The Portland daily press., 1895-08-17
STEEL is STRONG.
Cotton also Has Advanced, but 9th
er Lines Are Quiet.
BRADSTREETS REPORTS SHOW
MIDSUMMER QUIET CONTINUES,

Exports of Wheat for the New Cereal Year
Are Light-Railroad Earning Are Very
atisfactory-GeneraI Trade Improving
in the West.
New York, Aug. 16.-Brad streets to.
morrow will say The midsummer quiet
is more conspicuous than week ago,
though less so in Industrial than CONNER
cial lines. AS q rule leading nanufactur-
ing industries are unusually busy for the
season and an increase in the output Of
the demand and prices for iron and steel
still continues Many in the trade were
surprised blythe very unfavorable cotton
crop report by the government, and the
price Of cotton speedily advanced Steel
billets have been marked up as well as
some varieties of print cloths n
Quotations for flour oats, pork, sugar,
copper and wool renal ned firm, but un-
changed, and declines are recorded by
corn on very favorable crop report, by
lard, and wheat, notwithstanding sstatis-
| tical strength of cereal in every direction
except exports.
| COppoIS Ill Ull6 InOr6 important Staple
lines at Chicago, ST. Louis, Kansas City,
Omaha, Milwaukee, Min neapolis and
st. Paul report an improved demand.
The outlook at all these points is for an
active fall lin business and the larger
among them report country merchants as
personally selecting fail stocks quite free
~, as expected. Kansas City dealers
don't regard the early advance in prices
OF live stock products as favorable
| At Omaha the country merchants are
said to be buying more freely than for
years. At San Francisco the leading
commercial lines are quicker.
| Hop picking is about to begin on that
| coast with the outlook for only a moder-
ate crop The wheat crop prospect in
| California is rather less favorable. Wash
| ington crops are good Tacoma reports
easier collections. Lumber shipments are
about equal to those in the preceding
month and the receipts are 10000 tons Of
| freight this week from the Orient Port
and, Oregon, wires the spring salmon
| catch on the Columbia river was large
Throughout the Southern States gen.
eral trade remains as quiet and in some
instance quieter than a week ago. Mer-
| camille collections have not begun to i'm
prove At some points jobbers report a
| small falling off in the volume of sales,
though in several instances this is due to
rainy weather. Rain is needed in South
Carolina In Texas it is estimated that
even with very favorable weather condi-
tions from this time on the Texas cotton
| crop will not exceed 1850, 600 bales. Word
| is received that ,exas interior merchants
have been cance ling bagging and In Or
ders.
EXPORTS OF WHEAT
(four as wheat) from both coasts of the
United States have been slowly increas-
ing during the four weeks past. This
week they amount to 1894 600 bushels,
against 2, 979, 600 in the week year ago
and G, 1879, 600 in the second week of Au-
gust, 1898.
The exports of wheat and flour during
| the seven weeks of the new cereal year
amount in round numbers to IL, 100000
| bushels In the like period a year ago
the total exported was 10, 000 900. Two
| years ago were $34, 900, GOO
Bank clearings for the week continue
| to hold up remarkably we'll, the total
being 1894, 900, GOO, eight per cent less than
| last week and thirteen .per cent more than
| the total for the corresponding week a
| year ago and twenty-five per cent more
| than in the second week in August (the
panic period) of 1898. Railroad earnings
returns or the first halfs of the present
year show very satisfactory aggregate
gains over last year, the period of the
great coal and railroad strikes ana IMAM
cial and Industrial depression and de-
rangement. The best showings in net
earnings. is made by the Central Western,
| Eastern and Southwestern roads, and the
only decreases noted are in the Granger
and Southern roads. The total gross
earnings of 145 compares, operating
about two-thirds of the country's railroad
mileage, aggregate $849, o99, 773 a gain
over the first half of 1894 of three-sixths
per cent. The net earning aggregate is
$1O2, 767, 7S6, a gain of 81 per cent. The
above percentages of the gain are in sharp
contrastswith the decrease shown in 1894
| from 1899 in gross and net of respectively
| 16 and 1.8 per- 3cent.
| There are 1913 failures reported in the
| United States this week and 254 in the
| like week of August s, 1874
A Suit for $4,000.