The Cape Girardeau Democrat. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1876-1909, 1895-05-11
LpuN.s COMMERCIAL REVIEW.

Business In Better Condition than at Any
Time Since the BrsakdOwn in May.
| 1~S93-Snaller in Volume than Then 1t
is Not Shrinking. but EnlnrsinS-impa-
thence to Realize the Principal Obstacle
| to Full Recovery.
New YORK, May 4-R. q. Dun G
Co.'S weekly review of trade. issued
to-day, says:
Business begins in May in better
condition than at any other time since
the breakdown in May, 1898. Smaller
in volume than then, it is not shrinking,
but charging. The chief obstacle to
a more complete recovery is the anx-
iety of the many to pluck the fruit be-
fore it is ripe. Holders of some sta
pies nave lifted them so far as to pre-
vent their marketing; consumption Of
materials in some branches is checked
by advances which cannot be realized
for finished products; workers in some
industries are demanding wages that
cannot be paid put Of any business in
sight.
But III spite of labor troubles and
speculative excuses, the outlook
brightens, money markets continue
healthy, and with heavy sales of rail-
way bonds abroad, the deficiency in
public revenues, SS,742, $40, in April,
causes NJ apprehension. Demands for
full restoration of wages to the level
of 1892 have closed many wooden mills,
and threaten to close others, employ
ing about 9,GO9 hands, ut Olneyville
and about Providence. and have ar
rested work at other mills of some i'm
portance already. Similar demands are
made in the cotton mills of MasSachu-
sets. The strike which closed iron
furnaces at New Castle, Pa, has just
broke up without success.
But other strikes have stopped UP
numerous works about Pittsburgh:
P~ocahOntas coke workers are on strike,
and one is threatened by Alabama
coal miners. Exaggerated accounts OF
recovery in business, SO often pub
iished and sometimes prompted by
manufacturers themselves, make ii
not entirely strange # operatives fail
to see that the business in the great
industries is without profit and much
of the working force is still unem-
ployed.
The speculative fever grows more
fierce, as is natural when business
starts up with prices at extremely low
| points, but by lifting wheat 3 cents, to
60 cents, Atlantic exports have been
checked, and. flour included, have been
only 1876. 1876 bushels, against 3,Ol5,4s5
last year. The close was at Gs54 cents.
Western receipts are now larger than
4 year ago. and except in parts Of some
states. the promise for the next yield
is excellent. 4 sale of 300, coo tons by
the Fair estate at San Francisco, load
ing thirty ships for Europe, will
lessen other demands for Atlantic sup
plies.
Enormous transactions in cotton
have been followed by a decline from
Z 10 G.Sl cents. though peace in China
was represented rs securing Il greatly
increased demand. Already 9,4J0. ODC
| bales have come into sight this year,
and commercial stocks here anc
abroad, 3,S6S, ?GG, with unprecedented
stocks held by the spinners, SO far OK
coed the >, 70J, 900 bales required by the
world for the remaining months, that
no famine will Oe feared with the next
crop smaller by a quarter.
\ Stocks have reacted a little, but are
| again higher for railways than 4 week
ago. There is comparative improve
ment in foreign trade, export, for the
month being not l per cent. below last
years, while imports are but 1872 per
cent. larger than last wear.
The strike at New Castle, now over.
stiffened Bessemer pig so that SLOTS
was quoted at Pittsburgh, and the
| closing of "a Wheeling mill stiffened
billetS, while southern makers have
nominally advancedtheir price, though
sales have been made here under $40
| for No. ,.
Cotton ties are Il shade higher at 81
cents per bundle, and wire nails at
s. cents and cut nails at 30 cents by
the carload are less d~emoraIized. Con-
sumption does not yet equal the ca
pacity of the works or the output of
| pig. but improves. Late in the week
strikes in the ron works about Pitts
burgh threaten disturbances. Another
heavy decrease of 1867 tons in output
of coke maks the shrinkage nearly IS
per cent. in two weeks, and furnace is
offered at SI.In.
Window glass makers have adopted
a new scale, for the two lower brac!i-
cts 80 cents higher than before.
The remarkable rise in leather con
tinues, and yet shipments of boots and
shoes from Boston for April were
slightly larger than two years ago or
ever before, and most of the works
have orders for three or four months
production at a material advance in
| prices. The chief embarrassment is
uncertainty as to the future price Of
leather.
The rise in prices of cotton goods
also continues. The wooden has
reached the lowest price yet known.
large sales at low prices are yet neu-
trial. Sales since January i have been
80, 1867, 01O pounds, against So. 7Gs. $50 in
1892, and less in lSS3 and 1894. The
demand for wooden goods does not i'm
prove, and many cancellations are re-
ported, though sales Of wool indicate
large consumption.
Failures in twenty-five days of April
showed liabilities of Sg, $50, $50. of
which 81. 6l4, 1876 were of manufacture
ing and 81, 7O5, $50 of trading concerns.