Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1895-03-23
IMPROVEMENT IN BUSINESS.
The Indications Thereof Distinct'
speculative Advances Unreliable.

Tho Indications Thereof Distinct-
speculative Advances Unreliable.
NEW YORK, March 22.-Messrs. X. @.
Dun & Co.'S weekly review OF trade TO-
morrow will say:
The indications of an improvement In
business grow more distinct. The most
obtrusiye Of them, the speculative advance
in cotton and In stocks. Is the least re-
liable. nor can either Of these be said
to reflect actual Improvement in business
conditions. Railroad earnings are scarcely
better. and the speculation Is largely
based on the expectation of a more effect
i've monopoly on coal and some other pro-
ducts London Is buying largely. but Is
as likely to sell on any rise. Cotton does
not rise, because there is more demand for
goods but there is more demand for goods
than usual.
The threatened strike OF coke-workers
has been avoided by an advance OF 10
per cent in wages, and the strike In the
building trades here has ended, the men
returning to work.
The rise in cotton to 6.31 cents still
seems to have scarcely any contact with
the facts of the demand and supply. but
had very substantial basis, nevertheless,
II. as some maintain. more cotton had
been sold in this country for future de-
livery than could be produced here until
another crop comes. American stocks
were last Friday 1,3i502s bales, against
1.15i,7oo last year, with the general expec-
tation that something over 10000 bales
will yet come forward. while foreign
stocks Of American are 10000 bales greater
than at the same date after the great
crop of 1891. Receipts continue large,
and the movement has really no other
basis than belief that the next crop Will
be small.
The advance in the wages OF coke-work-
ers raises the cost OF fuel for large
proportion of the iron manufacturers,
but as yet does not affect prices of iron
or its products, as no increase in de-
mand appears. Possibly It is hoped that
larger buying will soon be prompted by
the idea that pig and all products Will
be rendered more costly, though the large
excess of production and producing ca
pacty stands in the way. One sale OF
10 600 tons of steel rails, one caSt-pipe
contract for 5000 tons, a bridge, and five
building aggregatng nearly 5000
tons, are reported this week. but pig
iron Is weak and without change both at
the East and at Pittsburg. and no change
of consequence Is noted in the demand Tor
finished products.
of goods and given confidence to agents.
Heavy transactions and some advances
in price appear in southern coarse goods.
but not as yet in the finer. Strikes in
textile mills grow more numerous, espe-
cially in woollen-mills. which have orders
enough to run full time, the operatives
apparently assuming that these must be
realizing profits, but the margins are so
scanty that an advance in wages is for
most works impossible.
The volume of business through clear
lighthouses gains a little, being 14.16 larger
than last year for the week, but % per
cent. less than In 1893. Most of the in
crease Is at New York, and here and
elsewhere 1t is partly due to active specu-
lation.
Bankers report decided decrease in the
quantity Of commercial PAPER offered.
and western banks give evidence of larger
demand by reducing balances here.
The failures during the past week have
been 27S in the United States. against PA
last year, and 50 in Canada, against 80
lacf