The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1898-01-18
BRADSTREET AND DUN
The New Year Has Opened
Very Bright.
CORN EXPORTS LARGE
ACCUMULATION or
WHEAT At CHICAGO.
LARGE ORD RS FROM WOULts "'Ilo
The Falling Off in Wheat Exports Was Que
to Holiday Quiet and Not from a
Smaller Demand from Abroad
failures Smaller.
failures Smaller.

failures Smaller.
New York, Jan. 14.-k. u. Dun ~
comnany's weekly review OF trade WIZ
GOV in its issue tomorrow:
III year has opened with a very sat
;sfactorv prospect. 1t is all the pettci
that there is no wild excitement III 'le
speculative markets and Wnlle stoCho
ADVANCE a little, grain yields a little. Inc
payments through prlnclpa1 -
honses. Notwithstanding a decrease al
Now York owing to less activity IN STOCKS
GRO . G ner cent larger than IN 1917 ana
IN nnr cent larger outside OF New
York. Earnings of all railroads IN the
Tinted States reporting for December,
$40. 364. 279, indicate substantially the
romo rate of increase, exceeding last
wears by 1913 per cent and the earnings
of 1892 for the same roads Dy 10 Per
cont. Since 1892 was on the Whole the
most prosperous year thus far, compar-
sons indicate. Notwithstanding the low
est prices ever known, that the volume or
business is larger, and in spite OF some
c,tting of rates. the earnings OF rallroaoS
arc larger than in the best year OF past
history.
The wheat market has been curlously
languid. yielding Il of a cent, altnouSn
Atlantic exports amount to ,Ooo,i
bushels for the two weeks OF january,
against 3,9S6.317 last year and Pacllc
exports for the week have been 100
676 bushels. Western receipts continue
so heavy that with the greatest accumu-
lation of wheat at Chicago ever known
there is little encouragement for specula-
ton and receipts were 5,727,230 bushels
for two weeks. against 3.O0S,66S bushels
last year.
Corn exnorts continue large, amounting
to 316O,6SS bushels. against Boz
bushels for the week last year. The price
declined about q of a cent. Spot cotton
is a sixteenth lower for mlddl1ng up
lands. mainly because of the stoppage Of
some mills by difficulty about wages.
But nothing is definitely Known about
the quantity of cotton yet coming for
ward and one report of creditable char
acter puts the years yield at 1O,5lO,2oO
bales. though results thus far do not
quite justify so large an estimate.
The iron furnaces in blast January l
report an output of 226.60S tons weekly
against 226.O 24 weekly December 1, with
an increase of 12,4S1 tons in the unsold
stocks held by furnaces. While this
shows a consumption 5212 per cent larg-
er than a year ago. there would be dis
couraging indications of consumption but
for the fact that several furnaces were
stopped for the holidays and these with
several others have started since Jan
uary /. while the demand for. finished
products does not diminish. The Penn
sylvania Railroad has ordered 100000
tons steel rails and a new railroad in
Maine 1000 tons and other orders for
cars, railroad supplies. plates, bars and
structural material are unusually large
for the season.
The wooden manufacturers AVE been
buying wool largely and for reasons not
publicly explained. 1t is evident that
large orders nave been taken by the
leading mills at prices which they find
satisfactory. and the rush of small mills
to buy wool has made most of the market
during the past week, although sales
have declined about 40 per cent compar-
ed with the previous week. But there
is decidedly better demand for mems
wear goods and the makers look for
ward to a good season. The cotton man
ufact- IS heavily overloaded by exces-
sive production, find no increase in de-
mand and no gain in prices.
Failures for the past week have been
$40 in the United States against 455 last
year and 40 in Canada, against II last
year.
BRADSTREE'S.
New York, Jan. 14.-Bradstreets to-
morrow Will say:
Distributive trade remains rather
quiet, mild weather throughout the
country tending to check distribution Of
winter goods. Prices generally remain
steady or tend upward, except for some
grades Of iron, and orders for spring
trade, where received, are encouraging.
Industrial activity is most manifest at
the west, where the demand for iron
is very large. A feature of the week
was the placing of an order by one
railroad for 1OO.O 900 tons of steel rails
with smalled orders ~aggregating in the
neighborhood of $4,000 tons more. Pig
iron production is now at an unpreceden-
ted rate, the furance capacity being esti-
mated at 1000, 900 tons a month. At
the South manufacturing activity is n
feature, sales Of iron being very heavy.
4 good export demand for cotton and
grain at steady prices is also a feature.
At the east a number of strikes against
wage reductions are reported or expected
in the cotton industry. Some wooden
mills, working OF heavy mems wear
goods, are refusing orders, their capa-
city being fully booked. Anthracite coal
production, it is hoped in that trade. will
be restricted sufficiently to allow of the
advance of 20 to 40 cents per ton being
maiigtained. Weather has been disap-
pointing at he Northwest, but an i'm
provement in the demand DEVELOPED at
some centres as the week advanced,
The rush to Alaska has already begun
on the Pacific coast. Freight charters
are reported lower. Export trade con
tinues large, a gain of s per cent on
the total export of breadstuffs, cotton,
mineral, oils, cattle and hogs and pro
visions being shown both for December
and the calendar year.
The recent falling off in wheat ex-
ports prove, as was indicated last week
in Bradstreet's to have been due tc
the usual holiday quiet and not to any
falling off of demand from abroad. The
total export of wheat flour included
as wheaD from the United States and
Canada for this week amounted tc