Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1896-04-11
SOME ENCOURAGEMENT
Fou nd in the General Business Stu
alton in United States.
Decline Of rs to 80 1.3 Per Cent. in Cost Of
Food Since 1891.

New York. April Bradstreets. to-
morrow. will say: While there Is no gem
eral increase in business there are several
encouraging features. me hrst IS the
advance in the prices OF Hour wheat
corn. oats, posl< and sugar, with mat Tor
steel bilets and beams ANA other iron
and steel products. including No. foun-
dry pig and for tin plates. The advance
in wheat continued so much longer than
was expected that the trade are again
discussing the likelihood of this being the
beginning of a long advance Tor cereals
which they believe must come after the
extreme depression of the past few years.
Uufavora BILE crop reports from the cen
trail Western states, the confirmation of
previous short crop reports from Argen-
line and Australia. small supplies in Eu-
rope and atioat therefor. and above all.
the revival of speculative interest i'm
wheat. are underneath the cereal prices.
Advices from Buenos Ayres explain that
the lack of available supply of wheat at
Argentine ports is due TO the Failure Of
the wheat crop.
High iron and steel prices have checked
demand and trade in those metals Is;
smaller than for weeks past. The new
steel combine antagonizes a number OF
large producers not members, as we'll as
makers of cotton ties and tin plates, to
whom the high cost Of raw material
means competition from abroad. In view
of the practically stationary production
of pig iron during March. and the 6ew]
ton increase of furnace stocks. the latest
advance in bessemer pig iron. is less
logical than that for bids.
Bright and more seaSonable weather IN
the East, and needed rains in Missouri.
Kansas and Nebraska. have tended TO
stimulate the belated demand for gem
eral merchandise. Renewed activity is
shown by lumber. now thai the building
season is open. and by paints. oils, glass
and other structural material; for like
reasons.
Only few cities are reporting a mod
rate improvement in general business. st.
Louis Kansas City and Omaha are thus
conspicuous, but even there the gains are
slight. st. Paul. Minneapolis and Sioux
Falls report only fairly satisfactory
spring business Al San Francisco. BUSH
ness has not been active. but is better.
Exports of general merchandise from
Seattle, and of sawn lumber from Ia
coma, continue to attract attention.
Wholesale merchants at New YORK.
Boston. Philadelphia. Baltimore Buffalo.
Detroit. and Chicago report business as
unsatisfactory. practically without i'm
provement. One of the most favorable
features is the continued inability of the
interior merchants to make remittances
promptly. Even at Chicago. where trade
is less active than anticipated. many
wholesalers do not look for much in
crease, owing to the lateness of the sea-
son.
The demand for wool is smaller and has
almost disappeared. Stocks of territory
woods are unusually heavy. and large
proportion of them will have to he car
ried over. Trade in the raw staple is ut
q standstill. Dry goods continue tie
pressed. shirtinss and other cotton goods
refusing to move freely, Notwithstanding
the cuts in prices Leather is lower, and
large orders for shoes have been placed
because of the lower quotations. The list
of notable price reactions includes those
fnr and pafrnlpllm while cotton.
print cloths and coffee are substantially
unchanged.
The exports of wheat (hour included
as wheat from both coasts of the United
States were 76i 900 bushels. this week.
compared with 1884, DOC in the week. last
year. The increase in port was 1.59l 90,
bushels. this week. compared with SHAUN
in the week of q year ago.
Bank clearmgs aggregate s926.oo0W @, TINS
week Il decrease as compared with laSl
week of &c per cent; compared with the
week IL year ago nearly ) per cent: com
pared with the corresponding week OF
1884, an increase of per cent. while com
wears show considerable decreases.
The total earnings of 1la railroad com
panies for March was $36, Sos 900. an in
crease of Sc per cent. over year ago. lf
January and February the gains over the
year before Were respectively. u.3 ant
1871 per cent.
The Granger roads Increase was p pei
cnt. and the Pacific roads, us per cent
over a year ago. The coal earnings de-
creased 10 per cent; those of the South
western roads, "a per cent. with gan
of the Trunk lines of Is per cent, tbs
Southern roads. IL per cent. and Contra
Westerns less than half of l per cent.
For three months the earnings of II
companies exceed those OF year ago by
% per cent. following a decrease of
per cent. in March, a year ago, from The
like month in 1891
business failures in the United States