No Am Aviat A war. North Am Utll See. . Noth Euro Oil Corp. North St Pwr pf(6). Ohto Copper Ohio Ol (14 Ohio Ofl new w Orange Crush ( 3 Outbd Mot(A)(1.80). Pac Fin Corp (1.32). 3008 Pac G&E 1st pf (1%) Pac Pub Sve (1.30).. Pamfiem Oil... .. . Param’t Cab(b8%).. Pennroad Corp (20c) Peoples L&P. A a2.40 Perryman Elec. , Seaboard Util (50¢). Secur Corp Gen (40e) Seg Lock & H (50¢c) Shenan Coro pf (af). Singer Mg (117).... 10s 4 4 SoCal Ed pf B(134). SoCal Ed pf C (1%). S W Dairy Products., Standard Motors. .. Stand Oil. Ind (23%4). Stand Ofl. KY (11.80) Stand Oil Neb.(13%} Stand Oll. Ohlo(2%). Starrett Corp....... Starrett Corp pf (3). Stein Cosmetics. Strauss Roth. Sunray Oll (40¢).... wift Internatl(2%) Tampa Electrio (33) 4 Technicolor. Ine Thatcher Sec Corp. . Todd Shipyard (4).. Transamer (31.60).. Tri Utllities($1.20).. Tri Utilities of (3).. Trunz Pork S (1.60). Glen & Co (1.60) . Wilson Jones (3). Zonite Products (1). RIGHTS. InsCoof NA.. .Oet 1 1 Int) Nickel w. Dividend {l s in dol *Ex dividend. {Partly extra. bPavable in stock. dsu ghdiugtment dividend. tPlus 5 8 hPlus 1% in stock. mPlus 112% in stock Received by Private Wire Direct to The Star Office 2:45. 39 40 8a At M1d Sts Pet Mid Sts Pet v.t.c. Mid W Sts Ut (1%).. Mid Wat Util(b8%). Midvale Co (4). Miller & Sons (2).... Moody's 1 8 pt pf (3) Mo Kan PL (b10%). MissKPLv.te.... Miss Riv Fual bd rts. Municipal Service. .. Natl Amer Co. . Nehi Corp (1.30).... Nelson (Herman) (2) evada Cal Elec. ... New Brad Ofl (50¢). New Eng Pwr (2) New Quincy Mining Newport Co (2).. N Y Pwr&Lt pt(6). N Y Telof (63%).... N Pwr B war s Md (40c) . 10 2% 508 101 3 % 2 654 17 3214 3 34 1 ‘0% 18 27% 271 % ) 1 1 A Pitney B P.n (20c). Pitts & L E (10)... Power Securities pf. Prince & White(25¢) Prudential [nvebt. ., Pub Utll Hold w w.." Pub Util Hold war. . Railway & Lt S(15). 100s Rainbow Lu Prod A. e Rainbow Lu Prod B. Rich Of1.Cal. pf(1%) R'kland Lt & P (30¢) Rossta Intl Corp. Consolidat: St Regls Paper (1)., St Regls Pap pf (7).. 50s 111 23 2 11 23 111 k Prod (2).. 104 14% 15 34 fla 364 5 6 504, 3% 12% 40 456 26% 25 5 1% 50%, 32 4614 791 21% Y% Tla 145 5% 34% 697 31% 3 40% 56 27 27 5 1% 5019 31% 46% 9% 24 471y Unit Found (b2-35 sh 219 United Gas Co (new) United Gas pf (7)... 88 4 31 11 109% 1 44 S&Intl Sec 1st (5). U S Lines pf (1) Utility & Ind. Util & Ind pf (1%).. Vacuum Oil (4)..... Van Camp Packing. Venezuela Petrolm. . Viek Finaneial Corp. Waitt & Bond A (2). Walker (H) (1) Walker Min (T%e). Wi 14 24 1% 10% 3a 8% & Expire. B 7 * d on last aquarterly or semi- 1Plus 4% in stock. aPayable in biect to approval of stock- % in stock. ePlus 6% in JPlus 2% ‘instock. kPlus 10% in nPlus 8% 1n stock. MACHINERY MARKETS. NEW YORK, July 22 (Special) —A pronounced lack of activity still claims trading in principal machinery and | machine tool markets throughout the | country, American Machinist reports. Current business is negligible, but no further recessions are looked for. With July almost over, the bottom of the prolonged period of depression .in the industry is seen to be over and even experienced observers look for better times in the Fall. Inquiries are a little stronger, but sales are hard to close. Used tools fare better at the moment | than do more modern’ types of equip- ment. After scraping along bottom for some time, the New York market has experi- enced an upward swing in sentiment with the receipt of two lists. Chicago | reports July sales volume to date behind June, but a slight increase in in- quiries and two small lists serve to re- five optimism, Slight_improvement is noted for the | Detroit area. Optimism about Septem-| ber business there is based on predicted changes in models. Cincinnati finds business no better than last week, al- though inquiries received will sustain the market. New England reports less uncertainty. with inquiries nllmlly bet- ter and replacement orders the strong feature of current activity. i lis is selling tools sporadi-| ndianapol cally, with special equipment for utili- ties mkmsuup the bulk of bookings. BSouthern trict orders are rted still far from satisfactory, the Houston area has joined the quiet sec- tor, but stabllity in the industrials pres- ages future business, IE;IV— B;l;d‘ Offering. NEW YORK, July 22 (#),—Offering is expected soon of $30,000,000 Texas Electric Service Co. first and refund- ing 5 per cent bonds due in 1960, STEEL INGOT PRODUCTION. NEW YORK, July 22 (#).—Steel In- got production in the Chicago district, averages between 55 and 60 per cent of capacity this week, compared with 60 to 65 per cent last week. Two blast furnaces were taken off last week, one by the United States Steel Corporation and the other by the Inland Steel Co. Three years ago, weekly High (1920) ., Low (1010) High (1929) Low (1929). New Holding Company Formed. NEW YORK, July 22 (#).—Utilities Power & Light Corporation and Thuer- inger Gas Co. of Germany have formed & new holding company for European public utility companies, with the co- operation of the Chase National Bank and the Deutsche Bank. The initial capital is 20,000,000 marks, STOCK AND BOND AVERAGES By the Assoclated Press. MONDAY, JULY 21 ;' porations 104 | EARNINGS IMPROVE IN SECOND QUARTER Many Firms Make Better Showings Than Predicted by Analysts. BY PRESTON S. KRECKER. | Bpecial Dispateh to The Star. NEW YORK, July 22.—When busi- | ness is poor, pessimism naturally is rife. The public has an idea that trade and industry are at a very low ebb and that ‘mn is probably not far from the truth. ,On the other hand, perhaps business is not as bad as peopld think it is. An analysis today of net income of cor- | porations which have made their re- ports covering the first six months of | the year certainly indicates that. ‘While profits have been lower than last_year, the average decrease, based on figures to date, was fairly moderate, and the earnings of many companies show an igprovement in the second quarter over the first quarter. Second Quarter Gains. Reports of more than 60 corporations were used in this compilation. The average decline in six months was shown to have been 13.7 per cent. An analysis of reports of 257 corporations for the first quarter of the year showed an average in net income of 22 per cent. In other words, of the companies which already have made reports the improvement in the second quarter brought the average for the six-month period up materially above the loss. for the first half of the period. As a mater of fact, earnings of cor- for the second three months of the year were materially larger than has been generally expected by ahalysis of statistics on trade and industry. Of course, comparatively few companies have as yet issued their statements for the second quarter. So far, however, the returns have been relatively favor- able. The most interestink feature of these reports already at hand is the large per- centage of companies that have not only shown no losses compared with Iast year, but actually -have réported gains over results in the prosperous 1929 period. Fully one-third of all the corporations whose figures have been used in this analysis earned more in the first six months of this year than they earned in the corresponding period of last .year. One of the most notable instances of increased earnings is the American Telephone & Telegraph Co. Other com- panies which reported increases included United Biscuit, sUnited Fruit, White Rock, American Chicle, Wrigley, | Cream of Wheat, Sun Oil and Waldorf System. Several companies, although reporting slightly lower net for the half year, showed gains in the second quar- ter. Canada Dry, for instance, had the | largest quarter in its history in the ;second three-month period, i Records Broken. | Some companies surpassed all pre- vious records for business. done in the | first half of the year, but for various reasons did not equal net income of the | 1929 period. One notable example of | that class was the General Electric Co. | General Electric billed sales for the six months which eéxceeded those of the corresponding 1929 period by nearly $3,- 000,000. TIts net income almost equaled the net for the first half of 1929, but fell just a bit short. On the other hand, some corpora- tions made very poor reports. Four companies in the list showed deficits for ‘the first six months. They were American La France, Detroit Steel | Products, Lehigh lley Coal and G. R. | Kinney. None of the companies in the group showed deficits in 1929. | ‘The list does not include any rail- roads, but it is well known that rail- |road earnings this year have fallen be- | low those of last year. Generally speak- | ing, food companies, tobacco companies and beverage concerns have done better | than steel, motor and other corpora- | tions engaged in basic industries. CREDIT MEN NOTE " EARLY TRADE RISE | Association Foresees Move in Two, Three or Six Months. Care Urged. A revival of business by early Fall is foreseen by the research department of | | the Nlunncl Association of Credit Men, which sent a special bulletin to the! Washington association, uring them to| maintain the strict credit discipline de- veloped in recent months, even after | business “resumes its interrupted up- | ward course.” Admitting that there have been many mercantile failures in the early months of 1930, the bulletin asserts that “there may even be a little good in this ill- | wind of insolvency.” "It urges credit executives to plan now for the time | when busines. ‘gets back to normal, so that they may take advantage of the elimination of weak accounts. “During the last eight months there | has been a lot of water squeezed out of the stock market, but also—and prob- ably important for business—there has been a lot of air squeezed out of the credit structure,” the bulletin says. “The volume-mad plungers of yes- “ teryear have been forced to realize the fundamental importance of credit. Risks have been analyzed more care- fully during recent months and credit passed under more judicious scrutiny than at any time during the last several years. Many a good merchant has gone down in the storm, but the great ma- Jority of those who have been elimi- nated from business this year would have failed anyhow within a short time. A great many shaky accounts, the ‘weak sisters’ of the merchandising game, who have been hanging on to losing enterprises by virtué of the credit backing of their wholesale suppliers, have faded out of the picture. “When the tide turns, in two months, or three months, or six months, credit managers will do well to see that these weak aegounts are not replaced by others of their kind. They might well resolve now that the slack which has been taken up during the recent dark days shall not be lost, that the dis- cipline devi in.the ohservance of terms sl maintained and that credit standards shall be kept high, when business resumes its interrupted upward course.” * ————e NEW YORK, July 23 (Special).— Though cotten prices eased about $1 a bale at one time today on predictions of showers in Western and Central sec- tions of the belt, the fact that no defi- nite relief has occurred thus far steadied the market in later trading. Professional covering the last hour carried the list above Monday's close and left final prices a few points higher than in that session. Spots were un- ] Jul Lo October ' (od) . October (new} December (old December (new: Junuary (old). Junusry (new) frr i sugsEs S ‘There is record nl)r :n{nppl\u England, for a patent for a v modern typewriter in Rail Stocks BY GEORGE T. HUGHES. (This is the seventeenth of a series * of brief analyses by Mr. Hughés on railroad securities. The intent is not to recommend the purchase or sale of any particular stock, but to give the investor such information as may enable him intelligently to chart his own course.) * Erie. In recent years Erie has made a re- markable record in the rehabilitation of the property and in the re-establish- ment of earning power. ' In 1919, 1920 and 1922 the road operated at a deficit. In 1921 net income was only- $1,722,- 621. In 1929 net reached the record high of $11.677,709. It was not so many years ago that. Erie bonds were classed as speculative and sold at heavy discounts. Today they are all on an investment basis, with only around 3.3 per cent to be had on the lwest priced of the active junior es. It is true that in the first half of 1930 there was a sharp falling off in earnings, but that was due to general conditions and not to any weakness in the Erie management or any change in its long-term prospects. The falling off in income has affected adversely the market price of the stocks and will doubtless continue to affect them until traffic improves. Meanwhile, the regular dividends are being paid on the two classes of pre- ferred stocks, both of which are 4 per cent non-cumulative. Large returns are available on each of these issues, with the first preferred selling on an approx. imate 7 per cent and the second pre. ferred on an approximate 8 per cent basis. The spread between the bid and asked prices of these stocks is fairly large, but that need not concern those who buy for income. ‘The outlook for the common stock, on which noydividends have ever been paid, depends on the business outlook. At the annual meeting in April Presi- dent Denney said that while the road ‘was making progress in the control of expenses, it was difficult to make any prediction as to dividends on the com- mon stock. The Erie is allied with the Van Sweringen-controlled Chesapeake & Ohio and the two together, with the Nickel Plate, the Pere Marquette and the Lackawanna, are placed in one group in the latest Interstate Commerce Commission’s merger plan. GRAIN MARKET CHICAGO, July 22 (Special). Wheat continued its nervous fluctua- tions up to the close today. A sharp rally occurred in the last 15 minutes of trade, following & bulge in Winnipeg, but commission house selling filled the demand and brought a reaction again. Export sales of 700,000 bushels were reported. The close was 3ja% higher. July, 883 September, 9112a913%; December, 973529715 Corn_ closed 13,a3% higher. July, 8273; September, 813a81'3; December, 167:87713. Oats closed a3 higher, 347ga34',; September, 373 ber 407,a41. Lard closed 2% higher. July, Decem~ CHICAGO, July 22.—Follow] is the complete official list of transactions in stocks on the Chicago Stock Exchange today: Sales in hundreds. 15 Eddy Paper . 2300 Elec Household 1400 Elec Research Foote G & Ma 250 Gleaner . 10 Goidblatt t 5 4350 Gt Lakes Dredge 18100 Grigsby-Grunow 100 Hail Prin 150 Houdaille 250 Houdallle-Her 900 Inland U1 . 2800 Insuil ULl 200 Ir PE it R ettt PR ) frro MR SO A T et s 5 583455, o STEEE GREE B £538833 sezzds FINANCIAL, GROCERIES: FIRST INCREDIT BUSINESS fiepartment of 6ommerce . Survey Shows Nearly Half of Trade on Paper. By the Associated Press. Retail credit losses average propor- tionately higher on installment buying than on open credit sales. This has been determined by the | Department of Commerce in a survey of 10,092 retail establishments of all kinds, which divulged that bad debts represented 1.2 per cent of installment dales, while the average credit loss on bpen credit sales was 0.6 per cent. Be- cause of the much larger volume of open credit than instaliment sales, however, bad debts on open credit sales nted ‘4 higher percentage of total 0.3 ‘per cent, than those on in- stallment credit sales, 0.2 per cent. Electrical appliance stores reporting had the highest open credit loss ratio, 1.5 per cent of open credit sales, fol lowed by radio sets and supply stores and drug stores, whose open credit loss Wwas 1.4 per cent. The lowest open credit loss was reported by department stores and coal and wood dealers, 0.4 per cent. ‘The highest installment credit loss was reported by general clothing stores, 7.9 per cent of installment sales, fol- lowed by jewelry stores, 4.4 per cent, and. women's, childrens and wear stores 3.7 per cent. Of stores re- porting installment credit sales, coal, wood, lumber and building material dealers had the lowest losses 0.2 per cen Taking up specifically the study of credit extension _in grocery stores throughout the country, the department finds that retail grocers show a some- what larger percentage of credit trade than the grand average for all stores. Credit sales made up 49.9 per cent of total sales in the 2,164 independent re- tail grocery stores covered, as against an average of 414 per cent for all stores. Excluding &pres doing an ex- clusively cash business, the percentages of credit sales for all t3 of outlets was 50.7 per cent, and for grocery stores 60.3 per cent. The department points out that among the facts brought out by this survey is the extent to which the chain grocery stores have entered the credit field. While questionnaires undoubtedly were returned by a higher percentage of chains which extend credit than by other chains, it is significant that 22.6 per cent of all sales reported by 7.143 chain units were on a credit basis. For e 1,736 chain units which extended edit to their customers, the ratio of credit sales to total sales was slightly over 55 per cent. Credit loss of grocery stores giving open credit only were 0.7 per cent, as against an lverlfe of 0.6 per cent on open credit sales for all stores re ing. The highest proportion of credit busi- ness in grocery stores was found throughout the Southern States from North Carolina to Texas and in the Pacific Northwest, and the lowest pro-’ portion in New England and the Cen- tral Atlantic States. New England States made the best showing with re- gard to bad debts, only 0.3 per cent on credit sales. The collection percen- tages were highest in the Gulf South- west section, 79.5 per cent, and lowest in the Southeast and Central Northwest 'Slutlu. 55.9 and 56.1 per cent, respec- vel : Capital & Surplus $3,500,000.00 ¥ A—IS WEAKNESS IN CROP VALUES CONTINUES Upturns in Some Lines Are’ Noted Soon After Middle of Month. The long decline in farm products has continued through most of July, | says the Bureau of Agricultural Eco- - nomics, United States Department of _ Agriculture, market news service. Up- . turns soon after the middle of the-- month in such lines as grain, feeds, cotton and butter have resulted mainly from the drought and its probable ef- fect on supplies. The tendency of prices has been upward in the hog market for. some time. but continues unsettled or downward on cattle and lambs. Chick- ens sell a little lower and fowls higher. . Farm prices and other prices as a group. have not stopped falling, but recent de- . clines have been light for the most part. Demand for butter was well main- tained in mid-July and was of sufficient volume to keep arrivals well cleared and to bring price gains amounting to .. as much as 1 cent a pound on some lines. In addition to more confident buying on the part of those with con- sumptive outlets there was an improve- ment in the general demand. Reports . from various manufacturers’ organiza- tions agree that the production of but- . ter is below that of a year ago and still decreasing from week to week. Ths milk output is falling off sharply in. most sections because of heat and dry . pastures. N Cheese markets at distributing cen- . ters have remained about steady since. mid-July with the undertone unsettled, . Receipts of Western broilers of the smaller size were especially liberal on the mid-July market at New York. Dealers reported some difficulty in making prompt clearance of supplies. Holdings of broilers weighing 2 pounds and over and chickens of larger size which hitherto have been offered in moderate quantity are now gradually Increasing and }mu- slowly falling." Low prices paid for foWwl recently have apparently discouraged mark: [ interior points. Fowl are now selling about 9 cents lower than a % tb;slanullnd?;f lfll’ and “l_’ce':u un “ 5 antity of poul storage, - is still large in comparison with last year, STEEL PRODUCED IN U. S. PASSES 1ST BILLION TONS By the Associated Press. NEW YORK, July 22.—Steel produc.. tion in the United States has reached its first billion tons. Half of this enormous total has come out of the furnaces in the last 12 years, although it took more than a cen to produce the entire billion. o Steel was first produced in crude fure » naces in this country in 1810, when the {mge of iron was at its height. For every man, woman and child live - ing in the United States today thére- now has been produced approximately- - 1:2.:]15 pounds, or 84 gross tons of steel. Output of steel in the United States in 1929 was equivalent to 10 times the- weight of every man, woman and within its borders.” This is far above. the production of any other country. - While You Are Studying —the market for new in- vestments for your July dividends and interest, do not keep such yield idle. {IDividend checks and in- terest coupons will draw further interest if de- posited with this old bank. TRAVELERS CHECKS - National Savings & Trust Co. - The Oldest Savings Institution in the District of Columbia | 64th Year B. KEECH Cor. 15th and New York Ave. & COMPAN . Members of Washington Stock Exchange New York Curb Exchange New York Cotten Bremen Cotton Bachange (Assoc. Members) (3 TTac. N.Y. Now ok Covon Fechange . Minneapolis of New York Stock R Excl M‘d Mac. New York Hide Exc}Ine National Metal Exc’ DIRECT PRIVATE WIR/ H CORNER 17TH ST.,N.W.. WAf'\GTON NATIONAL 0245 SEASONAL BRANCH OFFIC gayrrom wesse PALM BEAGH WIAMI SARATOOA SPRINGS BAR ¥ PRIOPERTY Apartment House MAAGEMENT MANAGEMENT I takes long and varied experience to cope with ’he many problems arising connection with Apart- ment House management. Hence our service be- comes profitable to owners e onn k0N —with complete relief B. FSAUL CO. 925 15th St. N 108 101% 1024 w1 e 40 . 8 M O R T+/A G E Nat'l 2100 L O ANS