Omaha daily bee., 1885-06-24
THE BUSINESS SITUATION.

Ing the week previous, but there has been
no noticeable Increase 10 the volume OF
general business In the cities of the east.
No very Important failures have occurred,
although the number Is about the same.
The end Of the iron-workers' strike in
Pittsburg has tended to promote a better
feeling. 1t Ia not expected, however,
that there VII be any great Increase In
trade In any branch until the fall season
opens. The time for making fall pur-
chases of merchandise stocks Is near at
hand, and we may then look for a tenn
porary boom In the trade centers. There
has been a slight Improvement In the ex.
port trade in cotton, but the home de-
mand has continued light and prices
have declined about one.eighth Of
q cent owing to the favorable crop
prospects. While there has been more
activity In wool, there has been no I'm
provement In prices. Supplies are COM
Ing forward rather more freely and with
larger and more attractive assortments,
and manufacturers are showing more In
terest In the market, although generally
buying In moderate-sIz lots for pres
ent wants. While there is no quotable
change in values there Is moreconfidence,
and any change In the near future Is re-
garded as more likely to be in favor of
holders than of buyers. There has been
q ueasonably aulet trade in dry goods,
without important change In the
general condition of the market.
The auction sale of between SO, 800, 900
and "a, 000, 900 worth of wooden goods In
New York during the week was for es.
tabllshing a price and securing a wider
distribution of goods. In doing this the
sale was successful, but the prices were
unsatisfactory, and the effect will be to
limit the demand from jobbers and
Wholesale houEes for some time to come.
Dairy products have been more active
and a shade higher, but at the close were
generally quleter than during the first
half of the week. A good deal of the
recent speculative buying of butter has
been encouraged by the expectation of
the onforcemen t of the law prohibiting
the manufacture and sale Of oleomar-
garine and butterine, and the action of
the New York court of appeals deciding
the law to be unconstitutional has had
some effect IN restraining speculation In
all markets. The anthracite coal trade
continues dull. Owing to the limited
demand stocks arc rapidly accumulating,
and prices are very weak and unsettled.
The resumption of work by the Western
Pennsylvania iron mills destroys the
hope recently entertained In some quart
ers Of an improvement In the eastern
trade by a diversion of orders from the
west. The Philadelphia Record, In its
weekly review, says:
The grain markets have been fairly active,
and at times l to II cents per bushel higher
for both wheat and corn, but the close yester-
day showed some reaction from the best rates
pared with a week ago, is about to ! cent per
bushel in wheat and about j cent in corn.
This small rise in wheat prices is a very feeble
response to the bullish sentiment that has
bsen created by the extensive circulation of
unfavorable crop reports. Nearly all of the
later estimates of the state boards of a%gricul-
ture and other authorities on wheat production
Indicate a greater decrease in the yield of
wheat than had been anticipated a month ago.
The national bureau figures are generally &C
copied as the more reliable, and these point
to q probable yield of 800, OcO, 900 bushels, as
compared with 512, 00O. 900 bushels IN 1884.
That prices do not show a more decided up.
ward tendency under the circumstances is
due to the weight of old stocks in sight, the
certainty that large reserves of old crop will
be carried into the next cereal year, and the
continued unsatisfactory demand for export.
There is hardly any foreign inquiry for win.
ter wheat, and the demand for spring wheat
has to be met at relatively low prices. As
an illustration of the extreme dullness recent
ly prevailing in the export trade 1t is pointed
out that of 400 cargoes reported sfoat for
Europe on the 4th instant only six car.
goeH were from eastern United States
and Canadian ports. While foreign buyers
are drawing supplies to the full extent of
their requirements from Australia, New Zsa-
land, Brazil and California, and steadily re-
fuse to pay current prices for large stocks
accumulated at or within easy reach of Allan
tic ports, it Ia difficult for spectators to work
up an active Investment demand in expecta-
ton of higher prices to result from a possible
deficiency in future supplies. Corn has main.
tanned a comparatively strong position be-
cause it is in steadily decreasing supply and
good legitimate demand, both for home con.
sumption and export. AS yet crop reports
have not become a serious factor in the market.
Mr.. JOE REDMAN Ia bound to build a
city hall on Jefferson square. He has
given us an outline of his scheme, and
we must cay that 1t is strictly original.
He proposes to erect the city hall with
out a dollar of bonds, and for this the
tax payers of Omaha and the citizens of
the Fifth ward will bless him. Joe
figures out his castle In the air about an