The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1896-01-18
THE CONDITION OF TRADE
BRADSTREETs GIVES OUT 4 FAIR
REPORT ON FINANCES.

REPORT ON FINANCES. Sa
There Arc Favorable Features In from
Great Deal of Money Tied Up in Indian
Corn-The Feature of tho weok is the Ad-
vance in Iron and Steel.
New York, Jan. H.-Bradstreets to-
morrow will say:
While general trade has not shown
widespread tendency to revive from
the holiday depression there are favor
able features in a revival In iron and
steel prices and continued heavy cereal
exports.
Except at Baltimore. New Orleans.
Buffalo and in certain lines ait Chicago.
st. Louis, st. Paul and Minneapolis
| jobbers in staple lines report business
slow. Travellers are on the road, but
returns are irregular, in only few
instances indicating the usual volume
of bodies for spring delivery. Rela-
lively greatest improvement is shown
in the request for dry goods, clothing.
hats and shoes. Prints and ginghams
are only fairly active, with the mills
at work in spite of the reduced de-
mand. In Rhode Island woolen goods
manufacturers in, some instances arc
keeping their machinery employed at q
loss rather than have it idle. Cotton
goods markets report having shaded
prices of some goods on hand, but hold
quotations firm on orders for future,
the advance in raw cotton Still being
above a parity with that of products.
Raw wool is stronger, although. the vol
ume of business Is small, bidding at
the London sales having put the price
of choice fleeces up per cent. Wllila
hides are nominally firm at unchang ged
prices offerings Of leather have been
freer and quotations have weakened,
circumstances which have shown them-
selves in the whole price for shoea.
Shipments Of shoes from six New Eng-
land manufacturing centers aast week
amounted to only $4,000 cases against
$4,000 year ago.
| Chicago banks report that a great
deal of money Is tied up in Iowa I'M
Indian corn; that merchants dn that
state are, therefore, not selling as many
goods are expected and that country
collections are correspondingly show
Kansas City advfces are that in sotltIl-
ern Kansas great deal of INDIAN corn
1 is being fed to live stock. Tacoma, tele-
graphs that large quantities of cotton
and cotton goods are arriving on the
way to the Orient. There has been sew
eral days rain in California and the
prospect for continuance causes re-
joicing.
The feature of the week is the ad-
vance in iron and steel and the revival
TO encouragement at the outlook. Bes-
semer pig and billets are up from 60
1 to Is cents per ton at Pittsburg and
$1.25 at Chicago with the outlook for
a. further advance. Interests control-
| ling the production of coke and of Lake
| Superior iron ore having determined
that prices of those products shall not
freact to the level Of 1S94-'95 producers
pf Bessemer pig and billets, In the
face of the restricted output Of furnace
and mill since the first of the year
together with the improved demand
within the week find themselves able to
advance prices. Other advances in
clude eight for tobacco, due to occur
rences in Cuba, wheat based on cons
tinued freee exports and pork and lardy
and an advance in cattle and hogAL
Prices of such staples as wheat, flour,
sugar, coffee, coal, lumber, hides and
print cloths are practically unchanged,
while those for leather and shoes, as ex-
planned are lower as is the price OF cot
ton, petroleum, Indian corn, oats, copl
Iper and lead, the last two based on
lcompetition between producers. Ex-s
ports of wheat flour included as wheat,
from both coasts Of the United States
amount to 3,233,000 bushels this week
compared with 3,5e4,000 bushels in the
week a year ago.
/ Bank clearingH totals begin to record
the decline in the volume Of general
trade which has made itself apparent
now for more than a month. Clear
ings throughout the United States this
week are 81, O0O,000 nearly per
cent less than last week and S.5 per
cent less than in the third week Of
January, 1895, but Is per cent. more
than in the week of 1894, and 27 per
cent less than the like week of 1885,
a period in which the volume Of busi-
ness was very heavy.
Business failures in the United States
number 421 as compared with S7S for
the week last year.
Advices from Montreal are that trade
is greatly restricted in the province Of
Quebec.