The record-union., 1898-02-26
cereals to those Of lower priced char

cereals to those of a lower priced char
acter.
At the East last weeks squirt in the
dry goods trade at Boston does not
seem to have been held. but al New
York there is considerable more doing
in the jobbing trade.
The cotton situation is one of firm
ness. rejecting like curtailment Of pro-
duction growing out of labor troubles
and the firmness of raw cotton in
duced by a good export demand.
Wool is firm, but the demand has
perceptibly Stacked, and there is less
doing in manufactured goods The
best report as to the distribution OF
trade made so far this year comes from
the Central West. Spring trade there
is reported earlier than usual.
Kansas City. perhaps the most i'm
portant market for agricultural nipple
ments in the country, reports the de-
mand exceeding all records, and sales
limited only by the ability to deliver
orders. The demand for iron and
steel at the West still continues large,
and the prices are firm. A feature OF
Chicago trade has been the placing OF
an order fer 5000 tons of steel rails
for a railroad in Alaska. Almost equal
ly good reports come from the North
west, where trade is reported either
fully equal to or ahead of last year.
The South seems to have shared in the
improvement to notable extent.
The word Klondike accurately pic
lures the situation on the Pacific
Coast. All eyes appear to be fixed on
the Quitting trade and the trans
portation of men and supplies to the
north.
Exports of wheat Gncluding flour)
from this country and Canada during
the past week Give days. aggregate
3,122, AGO bushels, against 1882. IA
bushels last week, and 1872 PIG bush
els a year ago.
Corn exports amount to 3,692. 100
bushels. against 5,056,5775 bushels last
year ago.
very large drop in the number OF
business failures are indicated by re-
ports to Bradstreets, the total num-
Der being only 1873, against 239 last
week, 25S in the corresponding week
of 1891 and 211 in 1896. Business fail
ures in the Dominion of Canada this
week 40 against So last week, 80 IN
this week a year ago, and 81 in 1896.
EASTERN GRAIN MARKET.
CHICAGO, Feb. 25.-The opening
tone in wheat was somewhat irregu-
lar. May avs quiet and opened at
sc to &c lower, at from ST N31a TO
81 o. and selling down inside of a
minute or two to 81 O2la then rallying
quickly to 81 O3l2 July was by no
means steady. displaying the weakness
that the earlier delivery did. July
opend a shade lower at S934c to S91sc,
where it hesitated for a short time,
then slowly advanced to 9Ohc.
Though news was of a mixed char
acter, that having a bearish tendency
was apparently given the most at
tention at the start. Liverpool was
considerably lower. though not enough
to cause much fresh selling here. The
most important bearish news was the
Argentine shipments, which amounted
last week to !. HOS, 900 bushels. which
was far from bearing out the state
ments that the eXportable surplus of
that country would not exceed "a
coo 600 bushels
ing, however, this sort of news was
lost sight of. The much more conf
dent tone of Wall street and the pros
poets of delay in decisive action over
the Maine disaster induced many sell
erS of yesterday to turn buyers, and
this demand eXerted a favorable in
fiuence on prices Immediately. Fear
of a buying furry which might pun
ish shorts also caused hedging by the
more conservative bears. July de-
veloped more strength than did May,
and more trading was done in that
delivery throughout. The Letter party
probably accumulated 100000 BUSH
els OF July during yesterdays selling
furore, and the amount of bidding for
that option during the morning devel-
oped the fact that the market was
oversold. 1t resulted in a gradual
advance in July to 902ic, May mean
while getting to 81 033s A long Pc
riod of dizziness followed, realizing by
smaller scalpers causing reaction to
81 04 and 90Hc. Afternoon prices
gradually tended downward. A sharp
break in California wheat at Liver
pool Of 2l2d was talked of a good deal,
and helped TO start selling again July
closed S9Ac to $3.50, May 81 OBJ.