New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1895-11-19
THE REACTION ~ PRICES.

II is always absurd as everybody except the
popuIIsts and other currency cranks has learned
TO speak Of prices as determined by one FORCE
or Influence only Value means nothlns pul re-
Iation between different forces. So wheh men
saw that pig-irOn is depressed by the great ou'-
mt or cotton lifted by scarcity, there Is all the
time an assumption generally not quite accurate
,hot tho opposlng influences remain unchanged.
Rut the downward tendency In prices OF many
,nnor,ant nroducts within the last few months
mr. weeks presents special features which repay
examination.
Wheat has fallen nearly 20 cents since IL sold
about 81 cents June II; hides have fallen ~
nor cent since their highest point, July :; Bes-
semer mig has declined SO 30. or 20 per cent.
since its highest point, September 10; wool re-
coded a little since its highest. about August i;
leather declined 10 per cent since It's highest,
September II, and cotton is about ~ per cent
,ower than II WAS month ago. All these prod
nets had been advanced remarkably by com
hination Of forces, and N each case several
forces have operated to cause reaction In all
a predominant factor in the rise was an exag-
geroted fear of shortness Of supply, and in all
an important factor was an actual or expected
.oso in demand Mel were made to believe
in Nav and June that the American wheat crop
would be less than 400.0O0,0OO bushels and that
the European demand would be great 1t was all
nonsense but official and unofficial stories served
the purposes Of speculation for time. There
was an actual decrease Of about 10 per cent IN
the supply Of domestic hides and some people
for their own purposes enormously exaggerated
thc decrease also ignoring altogether the Him
table supplies obtainabc from other countries,
and at the same time greater production on
boots and shoes than had ever been known con-
suned leather rapidly. Thus hides were hoistcd
l16 Der cent and leather 60 per cent and boots
and shoes over 30 per cent, but the increase in
imports OF hides exceeded several-fold the de-
crease in domestic production, the outside tan
pers set themselves 10 realize the prices made
for them by the Leather Company, and the de-
mand for boots and shoes was spoiled by the
hclief that prices were sure TO 90 down. So the
Leather Company has stopped production for
sixty days, and many Of the shoe factories are
idle.
Bessemer pig was suddenly made scarce and
dear by the heavy purchases Of steel makers.
which were induced in part by an actual and
very great ,~mand for steel TO be used in build
jncs and bridge but In part by the belief that
the Marquette strike would make supplies Of
ore insufficient even II 1t did not extend 10 other
regions When these purchases started prices
inward all sorts Of consumers and buyers rushed
10 get ~ soon az possible all the supply of iron.
steel and Heir products that they were going
10 need for a year 10 come. and the artificial
demand suddenly went far beyond the capacity
of works then in operation. The enormous or
ders then taken hay" MT all been executed yet,
but new orders fell off remarkably when prices
had mounted above the level OF 1890. about two
months ago. and the addition Of 20 per cent to
the output Of plg-iron at such a juncturc neccs-
sary makes prices weak Wool was lifted a
little because il rose abroad under the pressure
Of IN extraordinary demand for goods TO be sold
in this country but presently II was discovered
that this great supply of goods would not help
to keep American mills employed. Cotton was
advanced about 90 per cent because the crop
was certain To be short. and because the mag
nitude If stocks here and abroad was persis-
tently ignored, but also because the consump-
ton in the manufacture was expected ~ in
crease in Europe 10 supply the American mar
ket. and in America in spite Of that cxtraord