New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1890-02-24

oicbtv-six roads one week and sixty-two the
second week of February exceeding last year
by II per cent But reports OF dlihculties We
tween the companies continue, ana the pu"i'
distrust of speculative managers ana OF inc o'a'c
and National legislation which managers asS"ii'
Prices of products have nominaly improved
little but OF some important articles as OF COAL
quotations are just now Of little value "heaO
has been lifted by speculation, but has reacted
q little. closing with about half cent advance
while corn and oats show about as much decllhe'
Pork products and hogs are weaker sugar ui-
changed, oil a little lower. and cotton resoluteV
sustained by speculation, receipts Tor the mohth
falling off a little and more than exports. "heaU
exports run much above those of last year. Dc
cause in February, $50, exports were the sihalesO
in any month for five years, but are nevertheless
small for the season. while corn exports continue
enormous Nearly every year Cincinnati paper
puts forth a solemn declaration that Government
crop estimates are large, and the report care
fully tccgraphcd all over the country last week is
doubtless entitled TO as much confidence as pre-
yious estimates from the same source. One
thing evident is that there is wheat enough this
year TO 20 around
The iron industry has TO face the fact that
priccs are slowly yielding, less because production
is large than because there is less business In
SIGHT than there was, and less visible demand
Three new furnaces arc expected to go into opera
ton at once in Alabama, and iron from that State
is now sold in Pittsbnrg at prices somewhat below
those hitherto current An estimate that 1000
600 tons of steel rails will be needed this year
NAV perhaps serve 10 stop the makers who were
asking $50 short time ago, and are now selling
at $50 or n little less, hut similar estimates a
year ago did not prove quite reliable. The fact
is that the rise in the prices of iron and steel
products in this country was in part sympathetic
because Of the great boom in Great Britain, where
n heavy fall of II to IS shillings has followed.
The woollcn manufacture is not in better shape
nor the buying more confident, ana wool is weak
and sagging The market for rubber goods also,
owing TO the open winter, is unsatisf 3cOry and
Boston dispatches mention that part of the boot
and shoe shops are not running full time. Great
activity continues in cotton manufacture, and
.akngs of Northern spinncrs increase still furthcr.
with some talk Of advancing prices of goods
The volume Of business in progress, outside
speculative exchanges, is not Visibly aballng.
| Railroad tonnage Is very lar-e, shipments from
| Chicago in three weeks of February being 3OO,-
es3 tons AGAINST So AL last year. and the In
crease Of - per cent in earnings is evidence 10
the same effect Bank ccarings outside New
] York for tine week ending Friday Include SIX
| DAYS this year against five last year, but with
! fair allowance for that fact show loss at New
| York a small gain at Boston, Philadelphia and
! Chicago taken together, and considerable III
crease in the aggregate at other points.