The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-03-16
THE LESSON OF TRADE REVIEWS.

The weekly reviews of trade by COM
mercial agencies, published Saturday,
present some suggestive facts in connec-
ton with the unsatisfactory condition
of trade. The most noticeable of these
is the general accumulation of stocks.
The consumption of pig iron Is 10 per
cent below production. with declining
prices. The accumulation of the stocks
Of cotton goods has caused a reduction
of prices, but even the reduction does
not quicken, but rather retards, the de-
land. The trade in woolens Is confined
almost exclusively to low-grade goods,
tion which is the sure indication OF large
stocks. This unsatisfactory result is due
in some degree to confident predictions,
made a year ago, that the country was
on the eve of a season of general pros
perity because there was a qu%ickening
in the iron trade. Factories were start
ed and large stocks were imported, but
the revival was a boom based upon de-
sires rather than conditions. Large and
unsold stocks and falling prices are the
result.
The peculiar relation of materials to
finished products is another remarkable
feature of these reports. Raw cotton is
almost 80 per cent. higher than 1t was a
year ago. while cotton goods average
less than IL per cent. higher. With
such a change against the manufacturer
cotton manufacturing during 1896 prom
Uses to be as Improbable as it was
profitable during 1895, particularly when
enormous accommodations of stocks of cot
ton goods are reported. In the wooden in
dustry the situation Is even more dis
c~ouraging. Wool is now 5 per cent.
higher than a year ago, but the average
price of wooden n worsted goods Is 4
per cent. lower. This means that wooden
manufacture in this country. IN connec-
ton with excessive importation, has
overstocked the market. Many mills
ave already been shut down or are
running on half or quarter time, and
many more will follow. The manufac-
ture of clay worsteds has been so far
overdone hat the %stoppage of the most
important works is probable. 1t Is
strange that sensible people in trade and
III HUI iliOiC tAioh a veal
ago, that this would be the result of the
changed conditions. With enormous i'm
ports Of woolens under the ~rascally ad
valorem tariff, and active production at
home, those in the business seemed not
to foresee the inevitable result Of an
overstocked market, with a smaller de-
mand; and a smaller demand was as in
evitable two years ago. until the condi-
tons were changed. as that night will
follow day-ins vitable because, with hum
dreds OF thousands yet unemployed and
millions receiving a lesser compensation,
the demand for clothing could not be
otherwise han curtailed. When will
practical men learn to base the demand
for merchandise upon the ability of the
people to purchase, and when will they
learn that poorly employed people can
not purchase freely?
The condition of the manufacture of
wooden goods in this country is revealed
by the statistics of the wool trade in
Dun's report. Only a little over half as
much wool was sold the past two weeks
as was sold during the corresponding
two weeks of 1892. and not quite
half of the sales were of domestic
woods. Only a little over one-third as
much American wool was sold the past
two weeks as was sold in the correspond
ing two weeks of 1892. That is. under
the malign influence OF the Democratic
tariff the wool-manufacturing and wool
growing industry of the American peo-
pie ave been well-nigh ruined. And
all We ave in return is a large stock of
poorer wooden goods than has been on
the market for many years.