The record-union., 1897-05-22
The General Increase Of Commercial
Loans During the Past Week.
Unmistakable Evidence of Improve
mant il Business Circles.
Also Shown by Distinct Increase in
the Demand for Products of Manu-
factures and in the Movement of
Grain and Produce.

NEW YORK, May Pr. G. Dun &
Cos Weekly Review of Trade" to-
morrow will say:
Unmistakable evidence of improve
ment comes in the general increase of
commercial loans, mostly for Eastern
merchants of companies, though some
Well-knOwn houses in the Middle West
appear with considerable rediscounts
from the South. Not for a long time
have commercial loans been fully half
| the whole. The distinct change gives
proof that new business has been larg-
er than many have supposed. Receipts
of money from the interior exceed ship
ments by S1,500.0G0 mostly from the
Middle West. Exports of gold have
no influence, and only signify the will
ingness of Russia to pay price for
the gold needed The excess of mer-
chandise imports to answer demands
for half G year to come involves a
greater excess of exports when the an
ticipatOry movement ends and crops be-
gin to move, which fact renders large
outgoes Of gold less likely, and gives
stronger position in international mark
cts.
Meanwhile, there is a continuing in
crease. distinct though gradual, in the
volume of business in demand for pro-
ducts of manufacture and considering
the time of year, in movement of grain
and produce
Western wheat receipts exceed last
years for the week 2,3S4, 1S9 bushels.
against 1,13S,9S6, and exports were l.
go, 1I3 bushels, flour included, against
1,302, ,491 last year. and for three weeks
4,1SS, I'D bushels against 1886, $40 last
year
The iron industry has quite an in
crease in new business, though not in
all branches. Part was due to the rup-
ture of the steel beam pool, and the fall
in price from ST 50 to 81 %, nominally
quoted, and some good structural con-
| tracts were at once secured Part is
due to the better demand for plates
and pipe, of which one large contract
for Indiana fields was placed, and the
growing need for cars and vessels
There is some increase in rods, though
the season for wire and nails is nearing
| an end because of an unexpected pool
of rod mills. Low southern freight
rates marketed little more iron at the
north and eastern foundry is slightly
lower, with gray forge only IS % at
Pittsburg. The Carnegie Works are
now turning out 5000 tons rails daily,
! nearly all on old orders and exports of
finished products increase.
Sales of copper, said to be nearly
sixty million pounds, have stiffened the
price to 111s cents for lake, and tin
rose to 1872 cents, in spite of large ar
rivals, though lead was weaker at SO -
and tin plates at So 80. Coke is also a
shade lower
Sales of wool decrease, though still
greater than when the mills were busy.
but manufacturers are doing scarcely
anything, most of their possible de-
mand for months ahead having been
placed. The western holders begin to
offer at l to IL lower than of late.
Failures for the week have been 24S
in the United States,N against 277 last
year, and thirty-seven in Canada.
against twenty EIGHT last year.
NEW YORK, May 21.-Bradstreet'
tomorrow will say: The slight i'm
provement in trade is in the tendency
of business to increase at a few cities
III the Northwest. on the Pacific Coast
and South Atlantic and Gulf States.
Atlanta, Birmingham and New Or
leans where trade has revived on the
announcement that Northern Louisiana.
Mississippi and Arkansas flooded dis
tricts are being placed under cultiva
ton. and that the damage done is less
than expected. There are increased
sales at Milwaukee, Omaha, Chicago
and ST. Louis, and exports of general
he
Francisco have increased. Advices
from California are that lack of sea-
sonable rains, and long continued dry
winds have injured the wheat and fruit
crops. Larger Eastern centers reDort
the movement of merchandise slow and
trade dull. The season is so far ad-
vanced that no general recovery is
looked for until after fall buying sets
in.
The industrial disturbances have
marked building and other industries
notably clothing, mining, iron and steel.
Manufacturers of woolens are well
stocked with raw material. but owing
to slowness of orders prices are cas-
ier Makers of cotton goods are at a
disadvantage owing to the relatively
high prices of cotton and the increase
in production of products. There is
no gain in demand for iron and steel,
prices for which continue low. The
report that the steel rail, wire and bill
let makers are trying to form pool to
advance prices is not confirmed
NEW YORK, May p. = Bradstreet's
Review tomorrow will say:
Irregularity in prices and a complete
ly professional speculation have been
witnessed in Wall street this week. The
decision of the Cuban question in Con-
gress has kept the public out of the
market, and caused London to avoid
our securities for the time being. though
prices for Americans there sympathize
in some measure with the better feeling
resulting from the armistice between
Greece and Turkey and the prospect of
peace in the Levant. Favorable crop
reports from the West gave a strong
undertone to the grangers, and induced
covering of short contracts in that
group. although the uncertainty about
the Cuban developments at Washington
evidently prevented a large interest
from taking the initiative on the bull
side.
The tariff has been for the time being