UNITED STATES TRADE.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LII, Issue 17008, 15 April 1926, Page 3

UNITED STATES TRADE.

, MOTOIt-CAR BOOM. NEW YORK, Feb. 23. The American trade outlook is still uncertain according to the' majority of observers, although -there are recent indications that the fact that expansion is halting' in some- instances must riot be accepted as a definite 'business trend for the year. The improvement in industrial activity about evenly balances the recession, and it will require several more weeks to disclose which way the wind blows. The general tendency is to be optimistic, and there is plenty to encourage confidence as regards trade developments both here and abroad.

If one were to judge solely by the motor-car industry boom times are again present, because leading manufacturers are confidently engaging in record production, which means production of from 1000 to 3000 complete motor-cars daily by a dozen or more factories. This record of mass production has been undertaken despite the-prospective rise in the cost of petrol and further price reductions. There are elements in the economic situation which, it is admitted, demand caution, hut it is a fact that there is no lack of favorable business reports. The sell lenient of the coal strike has done little, excqpt guarantee peace in that industry for live years, although it is hoped that in that period means will be found to eliminate a repetition of the Pccent disastrous strike. Congress is even now considering a bill whose terms will make strikes or lockouts on railways impossible, and it is reasonable to hope that, if Die effort is successful in this instance, it eau he applied generally to American industry. Auolli'dr favorable, factor is the cerLaiutv in each year of a progressive reduction of taxation. Americans this year arc required lo pay 1176,200,000 less Ilian iasL year, and 2,000,000 persons are. released from paying, income-tax. It is becoming the more general conviction, however, that the present stock market values in many instances have more than discounted maximum expectations of business improvement,(and that readjustment downward, combined with a strict rein ou credit for speculative purposes, would put Wall Street on a more solid basis.