The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-03-24
PERPLEXITY IN BUSINESS.
Trade Growing Larger in Volume, But
Not More Profitable.

The Prices of Commodities a Trife
Lower Than Week Ago-Uncer-
tainty Increased Since the Passage
of the Seigniorago Bill Mills Run
ming Only as They Have Orders.
Money StiIl PiIing Up at the Finan-
! ciaI Centers.
New York. March OR. @. Dun &
. Co. 5 weekly review of trade tomorrow
will say: lit is perplexing to be obliged
. 10 report that business is growing larger
+ i'm volume but at the same time not more
/ profitable. Uncertainty does not dimin-
ish, but has rather increased, in the judg
mcut of many commercial bodies which
have urged the President to veto the
seicniorlge bill.
/ The prices OF commodities do not rise,
/ but on the whole about ID per cent
/ lower than last week, through then the
lowest ever known IN this country, and
| are 1873 per cent lower than a year ago.
| No more gold has gone abroad, and stocks
| average only 3 cents per SlO0 higher for
railroads than last week, and exactly the
/ same FOR trust stocks, bus some foreign
/ purchases and the Intervention of Holt
/ day explain the stoadincss.
MORE MILLS At WORK.
! More mills are at work, though the
4 proportion of productive force unem-
I pl0ycd is still from a fifth TO a third In
diTCreut branches of industry, and'many
( mills are stopping because their orders
| have run out even while a large number
/ are starting with orders enough for
J IWe. Inc prospect OF getting constant
/ or remunerauTc employment tor works
ana hands does not change. The fact
I that orders keep only part of the force
1 at work, while both prices and wages
tend downward. though spring is near at
hand. renders present business less profit
/ able ana the future less promising.
''Ine starting of four furnaces by the
! Illinois Steel Company and one other at
! Plttsburg increases the output of iron
and some large sales have been made at
the lowest prices Yesterday reported,
/ with indications Of a continued demand
! for structural work, and especially at the
west.
"On She other hand the demand for wire
| in various forms which led the way to i'm
| proyement seems to slackcn and nails are
said 10 be selling lower than ever, below
l cent.
"A reduction of 60 cents in freights
from Pittsburg to tide water only adds to
western while it takes from eastern bus
mess,
SHOE MANUFACTURE.
In shoes come concerns which have
been running on large orders for cheap
goods find their orders exhausted, but for
other medium ana low priced goods the
demand is improving, and shipments from
Boston for the month thus far have been
10 per cent less than last year
Textile industries are answering the
,1r,r,T !.
stocks, with hand to mouth production.
Mills getting orders enough start and
others which have filled orders in sight
stop without trusting TO future trade.
The demand for cotton goods is fairly
| large, but with "A reduction in prices of
some grades, and the accumulation OF
print cloths continues. 4 large auction
sale of silks brought fairly satisfactory
| prices.
The sales of wool for three weeks have
exceeded last years 23.9 per cent. though
| transactions this month last year were
about 40 per cent. below the average.
DOMESTIC TRADE.
The volume of domestic trade meas
| ured by clearings for the week has been
| 81 ITO per cent smaller than last year.
/ and outside New York l1.9 per cent
! smaller, the decrease being there less,
! hut at New Ork greater, than Tor the
! previous week.
There is an encouraging increase, the
! first for many months in east bound
! tonnage from Chicago, and at Indianapo-
! lis, the movement is almost as large as
! last year, while west bound tonnage of
! high class merchandise is also large.
! But the accumulation of idle money
/ continues, as ii could not if business were
materially enIarging, and the demand for
| commercial loans is no better than it was
! March /. While interior rates of ex
change harden, the banks here are again
discussing the need of reducing interest
paid on deposits
/ TREASURY OPERATIONS.
The treasury has been losing a little of
its balance latoly,cus, oms receipts for the
month so far being only 81, 0S8. ~. against
Sl5.d45,S1S last year while the internal
revenue Is also a shade smaller With
long delay in fixing the basis of taxation.
treasury embarrass m nts increase. and
since the Bland bill passed, the govern
ment bonds recently purchased are quo
ted at prices below the cost with interest
The failures for the week ending
| March Is involved Habi i les o onlv
-, Dos SIS, and for two weeks OF Marcn
only S4 S35, no, of which g.. 800. 257 were
manufacturing and 81, 446, 069 of trading
concerns Some deferred reports will
further swell the aggregate, but at San
Francisco the assumptions reported now
| exceed the failures. A number of rail
road reCeivershirs are noticed though
! none of importance The failures this
week number pa in the United States,
against 2ll last year. and 20 in Canada.
against 20 last year. II is noteworthy
H.