The daily morning journal and courier., 1896-02-08
THE CONDITION OF TRADE
FAYORABLE INFLUENCES IN HEAy- TER BANK CLEARINGS.

FAY0RABLE INFLUENCES IN HEAv- TER BANK CLEARINGS.
 There is Continued Firmness of Prices-- ! Exports of Wheat Are Heavier Than in
 the Corresponding Week Year Ago
 Prices for Copper and Lead Have Been
 Stimulated.
 New York, Feb. 7.-Bradstreets to- morrow will say:
 General trade waited the results of subscriptions to the bond issue and the sentimental effects of the unexpectedly favorable outcome have been for easier money and improvement. Additional favorable influences are found in heav- fer bank clearings, continued firmness of prices, sustained demand for iron and steel, and the announcement from St. Paul, Milwaukee. Omaha and Des Moines of revival in business with jobbers in staple lines. At the cast Bal timore and Pittsburg report favorable trade conditions. At the south gains in wholesale lines. are announced from Nashville, Memphis, Atlanta and Bir- mingham. The reverse includes the de- pressing influences of stormy and wet weather, indifference of consumers of domestic woolen dress goods, renewed sales of print cloths and other makes of cotton goods only after a reaction in prices continuance of extreme conserv- atism in almost all lines, and the fact that the relief to the treasury by the heavy subscription to the bond is- sue in the absence of sound currency legislation by congress will probably prove only a temporary device to main tain the gold reserve. General trade at ChicR go, St. Louis, Buffalo and Phila- delpiiia shows no real gains from the preceding week, when the situation was quiet even to dullness, and the outlook unsatisfactory. Speculation in wheat at San Francisco checks exports and wheat freights are weakening. Port land and Tacoma regard the outlook for the success of the proposed Pacific coast lumber mill combination favora- ble and prospects favoring an advance in lumber prices.
 Increased demand for copper and lead l has stimulated prices for those metals and oats, corn, wheat flour and wheat are righer, in sympathy with the strength of the statistical position of the latter. Bradstreets report of the worlds wheat stocks February shows M 100000 bushels less than a year ago I and 24,O00,000 bushels less than two years ago.
 Cotton and coffee remain firm at prac- tically unchanged quotations, as do wool, lumber and coal Iron and steel markets are encouraged by increased orders for rails, one-quarter of last years output having been ordered at this time for 1896 delivery. Eastern rail- mills are reported to have taken large contracts for delivery in California and Chilli, in competition with foreign mills. Receipts of live stock at western centers are heavy, and prices are lower for su- gar, lard and petroleum.
 Exports of wheat (four included as wheat) from both coasts of the United States this week amount to 2,907, ,000 bushels, against 100000 bushels in the week a year ago. Exports of Indian corn this week amount to 3,222, ,000 bush- els, a trif1e more than last week, and three times the quantity in the like week last year.
 January bank clearings reflect the decline in the volume of business during the past three months, but are larger than the totals for January one and two years ago, although 23 per cent. less than the January total in 1893. The weeks total of clearings is s1,000. 1000, ,000. Il per cent. more than last week and per cent. larger than in the first week. of February 1895.
 Reports to Bradstreets show that the suspensions and failures of banks and other exclusively financial institutions in the United States with the exclusion of national banks and loan and trust companies numbered 149 in 1895 as com- pared with 98 the year before with lia- bilities amounting to $23,624,000 last year, and to $1S,02S,000 the year before.
 The business failures throughout the United States this week were 338, as contrasted with 293 in the week year ago. At Toronto jobbers report general ! trade quiet and unchanged and that the increased number of failures and the re- newals of mercantile indebtednesseS have had an unsettling effect. The like is reported from Montreal, but from Halifax 1t is stated that trade is bet- ter owing to an improvement in the weather and in the condition of the roads throughout Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. A snow blockade in New | foundland has checked distribution of merchandise in all lines Total clear ings at Winnipeg, Hamilton, Toronto, Montreal and Halifax amount to $22,- O49, 900 this week, an increase of 22 per cent over last week and Il per cent. over the corresponding week last year. The business failures reported from the Canadian dG,ninion numbered sixty, compared with 51 in the week year ago.
 United Church Sociable.