The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1886-08-07

BUSINESS PRosPECTs.-Corn is the My
food crop which remains in serious doubt
and the odds seriously mass in favor of q
| large yield. Kansas, one of the most i'm
pOrtant corn states in the Union, has hal
its drouth relieved by timely showers dur
ing the last week, and there is now every
prospect of crop of this cereal large
enough to continue cheap food for another
year. Wheat, ii becomes more and more
certain, will equal last years supply, and
the weeks adviees about foreign crops
render improbable any large addition 10
the foreign demand. The English crop
will probably pull up to "A fair harvest, and
the French deficiency in wheat OF 2S,OOO,-
600 bushels or SO promises no large demand
on this country. Supplies outside of the
nited States and Russia tell much the
same story, and there is at present no pros
peCt I'll At the coming crop year will See
any larger export of cereals than the last.
For the Atlantic coast, this simply means
that the coming year will see substantially
unchanged the trade conditions of the past
year in which large traffic has been car
ried on at very fair wages to labor, very
favorable prices to the buyer, and the
smallest possible margin Of profit to the
capitalist. The is a strong impression
abroad that the coming six months is to
see the last change for the better. This
may take place, but two facts work steadily
against any increase in profits. One is the
growth in imports as prices lessen abroad
and manufacturers in England, Germany
and France find themselves compelled to
sell somehow in the United States The
result is a steady increase in merchandise
i'm, al tn IA fol IL
in hundreds of millions of merchandise
years, ending with June are as follows:
SOL. 'Sl-2. 'S2-3 ISL. SIS, $50
Exports s!N! $3.50 1913 $40 S742 Sj19
Imports 642 IA 133 667 SIT 635
The difference here between the bust
ness done in the first year and the last is
only too apparent. 1t is of even more ser
ious consequence that, while in the case of
exports both value and quantity are greatly
reduced the imports show great increase
in quantity, while the total value is little
below the average OF recent years. The
practical result Is that, while the value of
our exports in 1856 Is a much smaller
reward than in 1851 for the labor eXpend,
ed and the capital employed in producing
the cereals, provisions, cotton, and petro-
leum exported, the imports now represent
a much sharper competition with the labor
and capital engaged in the production of
like articles at home than SlX years ago
At the same time, the competition of the
South and West with the manufacturers of
New England and the Middle States is
steadily increasing. 1t is noticeable, for
instance, that the demand made for re-
classification of domestic dry goods by the
trunk line pool is based upon the fact that
the competition of Western mills renders
the high tirstclass freight rate prohibit
tory tariff on the products of the Eastern
mills. The tritling changes in the returns
of the New York city banks, shown by the
aggregates published Saturday, the slug
gish changes in price, and the absence of
any striking trade changes during the last
week all reflect the dizziness OF a midsum-
mer week For the present, the immed ate
record of trade shows no serious change.
Philadelphia Press, July %.