The Seattle Star Newspaper, December 29, 1923, Page 16

sumer: z Psales bureau 923 Has Seen Business Breaking Many Records Rising Tide of Progress Gives New ~ Momentum to Future Growth J BY W. B. FRANCE, Bussiness Editor of The Star SD now comes the time of year qWwhen, in the business world of | pation, the reviewers review, the iysists analyze and the prophets phesy. The Seattle business man, | pis to compare his own past ex Ace and future prospects with | of the business world in gen. iL reads what the experts have to S Yes,” he will comment, “but this for the country as a whole, What “Seattle?” | "And what of Seattle, its past year d the year to come? It 1s scarcely than a platitude to say that} ittle has had one of the best years the gold rush, and that it ts on 16 threshold of its greatest period of | opment. This has been repeat-| (so often that few will deny it; but) are the facts? Real facts of business activity are | hard to get at with accuracy, pit there are a number of signs that | ; the path of indystrial prosper- ty, and which, when taken together, | @ reasonably correct idea of | things are. golng. CONSUMER | S BETTER OFF | fo begin with the ultimate con Unemployment has been iegligible during 1923, and wages ive been good. The consumer has | d money to spend, and he has Spending it. “Retail sales in Seattle,” says Har- | WN. Moore, secretary of the retall | of Commerce, “have been from 10 to 15 S avish spendin. Fever, prices cent higher this year than last merchandise has been sold n during the peak year of 1919 we were in the midst of a era, This year, how been lower, and public has been getting more for its money.” "Another angle of the consumer's Epending powet is found in the au iditor’s office. In 19: atte auto Pilicenses brought in $9,600; so far In they have brought in $14,490. may be taken as a fairly acct estimate in the big gain in the of automodiia- owners in Seat le, reflecting an equal gain tn the imales of automobiles in the city. ) That this is not due merely to a | Pepending spree on the part of the ms of Seattle may be proven by Tecords of the banks. The fed-| reserve records show that on 1923, Seattle citizens 2 in savings banks of city, while a year ago they had ‘put $58.09 268. These figures, which ‘a gain of approximately 20 per cent, do not take into consideration | the millions in the savings and loan | _ BANKS ARE IN | GOOD CONDITIOS | Seattle Pxound conditions th F posits, exclu P1922, as compared with $14 Bon the same date in 19 Pthan substantial gain o E mteady growth. § totaled $1,511,000,000. "House association, ings for 1 H | ords, we Uaasociations of the have made elty, most of! unprecedented ability of to save wh it spends, these figures are typical of the t are reflected mm the tales the banks can tell. De- ve of savings accounts, Mwere $160,644,000 on November 3 50,000 a more ra year| that was far from being a bad one.| Following the story of the banks, | Swe find that clearings have had a| For 1921, clearings In 1922 they| Slimbed to $1,658,000,000. From | res available at the close of busi December 28, with the last two days’ clearings estimat ed by J. Lawson, manager the Cle the tot: reach $1 300. Such a decided jump to h levels needs no comment. Thru the medium of the bank from th for Besides indicatng th are Mumer to th dustry and t the bulk of of the increa. Js found in which am Nov. 20, 1923, 0 on 000 B the year befo Supplement fs the not needed eral resery This, accord Ager of the federal resert or better, wound condit “It is Shaw explain Tittle, assi eerve. “Seattle, fortunately, has no ‘seasonal peaks, when banks must come to the reserve for aid every year. The business of Se- attle is such that there is a con- stant flow of mone from its many re a business standpoint it is an all year-around town. “So far as its bu wn the reser t whape for REAL ESTATE HAS coun BACK Those | Market o f reached raltted had inc past tw Alcatic Business “tt that is the 1923 om of realtors been the most |} months )ALL BUILDE jand twenty-two, the previous high | ‘°° | i the Chamber of |, LOWER BUILDING COST FORESEEN Real Estate ‘Activity Will In- crease, Realtor Claims Lowered building sometime in the coming year tx prophested in a statement today by Henry Brode ick, pr nt of the real estate firm of Henry Broderick, Inc. The hous. ing shortage has practically disap- peared In Seatt Broderick claims, | } but with no rial chan, in cost profitable year the real estate men have seen for 15 years, and L believe that 1924 will be the best year it has ever seen,” Further substantiation of tho state- | ment that real estate has again como | into its own may be obtain county In 1922 ther 109 3 real estate transfers re including deeds, mortgages and con- tracts. up to 1 day, Dec 5, With thr days to be added, 1923 will show a] in of about 18,000 realty transfers | W¢ over 192 Recording fees jumped | ten from $38,853 for the first nine/are an absolute discouragement in 1922 to $45,484 for the | investors and are directly ponsibl same period in 1923, and filing foes |for rental charges that are unpala from $21,186 to $27,650. able. The community as a whole will be better off with lowered prices for bath material and labor papers| “I our opinion rents are pretty |well stabilized for a whila We do not look for any marked Increases r radical reductions in living quar: | and special changes in store prices can only be anticipated in dis- jtricts undergoing transition. House shortage has practically disappeared. Yow as to the real estate market. Seattle property is relatively cheaper than in any other « the far d th mi records, et of building costs, “there is great diver sity of Jud even among the p|dighest authorities, Our bellet in] |that the peak has been reac confidently predict a downward | ency by spring, Present levels Broderick says, to} * RECORDS BROKEN Anyone who reads the knows that 1923 long ago broke all| previous years’ records for building permits in Seattle. Nineteen hundred | year, had building permits totaling | $19,783,835. ‘This year, up to Decem- ber 28, building permits amounted to $22,546,155. With what is known to be coming, It Is estimated that tho | year will close above the 23 million | mark. It is hard to visualize what these building records mean. Roughly speaking, they mtan that a fair-sized city has been added to Seattle during 1923. This “fair-sized city,” | to the records, has a solid line of buildings over 70,000 feet long, or | nearly 14 miles. ountry and the time cannot be ant when @ general apprecta- of this fact must jtomaticall | ® widespread interest in local ments “Altho we would not be willing to/ go on record aa forecasting a broad movement in real estate here in 1924, |there can be no doubt that the vol- jume of buying will be materially tn- creased and profit making on a scale will make its appearan accord If we take the 2,074 residences and Apartment houses that have been started In 1923, allowing 20 apart- ments as an average for apartment buildings, the new city within & attle houses over three thousand families, and its population would be about 1 all in the new dences that 1923 haa brought. total value is $ While the year ha one for home buildi be forgotten that $10,000,000 has be spent in business buildings during 1923, A casual walk along any of the main downtown thorofares wil show the sults of this activity, | - | The growth of the cit jo build: | - ing records show it, has been a well, ‘Ship News.) balanced one, and its Industries have BROUGHT MANY | wnides in Seattle grown with its people. SUNDAY DEC, 30 First Low Tide First | Lease of Honcmes Apartments Signed |} Humph apartme ave p00 new ond nts The x leased to Mr Sanders for & total r $1 Just been an active is, it must not ham at proximately ments havo been gressman William E. t a cost of $230,000, yea The apart built by} Humphrey re The records of the Manufactures’ || Association of Washington give some concrete facts on growth. In 1909 manufacturing esta 1910 it had an avers growth of 40. In 1920 they had tn. creased to 1229, an average of 47 industries n year. In 1923 Seattle has added 78 new manvfacturing establish- ments—nearly double its average growth forthe past 23 years, hes lsd OO TinW Wadttiors tadustsien | | Arrivals and Departures | re thriving may be obtained from A the records of one or two of the t monies Hike industries of Western Washington. Cargo shipments of flour from Puge sound ports in 1922 ed to 2,215,159 barr High “The Wah 2:66 p.m. 6. Second High D. i, Tide a4 tt Second High | Tide 41 p.m, 8.3 £0] ; | her Bureau Report| TATOOS ISLAND, Dee amour | the last few total 2,776,669. Practically « is from Puget sound mills. Lumber shipments tell the story. Western Washington ports showed gains in 1923 over 1922 follows: Foreign shipments, of 191,180,000 feet: Atlan’ pments, 258,979,000; shipments, 498,707,000 feet, ot gain of over 2,000,000,00 feet pared with last ye ports alone shippe nr, against a gain of nearly same . Sailed—De Ab ifornia total a8 com. Puget sou 1,9 0,000 feet 1,159,590,¢ 1,0 Port at Seattle | 1 These shipments bring us to the hat Seattle is a » ort town and a im F F F F ger futui portant facto lta shipping is and one that ha ys estimated compared with 6 ngs from 853, as Kk & Warehouse Co. AND WHAT OF THE COMING YEAR? ise & Dredging Co.—str Str. Ranier, v, Station—Kagle No, bre Betsy Anne of its class in|} It nited Kingdom, WALL STREBT JOURNAL FINANCIAL ROVIEW NEW YORK, Dec. 2%—-With steel conmmon heading the upward procen- sion, stocks climbed generally higher in the brief seasion of the stock market which closed the week, Issues recently under tak-nelling prew- sure, especially the fertilizer and shipping #hares and the northwestern rails, dinplayed dofinite indications that the liquidation had been pretty well completed and that stocks of this class were selling at levels at- tractive to new buying, Steel common flirted with par all morning, maintaining tremendour activity above 99, But Interests sponsoring lis market appeared to be nursing thelr strength t jer Industrial above its face Valuo aa part of Wall Street's new ye Oil shares continued prices. on in erude oll Stocks like Atlantic Refining and Houston Ol scored sharp gains and the active insues of the oil group Were In best demand at advancing | prices Additional indications that varlous groups were recovering from tax selling wore supplied in the final doalings when a rallying tendency de- loped In stocks like Northern Pacific, Great Northern, pfd., and con- Unulng in the fertilizer and shipping shuren, While the northwertern rails are acting attractively some of the stand- ard carrlor Insues developed a better tone under the leadership of Union ific, which mad a new high on the movement at 128%, market closed irregular, Closing prices included : 99, up Mi: Texas Company, 43%, Ub 4; Baldwin, Ai merican Can, 104%, off Ws; Studebaker, 107K, up %; Tobacco Products, American Woolen, off % vison Chemical, 71, up 1 185%. up 2%) Cuban Cane, pid, 6 Marland, 18%, up Mi Cast Iron Pipa the oft Ms) American U8 Realty, 101%, up 3M! Indiana Alc New York Central, ‘104, off 4; Union Pa Opening prices today Included: st 67, off Westinigohun off 4: Corn Mi U. 8, Rubber, off Central. 104%, up le, 21%, pany, 43%, off United States 124%, off % tentral Leather, otive, Haven, tt bo baker, up \: . off %; Texas Com- 61h, Up 4%; Marland, 364% c . Foreign Money Status Friday's Quotations Furnished by Logaa & Dryaa B10 Second Ave, Seattle Normal Value. Prevent Vals Orting’ see. di RAIN PRICES “ie SHICAGO, n franc... CHICAGO, Deo. 2 ok fanc.. - Italian lire German mark, Swedish krona Norway Krone, Daniah krone . Greek drachma -Austrian crown Holland florin -- Rumanian Jel panish peseta eee Foreign Securities Friday's Quotations Tursished by Logan & Dryas S10 Second Ave, Beattle Stocks Bia Russian 64a, usaian 5 cts +-47.50 ota 4.35 ots | trade tod: toy OLA 26.45 cu 80 etn 10 cts i“ a8 0S 13.0 Late liquidating on the part of oartier buyers absorbed some f wheat's gains of the day, | The sinking spell, however, was checked within @ fraction above the opentn, December and May, but July succumbed to dip | and slowed The cloning rally in wheat refiect- in nm trading and prices | dropped to below the opening levels, Cash prices remained strong and | higher, Oats showed Httle life. December | netted an advance of % in the day's trading, while May and July were| Asked | unchanged to fractionally lower, 10% Provisions firmed up with good 1 ing by packers and cash inter- 10% the lea co b cate Fren ench rene & British British & British British Belg ram Friday's Quotations lich Low OL% $1.00% $1.01 LOT 1.06% % 10 j Japanese 4 Firat Japanese 4%4 Second Japanese 4 nited Kingdom, 1 1 Italy ‘ons. 69 Boston Wool BOSTON, Dee the di preter te clothing be heavy as 6 revult of the Cash Wheat | emrcaao. Bt |: hard, 41.0193 ce Chicago Car Lots Vriday's Quotations Open Migh Low 4 4 f ue a Cash wheat Financial Flashes From James Maclarians @ Uo, 411 Becond Ave. | wp Wheat— Wheat Corn Average price of 40 leading bonds | (iat « | $6.64, a decreane of .9; 20 active rails Bariey ., | 80.12, an increase of 28 Loadings of revenue freight cars for the week ended Decem- | ber 15 amounted to 899, Cattle. a reduction of 14,252 cars from | the previous week. | k Central November net | 2% mo was $4,130,539, 19 With the car shortage already } eliminated, the outlook, accord- | ing to local rail men, is for a car surplus ranging from 400, to 500,000 cars. The peak In idle cars is generally reached toward the latter part of February, when traffic is at its low point, enident s motor m. 5 large a sin 1924 as in 192 very optimistic for the auto Industr Close “ Denver Live Stock Friday's Quotations Necelp 490. Bteady. nD ise: seestane a feeders HOt eet Moiters mtockers an o Bheep San Francisco Produce Fridey’s Quotations Batter—Estras, + prime firata, 496 | Pare Cheese. Extras, 47 undersized p xtra pull ets, 260 a California flata, fancy, Portland Produce is ot . 240 Ib, tu f¢ busine said he rs will enjoy ol um He over Rotter mo was §: 61 in 19 y net operating amounted to of | $467, 8 Income tar Novemt increa Gro: n to inces “in| N. ¥. Sugar and Coffee Friday's Quotations Steady. Raw deel. r cent Amert etroleum BANK CLEARINGS Seattie Clearings Balances $6,897,015 1,688, ortland tearing: 531,00 EW CALLS ae FOR BIDS} soso” ecru * Foreign Trade Unted State tie ¢ eign and dome ed the folle firma ¥ America omit owing Inqui American Ht, ¥ of the bureau, nN application to Surveyor, t manage Low ARE IRREGULAR Grainn cloned | irregular on the Chicago board of) Star “hae | nF vem Ta For Children” ” Newsies Become Screen | Stal 3? Prove Claims oe “Healthiest” Ci yy LULU 1 Ve ste “Seattle -healthiest city in Country US. CENSUS BUREAU A bunch of kids from The Star’s force of young salesmen were called upon to demote |atrate the “ ‘pep”’ that i: Broderick sign. Altho, when they were having this ‘ japparently | tussle, intent upon with a “pinch” found in “the healthiest city for children,” in front of the latest till” picture taken some of them were ‘watching the little birdie,” they put plenty of action in @ real by Officer E. C. Stout ’n’ ever’thing, for the movie by Jacobs, which appears at the Liberty beginning today. On the top of the sign, left to, right, are | Kenneth Sherrow, Kenneth McEwen and Elso Di Luck the two gladiators are Robert | Sheehan and James Larpenteur, and their audience is made.up of Willard Phares, Frank SEATTLE MARKETS | VEGETABLES | Prices Paid Wholeasle Dealers | (The prices given are those made to Jensiers. With a few | prices to producers ie the cost of | 4 approxi | iorage andy Artichokes. j Beste—New, dos. t | Local, new, per # Rresects Sproats—Per 1. Cabbage— tb. Carrots al, per doe. |" New: per enck Caulifiower—Per crate . Celery—Loonl, per erate Cocambers 1 Eee Plant Lettuce Ontons—c. Yakima . 1.78) a 1.26@1.59 | AG 18) OY Per don | Spinac per box Bquash—Per Ih Sweet Potatoes Yama | Tomatoes—Lug .... |Turmips—Per sack . on Per ib 00 00 Prices Apples x 22211:50@2.00 1.00@1.26 | L¢o 1591.00 WO 12 | Cranberries—P Eastern, bbl |Grape Fruit—Cat per case “a aya Per . . chleberries Lemons—Va Chotce Oranges— nese, bundle . *—Per box Pineapples—Per crate NUTS Prices Paid Wholesale Dealers Sack Lots Mixed Nuts. Walnuts DAIRY RODU CTs Prices Paid Shipper Battertat— tle delivery DAIRY ERODU € TS Prices Pala Wh Butter—1 Ege Mix Pull Cheese Or, Ww Block Swiss Washington ¢ Tillamook tr POULTRY AND ME Prices Paid 8! creamery, eubse, CATS cow Vaid Wholesale Dealers Turke ys ii Beigia « y V | Jumped to 1,0 | weto r ‘| Chicago Board of Trade Edin, Jerry Crollard, Robe Md Harold Larson, Clark Stewart and Allen Hall. 1923 WAS BIG FREIGHT YEAR Reached Peak ‘of American | Productive Activity NOTE: Ralph F. Couch, eco- nomist and statistician, with ac- cess to government reports and figures, has worked up for The Star a careful study of financial and industrial conditions in the United States at the close of 1923. This is the sixth of 10 brief articles, in which he traces the high spots in the business year) BY RALPH F. COUCH WASHINGTON, Dec. 29.—Freight ote to and accepted for loading by rallroads ended September 29, breaking all s for the number of cars load. ed in a single week. The previou: record was 1,018,539 cars which were loaded in 1920 the week ended October 13. Rallroads this year have received a Records for car loadings have been smashed continually If railroad traffic be a sure Indl- cation of industrial prosperity, as is so often explained, then the present | year will stand as the greatest man- ufacturing period in the history of the United States. C g and manufactured goods have poured into the freight in a volume never before equal- ccording to the reports recelved in Washington by the Association of | Railway Executives. At the beginning of the year, ¢ the railroads financially s much in doubt. The rded as present! nomic problem. which, it was ndangered the prosperity of th country. Tho roads were king money, it was sald. Nn uld not obtain capital for improve the of rose. In roads earned net income to yield a return of on valuation. In Apr of rose to 6.5 per n May it per cent September 4.46 cent was freight per »w seems likely that the e entir known in Febr in the neight above, the rate of nd which figur be turned into a g¢ the ate n ome will be hap beye ary, od of, per- 5.75 nt earnings must neral fund r transportation law ! WALDORF. SOLD | F of the ide Hotel Waldorf, 4 nth ave. and Pike ation exceeding $400, w Waldorf Hotel Co., 1 Saturday morn & company a the management of ton, of the The ndi Maltb; nounee purchasi new un Thu operate Georgian, The » stories high, Waldorf Bi was built iilding Co, under m Mary ground File Schedule of Graphophone Firm NI YORK, Dec sched of the United States, | 4 cars in the week | nilroads | McKay | PRICE OF OIL IS ADVANCING Other Boosts Follow Lead of Mid-Continent Crude NEW YORK, Dec. 29—Announce- ments of additional advances in crude ofl prices camo rapidly yes terday following the advance in mide continent and others. Pittsburg advices were grades of eastern crude oil have been advanced 10 cents a barre Cabell ts quoted at $1.45; Somerse® medium, $1.40; Somerset light, $1,553 Ragland, 85 cents on the new price_ schedule. Houston, Texas, reports that Guit joll has met the 250 advance in grade “A” crude ofl on the Gulf coast, continuing grade “RY “at | $1.00 a barrel and also establishing | flat price of $1.00 for Blue Ridge nd Pierce Junction crude, both for- jmerly quoted at 65 cents, | Humble and Gulf ofl are grading lf coast crude, while Texas com- ny is paying $1.25 for both that fout Pp 1.69@1.66 |and transported the largest volume | grad |of freight in their history. | ‘The Gulf company also met the |Texas company prices for crude oll jin north and central Texas. Dallas reports that the Magnolia Petroleum Ge, has advanced crude oil purchased on the gravity basis in ‘Texas, 10 to 16 cents a barrel; Powell and Mexia crudes, 250, and Corsicana heavy 10c, following the jaction of the Texas company. The | new gravity schedule folloy | The low gravity, 60 cents a bar |rel; 28 to 30.9 gravity, 3 31 to 33 to 35.9 gravity, sravity, $1.30, and }39, ang above, » $1.4 40. | «/STOPOVERS TO || BE GIVEN HERE Arrangements have been made by the Northern Pacific, Gr orth. m, Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul and Union Pacific railways to grant stopover of ten ¢ at Seattle, Tacoma, Spokane and Portland on one-way, long-haul tickets, This arrangement will enable pas- sengers traveling between Eastern points and California to stop over in the Pacific Northwest, and will be & big factor in directing a consider. able Amount of this one-way business thru the Pacific Northwest, which has heretofore been obliged to pur- chase tickets at local fares from point to point. jin the federal court today, liabilities of $23,910,405 jet $18,667, showing and assets Ask yourself that ques- || tion and then consider || that our modern electric || Safe Deposit Equipment | offers you the last word in protection at a very small cost. (She = * SEATTLE NATIONAL + “BANK — “SECOND AT. COLUMBIA