Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1896-01-16
oUN's COMMERCIAL REVIEW.
Business Genera lily Retarded by = Feeling

L OSN y SO""6nSlAG REVIEW
Business Genera lily Retarded by Feeling
Of Uncertainty Caused by the Financial
OutloOk-The Proposed Sale Of Bonds
Causes Hesitation Rather than Hopeful
ness-Speculation in Products Dull, and
Prices Generally Lower.
New YORK, JAN 11.-R. G. Dun & Co
say to-day:
Liabilities in failures for the first
| two days of January amounted to S01s,
795, of which $40. 4O7 were of manufac
turing and SETS, 3Ss of trading concerns
Failures for the week hare been 431 ia
the United States, against 420 last
year, and Sc in Canada, against 54 last
year.
The new year begins with such un
certainty that business IS somewhat
retarded. The proposed sale of bonds
offers ground for confidence in the
future, but no one is able to determine
what its earliest effects may be on the
money market, and for the time it is a
cause of hesitation rather than hope
fulness. Speculation in produ cts has
not been active. Cotton is unchanged,
although the receipts for the week
have not been very large. but some
slaci1ening appears III the foreign de-
mand.
Wheat is about one cent higher, and
corn the same, without distinct reason
in either case. Wheat receipts at west
err points were almost double last
years, being a,5O5. 7O2, against 1 ,3O5, 7Oi
last year: but Atlantic exports were a
little larger than last years, being, flour
IL. -
01O, 755 a year ago.
Corn receipts are about quarter lar
ger than a year ago, while Atlantic ex-
ports are about four times as large.
The movement of stocks has been
downward, notwithstanding fair re-
ports of earnings. which show an in
crease OF SIS per cent. in transactions
over last year.
The industrial situation has not ma.
terially changed. There is much agi-
tation in the iron business, with some
advance in Bessemer pig iron because
OF the expectation that Connellsville
coke and lake ore will both be dearer,
and yet finished product. of iron and
steel are on the whole quoted a little
lower, and the nail association is still
it will abandon the effort to
maintain a fixed price. That branch
of business is extremely slow. nothing
is doing in rails, and while there is d
rather better demand for sheets and
plates, and several thousand orders
are reported for structural works, an
giles are quoted shade lower. Every
thing turns on the contracts for ore,
which are still unsettled, but the great
excess in production of pig iron over
the present demand is no longer de-
MED, and it is expected that quite a
number of the furnaces will presently
discontinue production.
In boots and shoes the average OF
prices is shade lower. Leather is
little lower, but hides are, on the
whole, about five per cent. stronger at
Chicago, with scanty offerings. The
demand for boots and shoes falls far
behind expectations, and many of the
shops have closed fer time.
Sales of wool are large, $500, 300
pounds for the week, against 5,235,115
last year, although a large part of the
purchase is of a speculative character.
The opening of wooden goods shows a
further tendency toward lower prices,
in spite of the prevalent belief that
higher prices would be realized before
long if the revenue bill which passed
the house should become law.
The cotton mills are. generally run
ming, though not all with full force
and some are piling up goods without
regard to the immediate demand,
which is comparatively slack, as they
apparently believe that the short sup
ply of cotton this year will insure
them profits in the end, as it has dur.
ing the past half year. Nevertheless,
goods have decidedly weakened in
price, quite number of changes hav-
ing been recorded during the past
week.
The volume of domestic trade ind;
Gated by payments through the princi-
pal clearinghouse shows the unusual
large increase of 14.6 per cent. over
last year, but in comparison with the
Same week in 1898, shows decrease of
1871 per cent. Part Of this difference
must be attributed to the shrinkage in
prices, but there is also without doubt
Il considera bic decrease in the distribu-
ton Of seasonable goods to the final
customer.