General business in -Canada con. tinues to manifest a steadiness that is most encouraging at this season the year. Practically all the manu. facturing concerns are moderately) busy, with orders in some eases for months ahead. Car-loadings higher year to date are considerably higher than last year, with the increase spread over almost all. classes of goods. Employment has declined! slightly since the high mark of the summer, but outdoor winter activ ies will absorb more men than for several years. The lumber and pulp and paper industries plan a_heavy cut of logs this season, and will engage large gangs of men for this purpose.
There has been very little indica. tion of a sustained rise in prices, other than in those commodities whose prices vary seasonally. One really disappointing prospect is that the price of newsprint will not be advanced for the coming year, despite] many predictions of a rise at Novem. ber 1. 'The unfortunate feature 5 of so much the continued low price itself, but the fact that once again' the companies concerned have failed to ce-operate. About a year ago all the leading Canadian" companies agreed on a minimum price for news print, and further resolved that no tone would take on new contracts} vatit" a revision of this had Been "discussed. Now it pears that the St. Lawrence Cor-oration has accepted a large con. tract with two United Slates publishers at $40 a ton, which is the low figure that has been adhered to for some months. When one considers that the American dollar is at a dis. count in Canada, there "is scant chance of the average manufacturer making both ends meet, even with the general increase in' production
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.