Business: More Freight, More Telegrams

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The report on electric power production issued last week showed that this important business index had lost a good part of the previous week's gain. But the report on carloadings (for the week ended Sept. 17) was as bullish as anyone had hoped for. It told of 85,478 more cars of freight moving on U. S. rails than during the week before, thus continuing the gain in railroad business which began in the middle of August. September loadings up to last week were down only 23.6% from last year against a drop of 31% in August's four weeks and 34.4% in July's five. Car loadings in Canada for the second week in September were up about 10% from a year ago, chiefly due to heavy crop movements in the prairie provinces. But C. P. R. officials last week prepared to take salary reductions of 10% and 15%.

Another good omen last week was a sudden increase in telegraph business, so pronounced that Western Union felt it had to tell the public. Each of the company's eight geographical divisions did better than the week before, the average increase in business communications being between 25% and 30%.