Birmingham state herald., 1897-02-06
THE SOUTHERN IRON EXPORT Within the Past Few. Months Is
 Being Felt BY THE EAST AND WEST Bessemer Pig and Grey Forge Have Slightly
 AdyaE = at Pittsburg
 ~ WITH A /sAE / HOPEFUL FEELING Marked r z ne in Failures-Cold Weather oftb : 1stweek Had It's Usual Good @ Si Bad Ehect-Downward s Prices Checked.
BY THE EAST AND WEST
WITH A /sAe / HOPEFUL FEELING

| TOW WILL Sdy.4 GeIeIdl lIdut, WIaCu WdS
 retarded by unfavorable weather week | ago has recovered somewhat at Chatta- nooga, Memphis, Birmingham and New Orleans. While the cold weather cut into
 stocks of heavy goods 1t delayed the sale | of spring goods. Other relatively favor
 able trade reports are from St. Paul. Chi cago, Minneapolis and St. Louis. At
 most centers jobbers report business quiet | or unchanged with no prospect for im-
 mediate improvement. The restriction | of the production of cotton goods has not strengthened the market or advanced | prices yet. The heavy increase in sales of wool, 4O,OOO,OOO pounds at Boston alone since Jan. against 24,000.000 pounds last year is based largely on the expectation | of higher duty on wool. More woolen
 mills have started up and those which have hit the popular taste in style and fabric are full of present business. One l of the most unsatisfactory industrial feat l lures is the lack of demand for iron and steel, prices of which in the central west ern states have gotten below nominal | quotations. Eastern and western iron | makers are attracted by the expansion of | the southern pig iron export trade within | few months.
 | The downward tendency of prices not | ed during the past two or three weeks is | checked in part, there being almost an | equal number of the products and com-
 modities usually quoted which are higher or lower or unchanged compared with | last week. Among those which have ad- | vanced are Havana tobacco, wheat, corn | and oats, paper and refined and crude pe- troleum. Those which are lower include | rosin, hides, wheat flour, pork lard, cof- | fee and raw sugar Practically unchanged quotations are recorded for refined su- 1 gar, rice, tea, lumber, wool, cotton and | print cloths.
 The check to the number of business | failures as reported last week appears | again in the total for the current week, | 305 throughout the United States as com- | pared with 326 last week and 33S in the
 same week last year.
 DUN'S REPORT
 New York. Feb. 5.-R. G. Dun & Co.,, | will say tomorrow: No important change l in business appears, but the number of | manufacturing establishments starting | much exceeds the number of those stop l ing during the week, and so much that | the curtailment of working time in many l cotton mills probably does not lessen the l aggregate productive force or amount of wages paid. There is distinct increase in | orders for woolen goods, some gain in l the silk manufacture, awaiting condi- | ton with gain in one branch of boots and | shoes, and indications of better things | coming in the iron and steel manufacture. | Cotton fell to TAG after the agreement to l close Fall River and other print cloth | works became known, but received the | quotation of a week ago, 7.31 cents with out further news. Spinning takings have | been so small this year those of northern
 mills about 100000 bales less than In 1894 1 -95, that the admitted narrowness of de-
 mand for goods has at present considera- | ble weight. It appears that foreign trade | is also somewhat restricted by narrow
 ness of demand, sales of wool have been l smaller than in other recent weeks, and | yet are far in excess of the consump- 1 tion of all mills for week, if all were ! fully employed. At the three chief mar | kets the aggregate for the week has been | 13, ,566, 700 pounds.
 I There has been only a slight stiffening | in prices, but more foreign wool will be 1 taken and stored, 1t is believed. if west ern holders continue to demand higher | prices.
 Prices of Bessemer pig and grey forge
 at Pittsburg have slightly advanced with
 much more hopeful feeling, notwith- | standing the comparative narrowness of | the demand for finished products and in | plates9and wire and wire nails there is | much more business, with good prospects Billets are quoted at $15.25. with scarcely | any demand at present, and rods at $21, | while No.27 black sheets are quoted at on- ly 2 cents. Reports that 25,000 tons of steel plate and sheet bars have been ex-
 ported 40 England, are only indications of the temporary excess of supply over | demand in this country and are not sup posed to have realized any profit. Yet 1t is stated that prices of cast pipe are from two to three dollars per ton lower | at New York than at Scotch works.
 Bars are quoted at the lowest price ever
 known at Philadelphia without much improvement in demand and steel rails | are still inactive and unchanged in price, 1 the railroads waiting for a decline corre- | spending to the fall in bilets. But on the 1 whole the demand for iron and steel pro- I ducts is slowly gaining and considera- l ble proportion of the work is fully em- l ployed. though the gain is not yet enough | for those who have taken large stocks of | material or products on speculation. In l the money market there appears no em- 1 barrassment, and the large sale of North | ern Pacific and Oregon Navigation secur- | ities to European capitalists has given | additional assurance that balances due | to this country will not be cancelled for | some months to come, so that the point | of possible gold exports is removed still | farther.
 | Failures for the week have been 311 in 1 the United States, against BPS. last year, | and 63 in Canada, against 67 last year. | WANTS THE LEASE ANNULLED. Raleigh, N C., Feb 5.-Gov. Russell I