Commerce Report

Brisk and businesslike was the annual report issued by Secretary of Commerce Robert Patterson Lament last week. Addressed neither to the President--to whom the department is dear--nor the Congress, it was the last of the nine reporting departments to make its statement. Secretary Lament wasted no time in probing the causes of the Depression, made instead the following observations:

"Notwithstanding the decided decline in business activity which began in November 1929, the total output of commodities and services in the fiscal year ended June 30, 1930 was very large. Comparison of conditions during the year with those of the year immediately pre- ceding, which had been a period of exceptionally high activity, gives a misleading impression. Most of the business indicators for 1929-30 compare favorably with any earlier year."

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