St. Paul daily globe., 1895-11-23
DRIFT OF TRADE.
ADVANCE PURCHASES HAVE
BROUGHT THE INEVITABLE
HALT.
FALLING WHEAT PRICES.
RECEIPTS THAT DOUBLE LAST
YEARS. THE PRIMARY
CAUSE.
A HEALTHY COTTON MARKET.
Distribution Keeping Pace With
the Manufacturers, Orders and
Sales to Retailers.

NEW YORK, Nov. 22.-R. G. Dun
& Co.'S weekly review of trade to-
morrow will say: Reaction in busi-
ness there is none. Efforts to eX-
plain it, or to attribute it to this or
that temporary influence, are all
wasted. In every business men now
perceive the fact that the purchases
in advance of current distribution,
| which were made when prices were
booming, involved of necessity sea-
son of halting, when the rise stopped
| and until the actual demand for con-
sumption has been measured. Prod
uctS are lower without disturbance
or sign of panic. The more sober
| estimates of wheat months ago rose
| 50,000000 or more above the govern
ment and speculative guesses, and
now a reputable estimate of ATS, ,000,-
600 bushels eXcites little remark.
Western receipts, 29,415,S74 bushels
in three weeks, against 1884, ,674
bushels last year, are so persistent
! that prices have again declined about
1c, and Atlantic exports, flour includ-
ed, are slightly less than year ago,
for three weeks 4,763,745 bushels,
! against 4,S49,214 bushels last year
| Corn declines 1sc further. Pork
products also have reason for weak
ening-lard 15c per 100 pounds, and
pork 25c per bbl. The cotton mar
ket has been assisted all the week
by small receipts and remarkably
| stiff statements of scarcity, and has
gained a sixteenth, though some
| think short receipts were deliberate
ly organized by planters. 1t begins
| to be a decisive fact that exports are
small, partly because stocks abroad
| are heavy and partly because the
| manufacturers abroad do not find
| a market for the usual quantity of
| goods, the British being especially
| embarrassed.
FIRMNESS OF COTTON.
'In this country the cotton manu-
| facture has Jared better than most
others, escaping an excessive rise
and the resulting decline. While some
prices were marked too high when
cotton was above SC, and are lower,
most goods are held at quoted prices
| and the mills generally have orders
| to cover work into next year, but it
| is becoming a question whether re-
| tail distribution has kept pace with
/ manufacturers orders or with sales
| to retailers. The opening of clay
worsteds by two leading mills at
| advanced prices has not yet been
| followed by others, and it is doubted
whether foreign prices, after London
wool sales next week, will be help
full. Iron and steel products are
lower, averaging 1 per cent for the
week, and per cent from the high
est. Bessemer, Anthracite No. 1 and
| bar are quoted lower, while sales be-
low quotations are frequent. There
| is competition for orders, most works
having little ahead, and new busi-
ness is remarkably small. Struct-
ural work is cut down by the strike
of house workers here, and quite a
number of mills, principally bar,
have stopped within few days. The
association reaffirm prices, but do not
sell enough to keep works busy.
'The demand for cheap boots and
shoes is a shade. better, but many
shops are idle or working part time,
and buyers generally hold off, al
though considerable reductions are
now offered by the manufacturers
on mems special shoes and on grain,
glove and buff polish and polka
shoes. Leather is weaker, though
only one class is quoted lower, but
hides at Chicago have again declined
about per cent, and average rela-
lively lower now than leather or
| shoes. Failures for the week have
been 320 in the United States,
against 322 last year, and AZ in Can
ada, against 81 last year"