Birmingham state herald., 1896-03-28
WEEKLY TRADE REVIEW Unusually Heavy Mercantile Failures Affect Trade and CAUSE MUCH APPREHENSION The Dry Goods Market Affected by Big Auc-
 ton Sales.
COLLECTIONS ARE STILL VERY BAD
The Most Encouraging Feature Is the Ad- vance in Prices of Wheat, Corn and Bessemer Pig Iron-No Demand
 for Groceries in the South.

New York. March 27.-Bradstreet's to- morrow will say:
 The week has brought more favorable weather, which tends to create better feeling, but trade, except at Baltimore, Minneapolis, St. Paul and Chicago, and to a moderate degree at other points, re- mains dull and unsatisfactory. The most encouraging feature is the advance in prices of wheat, Indian corn and Bes- semer pig iron, the latter being based on the higher value placed on lake ores. The check in demand for groceries and provisions at the south is due to south ern planters having raised larger food crops this year. Heavy receipts of veg etables at southern markets are followed by reports of large crops thereof in sight.
 One of the most unpleasant features Is lack of improvement in mercantile col lections. Total bank clearings continue the recent downward movement, and fur- nish the smallest total for some weeks, $S97, ,000, ,000, or per cent less than last week and only per cent larger than in the fourth week of March, 1895. Wool in some instances has been shaded in price. Trade in wool is almost at a standstill aside from few sales made for export. Foreign dress woolens are higher, the only improvement in the outlook for American fabrics. Additional woolen mills have closed for lack of orders. Raw cotton is lower, presumably on reports of prospective large crop. The heavy movement of ginghams appears to be the outcome of drives and auction sales. the effect of which on other fabrics is de pressing. Large accommodations of -rhite cotton are shipped and Providence bankers state that cotton manufacturers lar ter,f 1f fn hell fn carry the accumulated stocks. Heavy mercantile failures have a temporary effect on trade and in instances have caused a closer scrutiny of credits and a check on sales and distribution Only 276 business failures are reported in the United States, compared with 300 last week. but an unusually large proportion of them are of comparatively heavy capi- talized concerns. The total number of failures in the week year ago was 232.
 Dun's Review.
 R. c. Dun & Go. will say tomorrow in their weekly review of trade:
 The returns of failures are somewhat disappointing Several of magnitude were mentioned a week ago, and they have swelled the aggregate of defaulted liabilities for three weeks of March to SIP 383 GA against $11, ,271, ,1S1 last year. heavy failure in Texas will also swell the aggregate of returns for the past week, which includes 259 in the United States, against 234 last year, and 39 in Canada, against AZ last year. No im- portant change has occurred in the gen eral condition of business during the week. and if trades in some respects look worse, in other respects they look better. Some failures of magnitude have oc- cured, which have caused much appre- henson and unwillingness to lend among bankers, and there has been somewhat less favorable features in the dry goods market but in iron and steel conditions are slightly better and in boots and shoes considerably more hopeful. Foreign trade is a little more satisfactory, ex- ports from New York for three weeks showing an increase over last year of 6 per cent, while imports have shown near ly the same rate of decrease. In general the course of domestic prices tends to favor the marketing of staples abroad.
 Cotton had a lively rise with the cover ing of short sellers, but began to de- cline again week ago and has been lag ging ever since. The receipts from plan- tations continue quite as large as in the same week of the last short crop, and stocks in sight with the quantities known to be held by European and Amer ican mills. make up an ample supply for the rest of the crop year.
 In the dry goods market the latest in- dications do not warrant expectations that the mills will continue full produc- tion throughout the season. The de-
 
 best feature of the woolens market. The sales of wool have fallen to less than half an ordinary weeks full consumption, amounting last week to only 2,926,7 750 pounds at the chief markets A striking feature this week has been sale of 350,- 900 pounds of American wool for ship ment to England. (
 The iron and steel markets have dis closed a similar feature, for a little Ala bama pig iron has been sold for export by the Sloss company, though few inn agine that much business of that sort is possible The combination of lake ore producers has at last announced its prices for the coming season, $4 for first class Bessemer, $340 to $3.75 for Mesaba and 8 for non-Bessemer ores, and it is calculated that with coke at $2 per ton Bessemer pig can be produced at about $12.25 at Pittsburg, which is now the cur rent price there. But the slow market ing of finished products is still the main trouble. There has been little more activity this week and the Carnegie works have sold 10000 steel rails to Ja- pan. thus scoring a noteworthy success. but in the main the market is about as inactive and insufficient as it has been.