Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1896-03-27
NOT ENCOURAGING.
General Tendency Of Industries
and Prices Unsatisfactory.
Shoemaking Industry Only One Maxi
ing Large Business Gains-Con-
dition Of Other Industries.

New York, March 21.-R. G. Dun &
Co. in their weekly review of trade say:
Movement toward better things Is still
the exception. There is better business in
shoes and small industries. and there has
been q squeezing of short sellers in cotton.
but the general tendency of industries and
prices is not encouraging, and those who
were most hopeful month ago are still
waiting. not so hopefully. for the expected
recovery. DISTINCTIONS to recovery are not
to be sought primarily in the investment
or the money market, but in the industrial
reaction after the unnatural expansion of
demand and prices last year. 1t is strik-
ing fact that the only great industry which
is now rapidly gaining in business is the
one in which prices have been generally
cut down to last years lowest figures, and
the boot and shoe makers had reason for
hesitation in prices of leather. which still
average six per cent. higher than q year
ago, though hides are 13 per cent. lower,
having again declined the past week about
three per cent. If the manufacturers get
narrow profits or none. they are at least
doing a business which will keep most Of
the works in operation.
1.-THE wooden mills have different condi-
| tons and with prices already reduced be-
low last years lowest average, and wool
SIS per cent. higher than it was then, they
are not getting business to Keep works in
operation Sales of wool were the smallest
y
the prices of cotton goods Is the comment
of mills on rising cotton. Goods now aver
{, age lower than since May, 1895, having de-
clined 40 per cent. for the week, print
cloths to PIG cents, which is only sixteenth
| above the lowest price on record. The ac-
] emulation of goods in the face of slack
! and rapidly diminishing demand has
| brought the closing Of one of the largest
! mills. and others are considering.
1.-The iron industry shows but a slight
tnn In, yNrtn as IA t,,of tNy,
| still insist upon the highest prices of last
| year. and the demand is naturally cur
| tailed. Quotations are deceptive because
i lower prices are constantly made to secure
I business. But with ore and coke combina-
! lions demanding high figures, hesitation
| is inevitable.
| 1.-The market in wheat has been weak.
| The movement of corn continues very
! large and prices have declined one cent for
| cash. A troublesome feature of the situa-
ton is the stringency in commercial loans,
! not because of scarcity of money. but be-
cause banks are disturbed by failures OF
some Importance.
/ "Fatlures for two weeks of March cover
liabilities of sG.799,397, against S,372,4T last
year. Failures for the week were PSI in the
! United States, against 27S last year, and IL
in Canada, against 50 last year."
Bradstreet's View.
! Bradstreet's says:
General trade throughout the Omitted
| States for the first quarter of 1896 is disap-
| pointing. When the improvement in in
dustrial and commercial lines between
March and September, 1895, is recalled. oc-
| curing as it did two years after the panic
of 1893 reason would seem to have been be-
hind the confidence that the current cal
| cudar year would bring a general revival.
| But the most favorable reports at this time
are those which declare the volume of bust
| ness only equal to in a few instances in
excess of the like total one year ago."