The daily morning journal and courier., 1894-07-14
AN IMPROVEMENT 10IIoED.
Railroad rrafile is Resumed and There Are Lsss Idis Men.

Lsss Idle Men.
 New York. July l2.-Bradstreot's 10. morrow will say:
 During the greater portion of the week general wholesale trade at Chi. oago and tributary territory has been practically paralyzed by the railway strike. Large eastern cities felt the effect of the tie-up In restriction re' ceipts of live stock. meat and pro- duce. while western manufacturers and merchants suffered loss through ina bility to secure supplies and raw mate rials from the east. The industrial sit uation has now greatly improved. The failure of the Railway union boycot, appears complete. Railroad traffic is generally resumed. and the number oi idle men has been greatly reduced. In other lines the situation Is also i'm proved. The coke strike Is concedad Q failure. and the operatives are retut n ing to work. The settlement of the pot. ters strike at Trenton after lasting six months. means the rssmployment of thousands.
 Numbers of small strikes are rspoi ted Iron. steel. lumber. shoes. wool and cotton manufacturing industries al larger eastern and western centers have made practically no shipments and commercial travellers throughout the central western states generally have been compelled to leave the road The low ebb of trade Is reflected in $S7S.- 900, ,000 of bank clearlngs for the week, 3 per cent. more than reported in the previous week. Owing to the shrink age of bank clearings totals in July last year the weeks total shows g. de- crease compared with last year of only 12h per cent. Oside from in6u- ences already referred to tine feature of the week at Boston as at other east ern centers has been higher prices for grain and provisions. although more ease Is now reported. Buffalo reports increased live stock shipments from Indiana which would have gone to Chi cago and Baltimore. a smaller trade from the west and fewer orders than expected from the south. A fair vol ume of business in shoes is reported from Philadelphia. and practically To noteworthy movement at FittSburg.
 A demand for leaf tobacco Is reported from Louisville, but at Chicago and St. Louis manufacturers and jobbers .e- port the volume of trade still far below that usual at this period of midsummer deL essiCn. Kansas City was serious !y affected by the railway strike bat soocs are being freely shipped now. Omaha was apparently affected, but at Milwaukee restricted traffic was severe ly felt. Duluth reports several lum- Der deals, requiring low prices to close them. All southern cities say ,busine se is very dull. Georgia markats report turpentine has advanced in price and New Orleans that sugar Is not in spe- cial demand and that little is doing.
 Exceptionally favorable trade pros- peots are reported from Texas. The worlds stock of wheat has declined during the past fourteen weeks about 6,000,000 bushels more than in the like portion of last year, which Is signif1- cant in view of the insistcnce that do- 'mestic supplies are exhausted. Elk ports of wheat, flour included, both coasts, United States and Canada. this week, equal 2,377, ,O0O bushels, compared with 4,134,0O0 bushels in the second week of July last. Gross earnings of 117 railroads for June show an ever age decrease as compared with June, 1893, of 22 per cent. The figures re- fleet the coal strike. The decrease of gross earnings in May was 1T per cent. For the six months ending June 30 the average decrease in gross is 16 per cent. There are 229 business failures in the United States reported this week against 39S in the second week of July last year. .,''- ,t
 An examination of staple prices com- pared with the middle of 1891 following the Barring embarrassment indicates that flour has declined 40 rer cent |, wheat 45 per cent, and corn 31 per cent, while oats are 30 per cent. higher than 3 years ago. Pork and lard are re- spectively IS and 12 per cent. higher than years ago. while changes in prices of butter and cheese and less significant. No such radical movement is exhibited in prices for print cloths, sugar. coffee, cotton, refined petroleum and anthracite coal, but raw wool has dropped 37 per cent, pig iron, Bessemer and anthracite 25 per cent, bilIets 27 per cent. and bituminous coal 30 per cent. .-G.
 Toronto reports trade quiet. The price of export cattle is higher. Fall orders for dry goods at Montreal have improved somewhat, but other staple lines are dull. General trade at Hali- fax is very quiet.