The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1895-04-12
A Cheering Outlook For Better
Times.

The New York World says: There
can be 10 doubt that the bust
ness condition is improved and i'm
proving. From iron ore to railway
shares, from cottou-bales to beef-steaks.
there is a general advance of prices and
tendency at least t. larger purchases.
CurIously enough the improvement
has come, contrary to all experience,
from below rather than from above.
Usually price advances show them
selves first in finished products. This
time they have appeared first in raw
materials, or even below that-in the
wages of raw-naterial prod ucsrs.
thus the Carnegie-Frick people be
gan the change in the iron and steel
market by advancing the wages of the
coke-burners IL per cent, to which
their principal rival responded with ali
advance of l6 per cent. Next the
price of coke went up from 80 cents
and 81 to Sl.35. simultaneously there
was an advance in iron ores, which
has since raised the price of pig-iron
by % cents per ton, and the increase is
now expected to show itself in an adj
vance of the price of iron and steel
products.
Thus far there has been no marked
increase in the consumption of these
products, but the prospects of such an
increase is very encouraging. The
building plans for the year promise a
great increase in the demand for struct-
ural stell, and the Railway Age re-
ports that 20,547 miles of new railway
track is to be built this year, or more
than has been built during the last
four y ears.
In the same way there was first an
advance in raw hides, then in leather
aud now in shoes. and it is accompa-
MED by considerable increase in the
orders for shoes received at the factor
les.
Why cotton has gone up nobody can
guess, except that with improving
trade and better wages the consump.
ton Of cotton goods is expected to in
crease. The 'visible supply" of cotton
is already 2, 200, 900 bales in excess of
the years normal consumption, with
four or five months receipts yet to be
added. Yet cotton has advanced dur
ing March from 81 to 81 cents pound,
and . nearly corresponding increase in
the price Of cotton fabrics is reported.
In this as in the other cases the ad-
vance was made first i'm the raw ma
teriais.
The increased price of all meats,
breadstuffs, shoes, cotton goods, iron
products, etc., involves, of course, some
increase in the cost of living. But if
all this is accompanied by improved
business, the larger employment of
labor and better wages, the change
will be altogether a good one for the
people generally. And as the begin
ming of it all was in an advance in
the wages of the men at the bottom of
the production scale there is reason to
hope that precisely this is to be the
history of the present business re-
covery.
In wheat as in cotton the statistics
are all against an advance in price,
and yet the price has advanced, and
| the fact can only be explained by ref
erence to an expected and probable in
crease in purchasing capacity by rea-
son of larger employment, higher
| wages and better business.
J The wooden trade is disturbed by
/ new tariff conditions. The sales of
! wool last week amounted to 5 500. 500
pounds, against 4,07S, 200 pounds for
the corresponding week last year. But
the manufacturers report the cancella-
ton of many orders, chiefly for low
priced goods. This seems to mean
that with renewed confidence the PEG.
pie are disposed to lay the better qnal-
tiles, where they had planned to get
on with the worse. This Interpretation
is supported by the large increase re-
ported in orders for the finer grades OF
imported goods. The moral seems to
be that our mills must give increased
attention to the quality of their pro.
ducts.
The betterment thus seen in detail
Is reflected in greatly increased bank
earnings aud steadily improving rail-
road earnings. The end of March find,
the business OF the country, both COM
mercial and industrial, in more hope.
full condition than has been known in
many months. With the currency at
last out of the reach of tinkering for q
year Of two at least, and stability as.
sured for longer period, the recovery
90 well begun should suffer no check.