Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1897-05-14
HOPEFUL s.ons.
Dun 4 Co. Find Cause for Con0ratula.
tion in Trade Outlook.

Dun 4 Co. Find Cause for Conoratula-
tiOn in Trade Outlook.
New York, May 8.-R. G. Dun & Co.,
in their weekly review of trade, say:
Nearly all will be astonished to learn
that actual sales In April by leading houses
in each line of business in the principal
cities east of the Rocky mountains average
only about 10 per cent. less than in April.
1892. the year of the largest business hith.
erto. and were per cent. more than in
the same month last year. Yet this IL the
summary OF s67 reports. each covering act
ual sales of leading merchants in line
of business in one of II cities. They are
especially encouraging in view Of the great
fall Of prices within the five years and
with exceptional floods and other retard-
Ing influences this year. While specu.
lative business in nearly all lines Is small,
and does not swell clearing house returns.
as In previous years, the volume Of legiti.
mate trade shows no corresponding de-
crease, and the fact Is one of the high
est importance in all business calculations.
Moreover, returns Of failures for April by
branches Of business. given only by the,
mercantile agency. show decrease in num-
Der, amount and average Of liabilities in
almost every branch Of trade and in nearly
all branches Of manufacture except cotton,
although failures of five New Bedford mills
for $7,990,734 make the total defaulted liza.
bilities for the month 40 per cent. larger
than last year, GO per cent. larger than
in 1896 and 80 per cent. larger than 1894.
The value of reports tracing failures to
particular lines of business 10 impressive
ly illustrated.
"Crop prospects are little better for
cotton because Of the passing Of floods
and the increase Of acreage elsewhere,
and for spring wheat because the custom-
AIRY accounts Of injury to winter wheat
begin to appear and stimulate larger SOW
IN nf VI a q
market declined cents until Tuesday and
then rose ~ cents. Liverpool specula-
, lions lifted cotton to 7.75 cents, but 1t has
lost sixteenth, and the consumption in
manufacture does not appear to be In.
creasing.
1.-THE demand for cotton goods has not
met expectations. and neither the pro-
longed curtailment of production by many
mills the large distribution of goods since
November, nor the great auction sale has
yet sufficed to reduce the surplus of goods.
Print cloths are again lower, at IA cents.
the lowest point ever reached in previous
years, and though some kinds Of goods
have found sufficient demand to advance
prices a little, the expectation Of better
prices and larger consumption in future
still seems to push the mills to exceed
present wants. The same is true of wool
manufacture in many branches. for orders
and sales thus far do not call for as large
production Us appears. though 1t Is yet
much below the maximum but the lncreaS-
ing demand has been encouraging.
1.-THE anticipation of better prices and
great increase In demand pushed produce
ton SO far in iron and steel manufacture
that four furnaces in eastern Pennsyl-
vania and others in the Pittsburgh region
and Ohio have stopped
Failures for the week have been 221
in the United States, against 2sS last year.
and So in Canada, against "a last year"
Bradstreet's says:
Favorable business features this week
include the continued decline Of water In
flooded districts Of the Mississippi river
valley, In portion OF which planting
has begun; better demand for staples at
Baltimore, ST. Louis, Omaha. Milwaukee.
st. Paul and Sioux Falls; larger sales of
iron ore to western furnaces, and re-
vival Of activity among country merchants
In some central western states.
"Unfavorable trade features include the
further decline of prices for Bessemer pig
iron and steel billets, with production Of
pig iron in excess Of consumption and the
prospect favorable for blowing out a num-
Der of Stacks. Cool weather west has
checked the retail demand, and complaints
are received from wholesale dealers in
shoes, clothing and dry goods. Low tenn
perature has retarded the growth Of cotton
and corn in Texas, and in Kentucky the
leaf tobacco crop will be short The lake
trade outlook is not satisfactory. Mercan.
tile collections show no improvement, and
| the spring trade in general continues dis
| appointing"