The Cape Girardeau Democrat. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1876-1909, 1896-01-18
oUN'S COMMERCIAL REVIEW.

SiA ochCEd ~ httdEutu ny d III
of Uncertainty Caused by the Financial
OutlOOk-The Proposed Sale of Bonds
Causes Hesitation Rather than Hopeful
Misrepresentation in Products Dull, and
Prices Generally Lower.
say to-day:
Liabilities in failures for the first
two days of January amounted to S9IS..
795, of which $40. 4O7 were o. manufac.
turing and SG7S. 1888 of trading concerns.
Failures for the week have been 431 in
the United States, against i2O last
year. and % in Canada, against 81 last
year.
The new year begins with such un.
certainty that business is somewhat
retarded. The proposed sale OF bonds
offers ground for confidence in the
future. but no one is able 20 determine
what its earliest effects may be on the
money market. and for the time it is q
cause of hesitation rather than hope
fulness. Speculation in produ cts has
not been active. Cotton is unchanged.
although the receipts for the week
have not been very large, but some
5~lacllening appears il the foreign de-
mand.
Wheat is about n cen higher. and
cor the same. without distinct reason
in either case. Wheat receipts at west
ern points were almost double last
years. being 2.5O5, 1O2. against 1905. 1O4
last year; but Atlantic exports were a
little larger than last years. being. flour
included. 2.331,9 1916 bushels, against ,.
Ol0. 100 Il year ago.
Corn receipts are about a quarterlar-
ger than a year ago. while Atlantic ex-
ports are about four times as large.
The movement of stocks has been
downward, Notwithstanding fair re-
ports of earnings, which show an in
crease of IS per cent. in transactions
over last year.
The industrial situation has not ma.
terially changed. There is much agi-
tatiOn in the iron business. with some
advance in Bessemer pig iron because
of the expectation that Connellsville
coke and lake ore will both be dearer.
and yet finished products of iron and
steel are on the whole quoted a little
lower, and the nail association is still
in session to determine whether
it will abandon the effort to
maintain a fixed price. That branch
of business is extremely slow. nothing
is doing in rails. and while there is a
rather better demand for sheets and
plates. and several thousand orders |
are reported for structural works, an
giles are quoted a shade lower. Every |
thing turns on the contracts for ore,
which are still unsettled, but the great
excess in production of pig iron over
the present demand is no longer de
MED, and it is expected that quite a
number of the furnaces will presently
production.
In boots and shoes the average of
prices is Il shade lower. Leather is a
lower, but hides are. on the
whole, about five per cent. stronger at
Chicago, with scanty offerings. The
for boots and shoes falls far
expectations, and many of the
shops have closed for a time.
Sales of wool are large, $500, 300
pounds for the week. against 5.235.7 lis
asst year, although a large part of the
purchase is of Il speculative character.
The opening of wooden goods shows a
further tendency toward lower prices,
II spite of the prevalent belief that
prices would be realized before
onG if the revenue bill which passed
he house should become a law.
The cotton mills are generally run
1ing. though not all with full force,
and some arc piling up goods without
regard to the immediate demand,
which is comparatively slack, as they
believe that the short sup
ply of cotton this year will insure
hem profits in the end, as it has dur
ny the past half year. Nevertheless,
Foods have decidedly weakened in
quite a number of changes hav-
ny been recorded during the past
week.
The volume of domestic trade indi
by payments through the princi.
,al clearinghouse shows the unusual
arge increase of 40 per cent. over
year, but in comparison with the
week in 1898, shows a decrease of
81 per cent. Part of this difference
must be attributed to the s~hrinkage in
'riceS, but there is also without doubt
considerable decrease in the distribu-
of seasOnable goods to the final
customer.