Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1895-02-16
sRApsTREErs REPORT.
II Shows Anything Bot An Encouraging STATE
Of Business.

New York, Feb. 15.-Bradstreet's, to-
morrow will say: The milder and pleas
anter weather, following the severe storms
and extremely low temperature, have.
with few exceptions, failed TO
stimulate orders for seasonapie
goods or distribute the movement gen
orally. The exceptions include
revival of demand in few lines at Bos-
ton and New York, and in drugs, leather
and paper at Philadelphia, and general
merchandise at Savannah and jackson
vile. the only Southern city reporting
trade better ard merchantile collections
good. !,
At the West improved sales are reported
81 the Chicago jobbers in dry goods cloth
Ing, furnishings, shoes, rubbers. Kansas
City announces larger volume Of spring
business The demand for sta
piles has increased at Milwaukee, as
at st. Paul, pointing to small
stocks held by country dealers. Elsewhere
general trade remains at low ebb. Iron
and steel industries find the week not mp
to expectations. The spring trade outlook
at Baltimore is less favorable, there
having been a falling off In re-
ceipts OF orders from travellers.
Mercantile collections in the South and
West, with few exceptions, are slow and
unsatisfactory. Southern merchants and
mapufae turers in some instances are
making greater efforts to collect the
amounts due than to sell goods. AS one
consequence of the recent extreme weather
trade at Augusta has fallen off to
marked degree as at Birmingham, Chat
tsnooRa, Atlanta and New Orleans, the
merchants at the latter point finding an
unfavorable influence also in stoppage OF
payments Of the sugar bounties Word
comes from Texas that snow throughout
the state has checked the volume OF trade
in all directions.
Prices on the whole have maintained
position OF relative steadiness. Eastern
manufacturers of shoes are asking higher
nrices. in view of the late advance in
leather, and spruce lumber for frames has
been marked up about 20 per cent Live
cattle and hogs are higher, due to the i'm
proyement In Eastern demand and the
decline in receipts at Western centres.
The check in the receipts of Indian corn
Is responsible for the advance in that
cereal. and lead is also higher. Prices
are unchanged for leather, oats, pork,
cotton, iron and steel, but bleached cot
tons sold lower, at some points the lowest
on record.
Wheat is off on additional evidence of
heavier supplies, both at home and
abroad, than was anticipated. Lower
quotations are likewise made for copper,
raw sugar, lard and fine fleeces. The only
noteworthy gain in the volume of staple
merchandise at the larger Eastern centres
has been of dry goods. aside from cottons,
foreign dress webs being the most popu-
lar. Seven New England shoe manufact-
uring centres report 95, 900 cases shipped
this week, against $4,000 in the week
year ago.
Exports of wheat flour included as
wheat) from both coasts of the United
States for the past six business days,
amount to only 2, 572, 900 bushels, rather
below the weekly average in the previous
months One year ago the correspond
ing total was only zoos, 900
The January gross earnings of railways
indicate that the bottom has been touched
and signs Of improvement accompany
them Returns from 1873 American and
main railroad companies, with over 1O2,-
900 miles Of track, give S36, 465, 900 gross
earnings in January, falling of of
three tenths of per cent. from January
of last year, in which month there was a
decrease of 12 per cent. from the total of
January, 1893 The decrease in the jan
uary earnings of the railroads in the
United States alone was six-tenths of
per cent. The poorest showing was made
by the granger lines, decreases are re-
ported from the January earnings of a
year ago by Eastern, Southern and Paci-
flc groups of roads, while the Central and
Western roads, the coalcrs and South
westerns, announce gains in January over
last year More than half the companies
report gains for January in this year over
last year, but these gains are small, and
offset by few heavy decreases.
The effects on business of the storm and
low temperature with the check to trade
since Jan. 1, are beginning to make
themselves apparent in bank clearings
the total for the past six business days,
amounting to 1924, 900 600, or Is per
cent. less than last week, and only 5 per
cent more than the second week of Feb
ruary. q year ago. Compared with the
weekly total clearings in the correspond
ing week of 1898. there was decrease of
this week of 26 per cent
= The number of failures in the United
States, this week, were 296, compared
with 2SS in the second week of February
year ago.