St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1884-08-06
COMMERCIAL.

found that the balance would be in favor of the
latter month, and this opinion is fully sustained
by the figures In comparing receipts and ship
ments OF the two months, it appears that during
the month OF June railroads carried into ST.
Paul 1850 cars OF goods Of all kinds, including
farm produce, etc. The receipts for the
month OF July ware 7.4s9 cars, or ninety cars
less But the shipments for July were 5,ol4
cars while those for June were only 1880 bein.
an increase OF shipment Of AS cars The de
crease in the receipts was owing to lighter re-
celpts OF wheat, 80 cars, oats 20 ears feed
10 cars, hay, rs cars and other prodtce. rie
receipts OF merchandise was larger by 2O9 ear~
being 1918 cars, against 1,709 for June lie
shipments OF merchandise by the car lot
were 22se cars for July and . ,Osl cars for june,
leaving balance in favor OF July of POS cars
These figures would seem u Indicate
that business during July was considerably Let
| Ter tnan during the month OF June. And "a
matter of fact the Indications OF these figures
are fully sustained by the testimony Of the led
| gers OF the leading business houses Taxing the
| grocery business frst we find one firm reporting
the volume of trade for July greatly in excess of
| That for June-nlinost, il not quite % per cent.
more. Compared to July, 1888, this firm asserts
| their business during the month just past, in
MONETARY point OF view, was 80 per cent. better
/ This means with goods something like 20 per
cent lower than they were last year, an increase
| OF 90 per cent in business. 1t should, however,
be stated that this firm has been extending their
business operations greatly since 1883. Another
flrm-one OF the Oldest and most extensive in
! the whole country-say that business during
July was highly satisfactory in every sense of
| the term; that 1t was much better than in June
and IN the quantity OF goods handled very much
better than in 1883, but owing to the low prices
and close margins the ledgers do not show SO much
net profit. Leather houses report amount of
| business for July about the same as last year
with the balance rather in favor of 1881. job
bers N manufactured iron and steel, report the
volume OF trade considerably in favor of 1883 but
the the trade of July was fully equal to if not
! greater than that of June. The general hard
ware trade is reported as having been for the
whole year very much better than the year 1883
| and that never in the history OF St. Paul has the
hardware business been nearly SO good in the
month of June and July as it has been this year.
| The books will show larger balances and
this fact coupled with that of pheneminally
low prices, points to very greatly increased
handling OF goods. The only branch of COM
merce which seems unable to compare with the
month of June or with July of 1883 is the dry
goods business. These houses have not done SO
| large business and the reason is obvious
Country merchants in former years have been in
| the habit of buying in anticipation of the crops
and the jobbing houses have been willing to sell
| them on mortgages as it were. For instance,
! they were willing to sell them line of goods to-
day and bill them for September or October.
| But this unsafe and unbusinesslike
method of trading has been discontinued nd
now when country merchant orders line of
goods it is billed the day the goods shipped.
And so, although the business for July has not
been SO large, and, with the extremely low prices
the balances are considerably less for the month";
the dry goods merchants do not anticipate any
thing but good showing at the end of the year
l Country Ire will han fhav
need the goods and consequently business
will be spread more evenly though the
season. Enough has been said at this late date
about the July trade and it is time to proceed
| with the business of the week just past
There is ample proof that there has been con-
siderable improvement in business during the
week ending yesterday. The railroad returns
show total of 2,O14 cars of goods received
against ,701 for the week ending July 20. which
shows gain of ,s13 cars. The shipments were
1892 against 1,2o5 for the previous week,
Ibeing an increase of lit cars The
river carrying has also increased during the
past week the receipts by boat being
625 tons or $50 tons more than the previous
| week. The shipments were 220 tons against 80
tons for the formetweek, being gain of 1879 tons.
These figures would indicate considerable in
crease in the aggregate volume of the city's
business, jobbing, commission and manufactur-
ing That the iobbing trade has improved will
| appear from the fact that the receipts of mer-
chandise for the past week were $50 cars against
4S5 for the previous week, gain of 90 cars, and
the shipments 594 cars against $50, or gain of
"a cars. And that the business of the city taken
as whole was very much greater than it was for
| the week ending July go is fully borne out
by the statements of the merchants themselves.
This fact connected with the other fact already
proved that the business for the last month was
SO thoroughly satisfactory and much in ad-
| vance of last year should be cause of congratu-
lation and rejoicing. There is every excuse for
dwelling on this point at such length in the con-
trast of the state of trade east compared with
the position of affairs here. There stagnation
| is the rule, depression and suspension. Here
thrift and prosperity. One great cause of de-
preston east is over-production, and the only
remedy for this is free trade which will
open up widely extended field.
Groceries during the week have been quite
active aud the reports of the merchants are that
they have had very busy time; prices are fairly
steady; canned goods are shade lower; but the
principal change is In sugars which are % lower.
Provisions are firm and hams higher, the latter
| are very scarce and will without doubt advance
considerably within the next few days. Teas
and coffees are unchanged. The opening of
the Northern Pacific road has completely
! revolutionized the tea trade, the large
dealers now importing direct from Japan.
and China, via. Portland, Oregon, and the North
ern Pacific road, they are thus enabled to com
in price, but in quality OF goods. Another large
ST. Paul firm has now adopted this most excel
leIt plan and imports direct from Yokohama and
! Hiogo. Boots and shoes are quiet and steady;
| there liz some improvement upon the previous
week, but there IL still room for larger develop
ment in fall goods. In other years it has been
the custom with buyers TO anticipate business and
! lay in large stocks ahead but for reasons before
mentioned they now only order goods as they
| need them and the demand for heavier leather
goods will not greatly increase till after harvest.
There are no changes in quotations. There has
| also been better movement in feathers and the
market has remained steady An advance, how
ever, may be expected in harness leather, and no
! doubt before the next review appears in these
columns the list will be marked up Manufae-
tured iron and steel Is quiet and
slow; orders have been fairly numerous
| but for very light parcels; prices
| are unchanged. General hardware continues
active with prices steady, There are no changes
to record in the entire list The drug market
continues TO maintain Its activity. During the
! past week the demand for drugs and the nuner-
/ Gus articles handled by drng dealers has been
| Yery large. The only changes in drugs are oil
/ of peppermint TO 50. 5OGeS3. rs and oil OF s,ssa
1 ftass to Csc. White lead is shade off, being
/ offered at $500 for 500 ID lots. There has not
been quite so much activity in dry goods the past
week. Personal buyers have been rare and the
order trade quite light. This fact does not argue
light fall trade, the contrary the
, jobbers anticipate q very large business
4 and are preparing for IL, as may be seen by the
accommodating stocks Of new goods being shipped
/ in daily by the buyers who are still east The
buyers are allie to purchase at good advantage in
the present demorazed state OF The eastern
market. Telyeteens will be much worn during
the coming season, and the counters Of the Job
bing houses are becoming crowded with them OF
oil fancy and staple cOlors Large stocks of
blankets, canton fannels and heavy domestics
have also been well bought The market here is
steady. There are but few changes to record,
the principal being in heavy brown sheetings
Hyde Parks, Badger State, Greylocks and Law
reuco IL, marked down fxc md fn< hro.,-,,