The record-union., 1897-10-23

NEW 4OTLhs ONks
tomorrow viii say:
While the general trade movement IS
somewhat irregular, and there are
further evidences of falling on in de-
rnand and volume, business continues OF
large proportions. Speculation IN wool
has ceased. and the demand for the
staple is less than for weeks past. Cot
ton goods are dull on the weakness OF
raw cotton, and jobbers report dry
goods slower than a week ago. Inter-
ior merchants in the Central West have
not distributed fall stocks as prompt
ly as expected, and many jobbers at
Western centers find that they over
estimated the consumptive demand
when securing fall goods. Unseason-
ably warm weather has interfered with
the movement of heavy goods at the
West, but rains in Kansas, Oklahoma
and Nebraska have improved the agri-
cultural outlook.
Relatively, the greatest activity in
trade is reported by Kansas City and
Omaha merchants. While quarantine
regulations have been raised in Texas
and modified in Louisiana, business
throughout most of the Gulf States re-
mains practically at a standstill. AL
most all the large Eastern cities re-
port a decreased movement of mer-
chandise and a tendency of collections
to fall away, notably Baltimore, ow-
ing to it's Southern connections.
The industrial situation continues to
furnish employment to as many persons
as at any preceding period this year.
and at higher wages.
Production of iron, steel, machinery,
stoves, car structural work, glass and
woolen goods continues heavy. Steel
mills have orders to carry them into
1898 and decline contracts for next
years delivery. This explains the ad-
vance in the price of BesSemer pig
iron, while the foundry grades remain
unchanged. The extraordinarily heavy
and steady increasing production of iron
is starting up furnaces long out of blast,
and although consumption is heavy. it
Is not improbable that production may
outrun it in the near future, which
constitutes an unfavorable point in the
outlook
NEW YORK Oct. pr. G. Dun &
Co.'S Weekly Review of Trade" will
say tomorrow:
After the heaviest buying ever known
in many branches during September
and the first half of October, it was
both natural and desirable that a more
quiet period should give time for test
ing the size and temper Of retail trade
and for distributing part Of the enor-
nous quantities bought. In textile
goods the rush of orders went far be-
yond all distributive demand in Aug
ust and represented great replenish-
ment of stocks, and the similar rush
for goods has been correspondingly
great in other lines during the past two
months. In iron and steel and in boots
and shoes there was actual danger Of a
speculative infia tion of prices, such as
was seen in 1895 but it has been avoid
ed apparently for this season by the
solid sense of leading men, who regard
time of comparative quiet as essen
tial to the coming and permanence of
prosperity in their lines AS the buy
ing for replenishment is partially sat
isfied and diminished, there is some de-
crease in the volume of transactions.
Though at the same time the working
force has further increased, the wages
of labor has been in numerous cases ad-
vanced, and the foundation laid more
broadly every week for larger buying
and business hereafter.
The iron industry waits, because pos
sible production for the year has been
practically ordered, while neither buy
ers nor sellers regard contracts at cur
rent prices for next years business as
quite safe. Bessemer pig is a shade
weaker at so 40, and gray forge at
50 80 at Pittsburg, while billets are
hard to get at any price, so much has
the current demand come to exceed
production Sales ef warrant pig iron
at Philadelphia, at % cent below, is
not, in fact, a decline. New business
in finished products is almost of neees-
sity smaller, since manufacturing
works are nearly all full for months
ahead-the plate mills at the West so
full that they could not compete at all
for free Rockefeller vessels requiring
200 tons each. The demand for bars
is the best for a long time, and con-
tracts for the East River bridge and
for numerous new buildings and rail-
way bridges are still pending.
The coke output has risen to 145. .033
tons weekly. and is the largest known
for years Anthracite coal is sold at
$415 in New York harbor, or 20 cents
below the circular, and conservative es-
Inmates make the years output 4O,0O0,- :
600 tons.
The only noteworthy feature in minor
metals is q sensational collapse in lead
Of 30 points, on sales of 5000 tons.