Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1896-02-06
CONFLICTING VIEWS.
Dun NOtes an Improvement In Trade
BradAtreet II Disappointed.

New York. Feb. 1.-R. G. DUN 4 Co.,
In their weekly review Of trade, say:
Though business Is still waiting, there
are some signs OF definite Improvement
1t IL now believed that the first payment
for bonds will cause no further pressure.
and the money markets are easier. as re-
spects loans; on collateral. though the DIFF
ticulty Of making commercial loans stlll
checks operations. But large maturities
at the end OF January have been met more
satisfactorily than was expected and ,ner-
chants and tarKers report that the signs
promise good spliiG trade.
No increase appears as yet In the de-
mand TO- tho principal products. unless for
some forms OF iron and steel, in which good
contracts have been made this week. Do
mestic trade recorded through clearing
houses is G.5 per cent. smaller than year
ago. Signs of Improvement in the iron and
steel business are gratifying, even though
they spring from combinations which have
raised the price of coke ind allotted the
output of lake iron ore. Pig iron Is rather
weaker, southern works competing sharp
ly.while speculative buyers of some months
ego are selling below present furnace
prices. but the average for all products Is
practically unchanged and l1.4 per cent.
below the highest last year.
Wheat has again advanced about
cents for cash. but only III for May, al.
though Atlantic exports are little larger
continued excess of western receipts ex-
plain an advance for which the basis or
the excuse must be sought in foreign re-
ports. Corn has ceased to ''sympathize,"
and records little advance. Cotton is
shade lower than week ago.
The earnings of railroads in three weeks
of January were SO per cent larger than
last year. The stock market has been
lifted by these returns and hopeful none
tary conditions. SO that the average for
railroad stocks is $l.A per share and for
trust $lA per share higher than week
settlement has been powerful factor.
and 81 10 srneIal,, supposed that prices
will rise after the bond settlement. 4
Failures in three weeks of January
show liabilities OF s17,sss. 5ll. against So
6S5,OGo last year: in manufacturing $66C1,-
l29 this year. against $2.479. 1913 last year; in
trading, $10.317.3 800. against $S.165.267 last
year. Failures this week have been 404
In the United States. against 1854 last year.
and 70 In Canada. against 81 last year."
Bradstreet's says of the trade situa-
ton:
THE features of the week are continued
retarded demand for merchandise and
checked Industrial operations. Least sat-
isfactory Is the waiting attitude of some
Of the more important industries. Shoe
factoriesat Philadelphia are shutting down
or running on part time; cotton-goods maxi
CHS IcSdTO TIE OUTLOOK LOT tnelr prOQOCt
unpromising: there Is reaction in the
price of steel billets; among 50 pig-iron
furnaces in the Pittsburgh and Shenango
districts IA are idle, and the position Of
woolen-goods manufacturers is shown by
the fact that foreign wooden goods are rel
attvely the most active.
General trade at the close Of Janu-
cry proves disappointing. particularly in
central western, western and northwest.
ern states, where the movement of mer-
chandise from jobbers has been slow and
unsatisfactory. 1t being only fair at a few
points. The volume Of spring goods dis
tributed from Chicago in January fails be-
hind expectations, although larger than
In January, 1896. Some traders in terri
tory tributary to Chicago are making or
ders small, owing to having carried over
large stocks and to desire to conflne pur-
chases to actual requirements. At ST.
Louis spring demand is slow and general
trade Is characterized as only fair by the
most sanguine. The condition in the north
west Is such that grain moves freely in
some regions. irrespective of low prices
a result of all this is shown by the cuts
by New York, Chicago and st. Louis job
hcrs In prices of standard cotton goods.
- 11, 1n,~,