St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-10-04
The TREND OF TRADE.
Great Business of August Sup
plemented by a Booming
Septemb er.
No Alarmist View Taken of
the North Dakota Crop
Status.
The Expected Fine Weather
Will Save That Ocean Of
Wheat.
In Every st. Paul Line Bust
ness Is Reported as Fairly
Booming.


past week there is nothing to detract
from the already reiterated statements
of those most heavily interested regard
ing it, unless the fears of disaster in
North Dakota as result of the recent
rains are realized. There has been a
falling off in business from that state
during the past week, and the cause is
plainly outlined by the wholesalers
whose dealings with North Dakota are
most extensive. Merchants are waiting
to discover just how much of that i'm
mense wheat crop is going to get safely
into the granaries before buying any
further. Now it is Just as well to look
matters squarely in the face, and see
what the actual situation in North Da-
kota is. The facts as they stand at
present are that in Grand Forks, Penn
bina, Walsh and Cavalier counties,
twO-thlrdS of the grain crop,
principally wheat, stood in the
shock when rain set in. The
cause of this backward condition of
harvesting has been fully and plainly
set forth in the GLOBES news columns.
Men to harvest the grain could not be
obtained. The situation was critical.
ana the press of st. Paul and Mime
in their efforts to get help for the farm
ers of the North. Agents were sent
out in the South and West with power
to engage all the men and threshers
they could find. The result has been
that fifty full crews have been sent to
North Dakota within eight days. With
another week of fine weather there
would have been no cause to fear any
great loss. With the additional help
threshing could have been got well
under way, but it is now feared that the
assistance came too late TO save a great
deal of the unhouSed grain. 1t is i'm
possible to thresh III wet weather: So
while the shocks of wheat are being
rain-SOaked, the farmer in the North
and those who went to SuccOr him are
compelled to stand idly by and wait for
sunshine to dry the straw. If the
weather changes and sunshine again
prevails within day or two, no great
harm will have been done. If, on the
contrary, the prevailing rains continue,
the result will be disastrous to farmers
in the counties mentioned. as well as in
other parts Of North Dakota. The
weather bureau reports call for clear,
fair weather for the Dakotas and Min
nesota. Every man interested in the
prosperity of the northern state hopes
feryently that the report will prove
correct.
Trade in Minnesota and South Dako-
ia has not Stacked whit since the first
harvester cut its swath this fall. Job
berS in all lines report an Increase in
September trade over that of August,
and the same men called the August
trade the biggest their houses were ever
called upon to fill. Collections have
braced up. according to the GLOBES
predictions, and there is more money
afioat than there has been for many a
year. A glance at the wheat receipts
published daily of Minneapolis and Du-
luth will establish to the satisfaction of
any Ole who considers the immensely
of the figures, that the repeated ''hold
your wheat" circulars are having but
very little effect. Farmers are hauling
their grain to market just as fast as they
can spare the time.
Dun 81 Co. do not take an alarmist
view of the situation in North Dakota.
They hold that only long-continued
rains can prove extensively disastrous
to the outstanding wheat. They report
trade in all lines in most fiourishlng
condition, and repeat their already pub
lished statements regarding the pros
pect for winter and. spring trade. One
effect of the good crop has been to make
business lively for the agricultural i'm
plement men. The st. Paul Plow works
have been running night and day to
keep up with the demand for their
goods, while Warden, Bushnell Il Gless-
ner have been on the jump filling orders
for harveSterS. binders, sulky plowS,
walking plows, pulverizers and every
other sort of agricultural implement.
Any one thinks who is ineXperl-
enced that the farmer has to
buy implements anyhow. There are,
of course, certain machines that he must
have, but there are many he can do
without. For instance, a man may have
slow-working wire binder of a seven
year-old pattern. 1t cost him S4O0 when
new. Now he can get a thoroughly
firSt-class rapid-running Irvine binder
for S160, and is he is prosperous he will
get it. If not, he will use the old ma
chine, though he may lose on it in the
long run. Again, a farmer has ten acres
of cornstalks to break down. If money
is plenty is plenty he will buy stalk
cutter, cut the stalks up into twelve
inch sections and pillow them under. If
money is tight he will wait for frost,
and then harness a team to twenty
two-foot steel rail, drag down the stalks
and simply drag under crop of oats in
the spring. The farmer has money this
fall. and that is why he is heavy
buyer of improved machinery.
Wemott, Howard d Co., wholesale
and retail crOckery, have done an i'm
mense trade in their line this autumn,
and the st. Paul Carriage company
has been selling more sIeighs and cut
tiers than it ever did before in its his
tory. The granger will drive to church
| in a swell box cutter this winter. Hith-
erto bobsleds have been the sort of con-
veyance he INDUCED in. The Goodyear
Rubber company, Finch, Van Slyck,
Young & Co., Powers Dry Goods COM
pany, Griggs Bros, p. H. Kelly 81 Co.,
Hardenbergh, Gordon & Ferg usson, and
in fact all the wholesalers visited, as
well as the retailers, say that matters in
their respective lines could not be i'm