New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-01-09
likely to tumble somewhat disastrously ABOUT
The exc errors ears.
MONEY and BUSINESS.

The year opens Win mouethb nooN"J
in business, the exchanges for the week. which
include yearly payments. being substantially the
same as those OF the first week last year after
allowance for holiday At Boston, notwith-
standing that difference, payments were larger,
and also at New-Orleans; at Philadelphia. Chicago
and st. Louis the decline was less than the DIFF
ference of one working day would explain; AT
Baltimore and still more at New-fork there was
n larger decline, here attributed to duh specula-
ton. Failures for the first week were fewer than
for the same week last year. Foreign trade shows
a decrease OF - per cent In imports and Tor the
week ending January 3, decrease OF Is per cent
in exports The banks gain nearly 81 900, 600 In
deposits, partly through Treasury disbursements
exceeding receipts by s6,1o0,000. and partly by
return Of money from some quarters, though noc
from the South, for banks have sent considerable
sums thither last week Stocks were stagnant
but strong; the sixty most active stocks averaged
SCI 43 per share at the close Saturday. against
s61 OF at the opening for the year. Inc geherai
average of prices for commodities advanced slghoy'
but only fifth OF one per cent for the week.
The coal strikes caused inactivity In stocks but
seem to have a favorable influence on the whole
Reading stock is so closely held that It has re-
coded only an eighth, while other coal stocks
have all advanced. The Street looks In vain Tor
the large buying expected from January dis
bursements OF SIS, 900, 900 interest and dividends.
After few more years it may discover that IN
vestors are getting shrewd enough to buy either
before or after the time they are expected. Wheat
declined half a cent, corn IA, oats cent pork
25 cents and lard 81 cents per 90 pounds, cotton
n sixteenth, coffee "a Of a cent, though spot
quotations do not express the full decline In
options and oil "a of a cent, after big boom
and sharp slump Lead is also 10 cents and
copper 80 cents per 90 pounds lower. Sugar
holds its advance Of sixteenth and crushed an
eighth; cheese and eggs are higher, print cioths
an eighth higher, tin threeeighths higher, tur-
pentine / cent. beef 90 cents and rubber cent
higher. OF drugs nitrate and Clutch are weaker,
anthony and chlorate of potash stronger WOOL
WAS a shade weaker, and some grades OF woonen
goods quoted lower
The Government crop report raises the wheat
figures above previous estimates, putting the yield
at 456 600, 900 bushels; and making the farm
value only s., 200. 900 less than last year Loss
Of 81 o. 900 600 bushels Of is said TO be more
than balanced to farmers by rise in prices, ana
they gain s14,000,000 on oats. The statement
that winter wheat acreage does not promise much
decrease, while the reported condition is 95, de-
pressed the market at Chicago, and it shows that
at only 677 cents per bushel for wheat farmers are
trying to raise over 100000 bushels, fact
worth remembering in connection with disputes
about the cost OF wheat-grOwing. The report,
though decidedly more favorable than previous
estimates, does not alter the fact that farmers
have lost heavily in animal and animal food
products, I'm potatoes, tobacco, fruit and wool.
The bureau report to cotton grows harder to
believe 5,393,9l2 bales having come in sight
January l, against 4,s15,O45 at the same date
from the previous crop The advance of II per
cent in price will make the crop worth more 10
producers than the previous one, but here, AS IN
the ease OF corn, il is to be remembered that the
loss of yield is loss of wealth, consumers having
to lose all the farmer gains by higher prices
But for railroad and house building in advance
Of the increase in population, the business OF
1887 would hardly i at all have exceeded that OF
1886. With less farm products marketed, the
decrease in woollen goods exceeds any increase-in
cotton manufacture of print cloths, $4,000 pieces
less were produced; oil production declined
sixth, while the coal output increased twelfth;
and but for railroad and other building the market
for iron products would have been narrower than
before. The Railroad Gazette" reports 2,044
locomotives 16,l4J freight and IA ,056 coal cars
built last year, against ,i36 locomotives lO,O9o
freight and GAG coal cars in 1886. The new
track alone calls for 372, 900 tons more rails than
in 1856, when the demand unusually large.
Concerning real estate speculation and building,
" The Real Estate Record states New-Yorls con-
veyances at s25s 100000 for the year, and the
cost Of new buildings at $4,000, 900, and esti-
mates that 81, 600 600 coo may have been expended
in the whole country for buildings, and that
transfers of real estate may have exceeded
$4,000, 000 coo. On that snppostlon the volume
of new mortgages created during the past year
must be large enough to cause some pressure:
The estimated building exceeds the requirement
for new DODu lation for three wears. and the
crease in railroad mileage is per cent against
an increase of per cent in population. New
York exports and imports, however, point to an
excess Of exports in December Of S2S.000,00O
against s29,0OO,0O0 in 1886, and foreign ex-
change, though higher, is not near the gold-ex-
porting point