The record-union., 1896-05-23
CONDITIONS OF TRADE.
HOPEFUL OUTLOOK FOR BETTER
BUSINESS,
AS Soon as the Political Uncertainties
Are Out of the Way-No
Danger of Panic.

NEW YORK, May Or G.. Dun &
co. will say Tomorrow in their weekly
review of trade:
Failures for the week have been 227
in the United States, against POI last
year. and twenty-eight in Canada,
against twenty-three last year.
There is nothing like reaction in busi-
ness, though the volume is small The
stock market refuses to obey the orders
for a panic. Manufacturers are not
gaining ON the whole, but very few are
losing. Railroad stocks average a shade
higher than a week ago, and there is
abundant evidence that men of money
are watching for the right moment to
buy at the bottom, certain that good
! crops and definite political prospects
Will bring Improvement in the fall.
Men of all parties have faith that the
American people will find the right way
to maintain the soundness of their cur
| rency. There is no longer the threatened
Danger that both houses of Congress
will go wrong, and the success of sound
money in both parties as far west as
South Dakota is mos, significant. The
business world has the best of reasons
| for refusing to go into a panic and it
looks hopefully forward to definite i'm
provement is soon as political uncer-
tainties are out of the way.
The waiting condition, which seems to
some people nothing better than stagna-
ton, still continues, but there is differ
ence. Thousands of orders and con-
tracts are merely deferred because they
can be more safely given little later
There n
lative market for exportable products,
and the stories about damage to wheat
have been numerous, but the general
belief regarding the future supply is
fairly reflected in the decline of I62
cents per bushel. Cotton speculation
lifted the price a fraction for a day or
two, but it declined again.
If the output of pig iron were always
reliable barometer of the business
conditions as some suppose, the returns
of furnaces in blast May 1st. according
to the Iron Age" ISS.319 tons, against
1Sl.4 .451 April 1st, would be convincing
But the increase of stock unsold since
Jnuary 1st has been 243,915 tons. and
this, deducted from the output of fur
naces, leaves 2,916.34S tons for four
months, which is certainly in excess of
the actual consumption, because the
stocks of the great steel companies are
not included in the statement. Since
the steel billet pool was formed these
stocks have doubtless increased largely
There is scarcely any Improvement
in the demand for finished products
though the bar association has become
strong enough to enable makers of bars
to get a slightly higher price The de-
mand for nails is so light that reduc-
tion of price is expected. The demand
for structural work is less urgent, but
yet orders are encouraging in number
Bessemer pig is a shade lower, and the
ablest observers of the iron market no.
tice that there is glaring incongruity be-
tween pig at S12 80, billets at $40 %
and steel rails at S2S.
The boot and shoe manufacturers have
quite the best of it ait present, and the
factories are nearly all employed at full
time, some of them having orders for
some months ahead. A slight advance
III womens grain shoes is che only
change yet made in prices, but a gem
eral advance is expected because the
market for leather is much stronger in
tone, though this week unchanged in
| quotations, while the Chicago market
for hides is quite excited because of
scanty supplies, and the average quota
ton is nearly 10 per cent. higher.
The textile manufacturers are still
waiting, as they have been for months
past, and the extensive curtailment Of
| production does not strengthen prices
| in the least.