The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1874-05-07
FINANCIAL AND COMMERCIAL.
Wheeling wholesaIe Market.

time OF year. This may partly be SC
counted for by the TACT that the trade
in the esrlier part Of the season was bet
ter than for several years past, and
partly by the bad condition. OF the
country roads and the discouraging
weather that has prevailed for some
time. But undoubtedly the belief tina,
8 season of great financial striDgency
and embarrassment may occur before
the close ofthe present year mae much
10 do with this stagnatlon. This
belief has been gaining ground, slowly
but surely, for some time past.
The iron interest is greatly depress-
ed. About hall OF the iron furnaces in
in the country are already idle. The
Crane Iron Works, which produce
more pig metal 10000 tons yearly, }
than any other in the country, are
closed; the Pennsylvania Iron Com
pany, OF Dsnville, which employed
1000 men. is doing nothing; the Dun
cannon Works; the Susquehanpa
Rolling Mill, of Columbia; c. E. Pen
nock's rolling-mills OF Coatesville the
Reading Hardware Works ; the works
of Guiffert, McMsnus. Il Co., in the
same city, and Rogers mills. Of Port
Carbon, are all silent. A Reading dis
patch saye, on the authority oi"parties
prominently identified with the trade"
that every furnace in Peunsylvsnia will
be blown out by June ; another state.
ment, in 8 New York paper, asserts
on good authority that, after secret
meetings in the leading cities OF the
country, the National Puddler's Union
held a general conference recently at
Reading, at which l20 forges were
represented by delegates from every
IRON producing State in the Union, and
that a general suspension OF work was
resolved upon, aud is now immi-
nent.
The immediate or apparent cause
is a reduction OF 90 per cent in wages
since the panic. Against this reduction
the men protest, saying that they can
not live upon the reduced wages; and
it was in answer to threats Of gener-
al strike on this ground that the Cam
bria Company closed its works, and
likewise the Crane Company and other
large establishments. Yet the work.
men are getting much higher wages
even now than they did in 1860, when
there was general prosperity and sstiss
faction. According to tables compiled
by the Secretary OF the Iron and Steel
Association, and printed in the Iron
Aoe, the cost OF labor to the ton Of fins
ished bsr..iron is now $l9 02 and in 1860
was only 5000, nor was it higher in
any year before the war, according to
his tables, than Sl5.l2, the average in
1874. What is the difficulty? There
can be but one answer: the cost OF
living in irou-makiDg towns has in
creased at least as much as the wages
OF the workmeu.
Wise bankers and business men, IN all
parts of the country, are prudently pre-
pairing for the difficulties which may
be expected to follow the continued
prostration OF iron manufacturing, and
we hope that this prudence may avert
any general disaster, but that prudence
itself must for a time render the en-
barrassment more apparent and general
GROCERIES are in fair demand and
collections reported good, Sugars have
advanced slightly and are active. CO..
fee has met with a further decline /;
while roasted has advanced again to
80 cents.
Provisions have moved up again,
and are still bouyant.
FLOUR unchanged and the demand
sluggish.
GRAIN quiet, unchanged and the trade
limited. Corn is now higher in the
west than it has been for many years;
it no longer takes two bushels to get
one to market. The price in Chicago
this morning is 65@66c; and it is car
ried from that city 10 Liverpool for S4c
currency. The export demand is good.
This suggests that our foreign
trade at the present time lie
well worthy Of study. We are
improving. Our domestic exports
for the past year amounted TO 5000
366, 600, and Tor the year 1872, s544,
438, ,0O0-a difference OF about S62, 900,
900. In 1872 we imported to the
amount Of s677, l44, 900; in 1873, 1924
97,0OO-a falling of OF 100000.
These are significant figures, for they
point in the right direction, They
show healthy process Of recovery
from that most fearful OF all national
diseases, overtrading and extravagapce'
Our people have been spendthrifts'
Making money easy, it was. 90 to speak
thrown away in the purchase Of vast
quantities of useless stuf. for which we
ha1 N nav in The nYo6uct nj ony rnines