Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1898-09-03
FINE TRADE OUTLOOK
ENORMOUS VOLUME OF BUSINESS.
This I'm Month Usually One Of the
Most Inactive OF the Year-Pros-
pect, Moreover, of Much Further
Increase.
Increase.

NEW YORK, September 2.-Messrs. X.
G. Dun Sc Co.'S weekly review Of trade
will say tomorrow:
The smallest failures ever reported IN
any month Tor FIVE years were those OF
August. No other month since the month
ly reports were commenced by Dun's re-
view exclusively has shown defauted liza
biiities az small-withn 81, 900, OOO-and the
ratio OF such defaults to solvent business
represented by exchanges through all
clearing N0S.7O in the $780,
oOO-is smaller by 26.5 per cent than in any
previous month, the clesrings having been
the largest ever known In August, and
30 per cent larger than in 1892.
The enormous volume of business in a
month usually one OF the most inactive
Of the year demands attention. Post
ponement during the months Of war OF
some contracts. and purchases which have
now come forward, explain part of the
increase, and the strong absorption OF Sc
curities explains part, but there has also
been a marked decline in the average OF
prices for all commodities, so that IL takes
a much larger volume Of business In tons
or bushels 10 make up transactions
amountingeto million more than in 1872.
IL is, therefore, strictly true that bust
ness is larger than in the very best OF all
past years and yet there is every pros
pect of a much further increase.
WHEAT. CORN. AND COTTON.
There is no room to doubt that the
wheat crop. even though IT may Iall
shade below some estimates, Will prove
the largest ever harvested. and although
BeeTbohm estimates the crop at 2}2,COOOOJ
bushels more than the last that would
only be about an average, while other
evidence is less favorable. Foreign buy
ing has been strong, so that Atlantic ex-
ports for the week have been 3.326,SlS
bushels, against 1854, 75S last year. But re-
ceipts at the West are increasing, ana
the price has dropped cents Tor spot,
though the September option is 7-oths
lower for the week. Corn has fallen
fraction, later reports indicating a less
satisfactory yield, and probably not more
than should be consumed at home In en-
larging the stock of animals. The ad-
vance Of a 10Th in cotton, 70 5.a cents,
has followed a little better milling de-
mand. with rather less favorable reports
OF probable yield, but the crop is at the
worst likely to exceed the worlds needs.
The New Orleans Cotton Exchange makes
the output for the past year 11.lsJ.9S4 bales
and southern consumption 1872, gu bales.
IRON.
The Improvement in the iron industry
has not only continued, bue becomes
more impressive because. after enormous
buying OF materials has satisfied the
needs of great consumers for months to
come, the demand for the product is so
great that both materiGs and products
gradually advance in price.
The woollen mills have rather better
orders this week, but not enough as yet
to warrant running nearly full force.
with the price of wool held at the West
much above eastern markets, and by
those markets about l cent higher than
the mills are bidding.
In cotton manufacture. there is bet
ter demand with a sixteenth rise in
print-cloths, though brown sheetn9s are
shade lower. the demand for other
goods being still fairly strong.
Failures for the week have been III
in the United States, against l5l last year.
and twenty-five in Canada, against
| TWENTY-FIVE last year.