Omaha daily bee., 1896-10-11
CONDITION OF OMAHA'S TRADE
General Business Situation Shows Very Few
Important Changes,
BANK CLEABINGS SMALLER THAN LAST YEAR
Merchants In All Branches Of Trade
Follow Hund-to-Mouth Policy
south Omaha Doing a Good
business In Live stock.

So long as the general business situation
remains practically unchanged, as has been
the case for some weeks past. there Is
very little Of interest to say on the subject,
at least very little that is Of sufficient
Importance to attract public attention.
Business in this locality, and, so far as can
be learned, In every other locality, is In
a waiting mood. Hesitancy is the pro-
nourccd feature here and everywhere in
tho United States, and how long 1t will
continue the dominant influence remains
to be seen. Many believe that after the
election Is over will and the questions in
volved are settled in the right way there
Will be a speedy revival in all branches of
business and that trade will be aroused
from the ~lethargy that has held it inactive
for SO long n time. Others less hopeful can
see nothing. even under the most favorable
circumstances, better than a gradual i'm
provcment that may require a year or more
before a complete recovery is erected.
Whatever the future may have In store
the present is certainly far from pleasing.
In every line of business IL is tho same,
wholesale as well as retail. do not think
for Il moment that you have a monopoly
on hard times" said an old travelling man
who was In the city the past week. II
have been on the road for thirty years. my
business carrying me into every state in
the union, and | never saw the time when
business was so uniformly dull as it Is
now. In Bangor, Me-, trade was simply
dead; in Philadelphia 1t was the worst 1
ever saw; In Cleveland for the first time
since l have been on the road 1 failed to
get an order, and in Chicago every one was
complaining, and In Omaha l find the stu
alton no worse than In every other section
of the country"
Interviews with leading jobbers bring out
the fact that most Oman houses are doing
as much business as they expected at this
season, but compared with previous years
the total volume of sales Is small. Most
every house can point out one or two
udXS IN n week when tho nr1nrq n nnnna1
to come In a little more freely than Gus
tomary and when the whole force was oc-
cupied in taking care of the business in
hand. but no house pretends to be very
busy six days in the week. The feeling of
taost In the air has given a little stimulus
as yet there has been no weather I'm this
locality sufficiently severe to provoke free
ouylng of cold weather merchandise in a
Inc New York Dry Goods Record says
that with goods so cheap in a comparative
sense tens ana yet SO few merchants willing to
Ties Is the most wonderful exhibit of the
trade situation. want OF confidence IS
plainly the secret of the condition of trade
that prevails. Manufacturers appear to be
recovering some of their lost confidence and
from ditferent sections comes the word that
ehe mliis are being started again.
LIVE STOCK INDUSTRY.
A South Omaha the situation as regards
the live stock and packing house industries
Is fairly satisfactory. Since the first of the
" SAM III II TtttlDlS
as compared with the Corresponding period
or last year, amounting to 1850 hogs and
95,71S sheep. but a loss of 1884 cattle. The
decrease in cattle arrivals is due no doubt
IN large part, to the close selling of breed
ing cattle that followed Immediately upon
the crop failure of 1894, and, furthermore, to
the limited number of range. cattle taken
The demand for all kinds of live stock
mas been very good for some time past. and
ya,lue na,n n eonseamenee have been high at
Ihe very excellent consuming demand for
al Kinds OF hog products continues. and
vance during the past week. In fact. hogs
the middle Of May; Still prices are very
low, hogs having sold the past week 75aS5c
per hundred lower than a year ago, S1.S0n
IL. lower than two years ago, and $1,000
so lower than three years ago. In other
one-half what they brought in 1893.
The growth of the sheep business al |
south Omaha has been phenomenal, as the
stock yards people had no sooner made
suitable arrangements for the handling of
sheep than they commenced coming freely. |
Cattle are going, out into the country
freely to be placed upon feed and the |
whole situation is promising. d" '"e
GOAL o Likely TO ADVANCE. |
me announcement made a few days ago
that the railroads would restore the freight |
by the mi that the eastern mine |
owners have decided that it would be un- |
wise TO adya y = prices another notch this
that the last advance of the year has been
recorded, Mine owners appear to have
TO their present decision in the belief
would stand without leading to unusual
economies. In the west there has been a
very general inclination to substitute other
Omaha soft coal has taken the place Of
hard. certain kinds of coking coal giving
good satisfaction even in hard coal fur