Around the Corner

Pulling at his goatee, last week Roger Ward Babson, who still glories in his reputation for having "called the break in 1929," observed that ''the world is getting better, this country is getting better, and even Chicago is getting better." Asked about specific securities, his most frequent answer was "I am bullish on that." Asserted Ralph Wilson, vice president of Babson's Statistical Organization, "Business has struck bottom!"

Some of the vague "improvement noted" indications during August had been translated into definite figures by last week. General Motors reported that during August its dealers sold 13.3% more cars to customers than in July. But, overstocked, they had bought fewer from GM. Smaller companies also reported that August had shown a gain. Bulls were prone to say that the first half of August had been bad, that the gains resulted from a whizzbang finish which may carry into September. They took cheer from the knowledge that the average automobile bouncing along the highway today is four years old.

Retail results for August were not satisfactory. The Federal Reserve report on department store sales showed them running 26% behind last year. While there was a gain over July, it was smaller than usual. The first 16 chain stores to report for August showed that they were 15.7% below last year. But last week Dun's reported a "rebound" and said that "the era of sacrifice sales of all sorts . . . either has passed entirely or is about to end." Not increased trade but increased stock exchange business however was the cause of a 3.6% gain in bank clearings during August. The country would have shown another drop had not New York City check transactions jumped over 8%. Similarly, increased business from brokers was believed to have been a big factor in a favorable Bell System report. After gaining every month this year, the net loss of telephones in August was 201.000 against July's 268,000.

Perhaps the most encouraging of fundamental figures was the statement on electric power production issued last week. The gap between this year's output and last year's was squeezed from 12.3% in the preceding week to 10.4%. The Atlantic Seaboard was the star performer, using but $.$>% less power than a year ago. Any increase in steel mills and automobile plants would narrow the gap still more.

The steel industry last week was still feeding mostly on hope. During August it received more orders than during July. Operations lagged at 14.26% of capacity. U. S. Steel Corp. ended the month with a gain of 3.293 tons in unfilled orders. This increase was the first in 17 months. Steel men seemed confident that operations will slowly gather momentum in the coming weeks although even a 100% gain would leave most companies in the red.

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