Birmingham state herald., 1896-02-15
THE WEEKLY TRADE REVIEW Failures for the Past Week Were
 Unusually Heavy. GENERAL BUSINESS IS BAD The Total Volume of Bank Clearings Dropped Off 10 Per Cent. HIGH RATES FOR LOANS MAINTAINED Lower Prices Are Recorded for Pork, Lard, Corn, Wheat. Wheat Flour, Live
 Stock, Cotton, Pig Iron and
 Steel Billets.
IGH RATES FOR LOANS MAINTAINED

New York, Feb 14.-R. G. Dun & Go. will say tomorrow in their weekly review of trade:
 Failures for the first week of February were $4, 4,079, ,680, against $2, ,909, ,S90 last year. Manufacturing were $2,372,253, against $729,34s last year. and $1, ,5S4,072 in 1894 and trading were $1,626,427. against $1,- 934.S94 last year and $2,4S5.5S5 in 1894 Failures for the week have been 327 in the United States, against 27O last year, and 67 in Canada, against 51 last year.
 The weather still flinders busi- ness as well as the continued closeness of money and prolong- ed inaction of congress- but confi- dence increases. There is a little more demand for some manufactured products Exports improve with yielding prices of staples and for the week from New York exceeded last years 30 per cent, while imports have increased 15 per cent Pig iron [ the east and at Chicago has not advanced, southern competition continu- Ing at prices so low that several Alabama furnaces have stopped, but Bessemer is shade lower at Plttsburg. The demand for plates, sheets and wire nails continues fairly good, and there are more orders for railroad cars and bar iron at Chi cago, but no further sales of rails appear and the demand for finished products keeps about 70 per cent of the capacity employed. The coke output Is again much reduced. Copper is shade firmer While tin and lead are not active and un- changed. The demand for boots and shoes Is still disappointing. Some mak- CTS get good orders for women's light shoes, but others scarcely any and Bos- ton shipments thus far are 21 per cent less than last year.
 Textile work shows little change, though the cut in print cloths and gen erai concessions in brown and bleached staples, averaging for the whole list quoted 6 per cent since January 1, in- duced more buying, which the known ac- cumuiation of goods ahead of demand has hsndered. Many mills are reporting great profits last year from the rise of cotton, but the prospect of larger crop this year does not promise repetition of such gains. Though goods still average l2.7 per cent above their lowest point a year ago, cotton is now A per cent higher than it was then. Sales of wool have been small for two weeks of February. but higher prices abroad, sustained by heavy shipments of goods to this coun- try, incline holders of wool here to make no concessions, so that manufacturers have the more difficulty in meeting com petition Cotton receipts at this season. never large, still indicate a supply for the current crop year, including stocks brought over, much in excess of the worlds needs. so that the prospect of increased acreage has the more power to depress prices. and spot cotton has declined an eighth for the week. Exports in January were $S653 566 less than last year, though prices were 45 per cent higher.
 Clearings for the week were 1O4 per cent larger than last year and 27.7 per eent less than in 1S93