Birmingham state herald., 1896-07-18
BANK CLEARINGS SMALLER
Iron, Steel, Petrole' < lotion, Lard and Golf
 fee f in Price,
BUT OTHER SAFES SHOW GAINS
Crop Prospf a Portions of the South En- couragf .ntry Merohants-Jobbing Lip ..ai ping Well at Baltimore.
 .ASs Movement at Atlanta.

| New York. July 17-Bradstreet's to-
 morrow will say:
 l Nearly all general merchandise mar
 kets continue dull, and the volume of
 business is smaller than anticipated.
 Little or no disposition is shown to en- | gage in new enterprises, both city and 1 country merchants continuing to pur-
 chase with more than usual conserva- l tism in view of the unsettled financial l outlook and the low range of prices.
 Bank clearings amount to $955, ,O0O, ,0O0 l for the week, per cent less than last week. This is decrease from the correspond ing total in July, 1895, of per cent. The
 more important decreases in prices for staples this week are for iron, steel, pea | troleum, cotton, lard and coffee. Total number of business failures in | the United States this week shows an un4 | expected increase 255, compared with 219 | last week. When contrasted with the I corresponding week in 1885, the increase | during the past six business days is forA | ty-one.
 Stock speculation at New York Is dulI and prices are slightly better after ex- | tensve Hquidations and bear selling, The reduction of the treasury gold rel serve by specie exports and gold hoardI ing to below $95000,000 was effective in creating the decline.
 
 a relatively encouraging report concern+ ing trade at nine business centers, to- gether with an improvement in quota tions for wheat, Indian corn, oats ana pork, and firm or unchanged prices fof wool, sugar. lumber, leather and print cloths. Baltimore reports various job- ping lines doing well, but at St. Paul with a tendency to defer placing orders until after the election. Chicago and | St. Louis agree that sales for fall delivA | cry will not equal the record for 1895. l Rains have improved crop prospects | in Washington.
 l The week has been marked at San | Francisco by the departure of train load of fruit for London, cargo of | wheat for Australia and two ships loadk | ed with lumber for Europe.
 Crop prospects in Louisiana and in Texas have improved, particularly with | reference to cotton, and country mer- | chants are reported encouraged. l Sales of dry goods and notions at Att | lanta are about an average, of shoes heavier than in 1895 and the distribution
 of groceries more active. Dun's Review.
 New York, July H.--R. e. Dun & Co. | will say tomorrow in their weekly review | of trade:
 Failures for the week have been 269 iri | the United States, against 256 last year, and 35 in Canada, against 39 last year? Disapproval of the action at the Chicago convention has had some influence in the markets the past week, but far moro important factor has been the feeling that the future is still uncertain. This acute attack of doubt, coming at time when business Is for Other reasons se- | riously depressed has made the week | unusually gloomy in speculative circles. | The average price of active railroad stocks has declined from $4722 to $44.7d per share and the average of trust stocks from $47.30 to $44.4S per share | Cotton has fallen about F cent in options | and N cent in spot prices because the | men who were sure there would be cot | ton famine in July and have been holding l large quantities of cotton in expectation | of higher prices have changed their | minds. The closing of about three-quar- | ters of the southern mills in producing | capacity and about half of the northern l mills for part of the time until the new | crop comes forward will help to prevent | disastrous decline in prices of goods.
 but if accounts of conditions are not | misleading and the general rains in Tex | as have helped the crop as much as many l believe the yield is likely to be more than l 100000 bales. The decrease in con | sumption here is not as yet effective In | helping the prices of cotton goods, which | are still selling at about the lowest quo- | tations ever made.
 The woolen manufacturer Is waiting, and as new orders are exceedingly slow the sales of wool at the three chief mar | kets were for the week only 2,155,10O | pounds, transactions at Boston being re- | ported the lowest ever known at that | market
 l The output of pig iron July was 1s0,- l 532 tons weekly, against 182220 June | and I'll ,194 tons a year ago. The de- | crease since the maximum was reached | November 1, 217, 1906 tons weekly, has been | material, and yet stocks are rapidly ac-
 cumulating. those held by producers, not 1 including the great steel companies, amounting to 815S72 tons, an increase of | 29,929 tons for the month of June, or | about 1000 tons per week, which indicates | a consumption of less than 17300O tons. | Considering the fact that the accumula- | ton by the great steel companies must | have been large, the consumption Is un- | doubtedly smaller than 1t was year ago. | The demand for finished products of iron | and steel Is extremely narrow, although | one considerable building contract is re- | ported, 50,000 tons for the San Francisco 1 Call building, being followed by smaller | contracts. But in bars the combinations l have found themselves unable to main- | tain prices, and there are renewed re- | ports that the great decrease in sales of | nails will force reduction of prices Au- | gust l.
 Bessemer pig has not changed in nomi- | nal quotations at Pttsburg, although | one sale of 10000 tons to an Indianapolis | concern Is reported at prices netting only | s11 to the valley furnace. Gray forge
 has been sold at a price equivalent to | $9.75 at Pittsburg. The average of iron | and steel prices is the lowest since year l ago.
 l The manufacture of boots and shoes | is weakening under the effort to secure
 an advance in price, although most of
 the works have orders for some time l ahead. But the demand is very light | and nearly all the shops would have to | close if dependent upon new orders l MT Vanderbilt's Condition. x1A.