Richland beacon. [volume] (Rayville, La.) 1869-1890, 1877-04-14
Bid BUSINESS PROSPECTS.

Curlou.iv enough, q combination -
commercial causes has brough. a5ou. 5
perceptible business gloom within three
week. OF the successful Inauguration OF
a new administration and of new politics
policies. After The inauguration We ex,
pected daylight, and have only 90. IL
tenser darkness. perhaps that which &,
said 20 be Gust before day The marx
cts for brea1stutfs and provisions have
been declining for some time. AID are
very staGnant. The cotton crop which
came forward so abundantly early in ,h-
season, but which manufacturers we:-
led 10 believe would al be marxetej
early, continues to come forward. an
will leave some surplus, though 40. a
large one. Prices of raw cotton have
heretofore fallen, and goods maaufac-
tured out of dearer raw nater;a, mu.:
be sold at loss There il a discourage
ing absence of buyers from the dry good
trade. Coal is another great ,tap.e vs. ich
has had the bottom knocked out c.
it by the great auction of the Pennsy.-
vania company to-day. The fail of coal
and the resumption of mining in III
face of slack demand depIesses coa,
stocks, and the failure to make -ai!roat
combination depresses the best railroad
securities, until the greatest burden e
the times is the uncertainty OF the value
of all investment securities.
Hence a commercial depression and ,
financial distrust occur right togethe-
One cause Of the commercial depression
is the reaction from the steady rise OF
prices which took place in provisions and
bread-tufs and some other staples during
the late fall and winter. Thi. rise @:
prices was based largely on a Europea:.
war, which never came, and the ia, MS.
been going on ever since the close Of the
conference at Constantinop!e. Price-
were held up for 4 few weeks till they
were higher at Chicago than they were at
New York, and at New York than az
Liverpool; but Of course they have had
to drop. The great pork crop, ',OoO, o0o
hogs, has declined heavily, notwi,hstand-
ing $40, 600, 900 pounds of i, in various
forms, have gone abroad in four months.
Wheat, although there was a short crop,
is in less demand abroad this year, and
hence declining prices in -four. In short,
large crops Of cotton and hog, and de-
creasing foreign demand for wheat and
provisions. on account of the probability
Of peace, are reducing the prices of all
these staples 10 the low prices of las.
summer.
The manifest insecurities OF me Goa.
companies, and the continued inability Oh
the railroads to negotiate a settled peace
with each other, naturally frightea do
mestic investors, who begin to look upon
each dividend and each coupon cashed a.
an acquaintance abou. to be severed be-
yond renewal. Our collapses. reported
to the English investors, create a great
panic there, which is reported and mag
ni6ed here, till real investors panic is
threatened. The two stock markets OF
crate on each other like the two meta,s
in the electric battery, separated only by
a galvauic bath Of brine. The profess
sional bears on either side "go in" to
make the most Of it.
Business at the west and south, how
ever, is more active and clipper than on
the seaboard. These reductions in the
prices OF raw materials and provisions
will not disappoint the consumer, as soon
as they can turn around to take the ad-
vantage OF them. The Pennsylvania
iron business, by the way, reports pretty
steady gain in demand and employment
within three months. In New England
We are subject to more fluctuation. and
the rise in the tide is by successful bill
lows and back fows, not By a steady on
set. II is to te hoped that the late
spring will witness more cheerful a.psct
of affairs.-SpirqfeH Republican.