The local press is excited over the German-Manchoukuo trade agreement, one paper stating that this agreement means the death of all other foreign exporting firms, the argument being that Germany is the largest European buyer of beans and that in future the whole of the business will be done direct between Manchoukuo and Germany without middlemen. Other exporters, however, do not share this opinion and point out that there is no monopoly.
the agreement, all shippers having equal opportunities of making sales Germany.
Among the large shopkeepers of the main streets there is once more a feeling of depression, buyers being very scarce and daily returns reduced very considerably. Several large. stores in the Kitaiskaya are closing down, these including the well-known Indian silk store of Doulatram Sons, There are large signboards of clearance sales at prices which in some cases seem absurdly low. Ladies frocks are displayed at from $5 and men's really good shirts at $1. Boots and shoes are low in price, lower than ever, and yet the stops have few buyers. In dairy lines prices have sunk to the lowest on record in Harbin, good butter being sold 49 cents per pound retail and cheese at as low as 20 cents. The demand for milk is very small compared to former years when every—Russian house required many quarts a day, and owners of cows state that they will have to sell their live stock as they cannot find enough buyers for! their milk.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.