Birmingham state herald., 1896-05-30
SECOND EDITION. BOTH IN THE SAME KEY Dun and BradStreet Appear to
 Agree This Week. IRON AND STEEL ARE WEAK Rebuilding After the St. Louis Disaster May Have Favorable Efect-Irade Sit
 uation Summarized.
IRON AND STEEL ARE WEAK

New York, May 29-Bradstreet's to- morrow will say:
 The improvement in the trade situa- tion is confined to the demand for hides, leather and shoes, the tendency of prices of same to advance and an improvement in request for dry goods, hats and shoes from wholesalers at St. Paul, Hahsas City, Omaha and Baltimore
 The crop outlook in South Carolina ana Kentucky is brighter because ot falns' and a generally better feeling exlsts among sugar producers and handlers Ill Louisiana and Texas, because of the re- cent sugar bounty decision. General bus mess continues quiet and at larger finan- cial centers less commercial paper IS making, even at lower rates. between seasons' trade has begun to assert itself, and from a number of points mercantile collections are less satisfactory and in some instances more difficult. In Texas both corn and cotton crops are retarded for want of rain.
 At St. Louis and throughout contigu- ous territory, and at smaller business centers along the track of the recent etorm, business has been interrupted.
 The industrial situation, except as to boots and shoes, is unimproved. Cottons are dull and low on oversupply, the price of raw having no influence. Wool prices continue to favor buyers, with manu- lecturers running at reduced capacity.
 Pig iron prices remain about as week ago, but speculative sales have been made al cut quotations. Stocks are heavy and production is decreasing. There is less demand for billets and the outlook in iron and steel is not for improvement prior to the middle of July.
 The total number of business failures in the United States during the week is 227, as compared with 216 last week and 205 in the same week one year ago.
 The price movement is again down. ward, wheat, corn and oats, as we'll as pork and lard. exhibiting unexpected shrinkages. Coffee, cotton and petroleum are likewise lower, and sales of pig iron and bilIets by middlemen have been made a shade under nominal figures. Wheat, flour, coal and print cloths are practically unchanged, while refined sugar and tin plates report advances. Hides and leath- CT are firm at recent advances and the tendency is upward.
 New York, May 29.-R. G. Dun & Co., will say tomorrow in their weekly review of trade
 Failures for the week have been 239 in the United States, against 219 last year and 20 in Canada, against S4 last year.
  ed as natural results of the borrowing and importing early in the year, bu caused no serious apprehension. Mar kets for products are weak rather thar stagnant. The business done is small but largely governed by the belief ir large crops and insufficient demand Many cotton mills have stopped and many more have reduced hours or looms and yet the market for goods is lifeless & reduction in indigo blue prints of half g cent off, the lowest on record, being the chief feature. Wool sales, exclusive of few speculative transactions based or extremely low prices, are less than 4 per cent of weeks fair consumption Boot and shoe shipments, per cen larger this year than the largest on rec ord, indicate that in some branches makers are catching up with their order! and many are discharging cutters. Ye many others have orders for month! ahead and sales still run large for thu season and manufacturers quite general ly insist upon slight advance in prices which buyers do not yet pay.
 The iron and steel markets are weak with lower prices, because the demand for finished products is entirely made quate, though prices of these are higher Pig iron has fallen off per cent sine April l. but the average of finished prod ucts have been advanced 3 per cent Lower quotations for Bessemer and gra. forge and local coke at Chicago, with stoppage of two-thirds of the furnaces il Virginia, some in Pennsylvania and oth CTS in the Mahoning and Shenango val leys, result from inability of manufactur CTS to sell at prices which their combina tions demand, Bessemer billets being un dersold by open hearth bars and nails by new concerns, which are rapidly putting in machines. Plates weaken and ther, is no improvement in sheets or rods. bu beammakers have raised the price $2 pc ton, making a slight advance in the aver age of all prices for the week. It Is pos sible that rebuilding after the disaster a St. Louis may effect the iron and stee markets extensively.