The herald., 1896-08-09
Local, Eastern and Foreign
t Commercial Dealings
WALL STREET SPECULATION
The Condi tion OF the Canned Goods
Trade
Uns satisfactory Condition Of the Past and
Prospects for the Future-The Rail.
roads OF the Country

The canned goods trade of this city (Bal-
timore) is in very satisfactory condi-
ton, and those interested in the various
branches of the business do not look very
favorably on the future. The entire pack
of corn and tomatoes last season, which
are the leading staples, was small com
pared with that of the preceding year, but
the demand fell fiat, and even under the de-
creased production these goods are report
ed to have dragged heavily throughout the
winter. and prices got down to the lowest
known during the past seven years. A
well known representative of the trade
stated yesterday that the dulness in the
business was almost entirely due to the de-
pressed condition of the working classes
throughout the west, southwest and north
Vost. where the greater portion of the pack
Of this state goes into consumption Dur
ing the season of 1895 standard corn sold
at an average of SOC per dozen, but the aver
age price for the same class of goods was
from 2hc to &c lower during the past win,
ter. Tomatoes sold at SOC. as compared
Snr eei II the tSe 9%5 IS
idly Increasing. These prices. It is stated,
do not more than cover the actual cost of
boxes labelling and handling. 1t is due
to these stringent conditions that number
of long established packing houses have
been financially embarrassed during the
past two years. Owing to the low prices
Of canned goods but few packers in Hartford
county, new JERSEY anu NEW Oth Will
operate during the present season, and a
very small pack is anticipated. Authori-
ties on canned goods state that tomatoes
cannot be put and marketed at less than
75c to gain any profit. and from 60 to 6oc
for corn. In 1892 corn sold as high as s2.25,
paokins ao WeFe higher % VERY fair profits % We're
obtained. Three-pound tin cans then sold
at from to 4c each, while now the prices
now selling at about 75c, but during the
winter went as low as soc, while five years
ago they brought soc Apples and smaller n,,a
tie demand from any source; The cove
oyster trade has been dropping steadily
since 1883, and no profit of any consequence
during the period intervening. In the sea-
sons OF 1885 and 1890 the pack of cove oys-
900 bushels, while last years pack barely
reached 1850. 900. The prices during a nor
nal season have ruled at 81 for standards hain h
tanned are zoe and $l.So respectively.-Bal-
timore Trade.
We can only obtain full idea of the i'm
portance of our railway systems by con-
sdering the statistics of equipment. The
Scientific American has an elaborate arti-
summaries given pertaining to. the eqVip-
ment Of railways IT appears that them
IL ng%r snd o tSa of
being d =: $685. s OF 81 this nYmser $3.50 we're M
tives and 5sS were unclassifed. The num-
ber Of cars of all classes reported being
those owned by railways. was 1,2IO55l,
which indicates decrease of 1911 as com
pared with the previous year. OF the
total cars reported 33.1l2 were in passenger
service. 1,196119 were in freight service and
the remainder. Al, $3.50, were cars used by the
reporting companies In their own service.
OF passenger cars and an increase or l439
In cars assigned to companys service, but
cars in freight service decreased 9O50. The
explanation of this decrease is not wholly
railway companies to eoonomize In equip
ment, but rather In the increased use made
of private cars. From the summaries given
It appears that there was decreased effi-
covered by the report. The number of pas
sengers carried per passenger locomotive
was 5O.747, or 1907 less than in 1894. The
number of passenger miles per passenger
in 1894, while the number of passenger cars
per 1000. 900 passengers carried was s.. or u
greater than the preceding year. This Is
probably largely due to decreased travel
on account Of business depression. but 1t
also suggests that passenger traffic has re-
turned to its normal condition previous
to the worlds Columbian exposition. The
number of tons of freight carried. per
freight locomotive In 1895 was &S17, show
ing an increase of 2e0S when compared with
the corresponding figures for 1894. The
number of ton miles per freight locomotive
was 4.25S, 821. the increase over the previous
year being 242. .066 These figures indicate
increased economy in transportation Of
fact that 1898 freight cars were required
to move 1000. 900 tons of freight in 1894 aat,
I'LL in 1895. These figures however. are
not complete because the basis of the COM
putations does not include cars not owned
by the railway companies, in which large
proportion of freight Is transported.