New-York tribune., 1899-02-17
PRICES RISING, But YET Low.

PRICES RISING, But YET Low.
A general advance in prices Of commodities
has taken place since January l. in which near
ly all classes have shared. In all it has been
TO February only 1.1G per cent, though greater
i'm several classes In dairy and garden prod
ucts the average declined in January because
of lower prices for butter and eggs, not wholly
balanced by some advance in potatoes ana
fruits. In miscellaneous food there was
slight decline during the month lower prices
of sugar and salt being nearly balanced by
higher prices for tea. rice and spices, with
liquors. tobacco and fish unchanged In all
other classes there was net advance, not un-
accustomed at this season In most, but unusu-
ally large in the metal class. In the mlscel-
laneous class-embracing lumber. building ma
rerials paints and chemcals-it was insignlil-
cant mainly i'm turpentine. lnSced oil ana
drugs In meats II even smaller the ad-
vance i'm pork products being partly balanced
bv some decline in beef cattle though reported
losses by storms at the West may not improb-
ably affect that market The main changes
have been in breadStuffs, clothing and metal
products.
Wheat rose pretty sharply In January, with
some imitation i'm oats. barley and rye. The
heavy exports and progress Of the season toward
the point Of active speculation regarding the
coming crop render such changes quite natu-
raj. In the clothing class there was no adj
vance in wool or woollens. but little decline
Hides and leather have advanced without any
rise in boots and shoes, and rubber has risen
10 81 for Para. Silk is n shade dearer, though
no rise is yet observed in goods. The great
change in this class has been in cotton and cot
ton goods both having advanced little over
s per cent in January. and the rise has con
tlnued i'm February. While this has been partly
the effect OF combinations to restrict compet-
ton I'm goods. a much more important cause
has been the noteworthy decline in the guam
titv Of cotton coming forward which created
an imnression that the yield might have been
oyercstimated and was used to create behet
that the years supply would fall below the
years requirements for consumption Of which
there is not the least probability. The guam
tity already in sight and the large known stocks
on hand and unconsumed make it practically
certain that a large surplus will remain.
The movement in the metal class has been
general. bur did rot begin in iron and its prod
ucts until It had been In progress for months
across the water in the minor metals. Lead
has advanced since last May though only %
per cent Copper began over a year ago. though
il did not rise much until last fall. but in all
has risen 30 per cent. while tin advanced all
last year. and in thirteen months 81 per cent,
these movements being mainly governed by
sncculatlvo operations in London. Foreign de-
mands also accounted in part for the advance
Of 4S per cent in refined oil since last May.
Coal is lower than it was last year until July
though unchanged since January |. Pg-ron
began to rise in July with heavy demand, ana
from that point to February rose Q per cent.
products Of iron and steel were lower on Au-
Gust / than on July 1. bur to February ] the
advance had reached 13 per cent In scarcely
any of these products was there any rise Of
conseouence until December but tinplateS were
taken under charge Of n combination which
from that date 10 February ! advanced the
price 90 per cent and the nail combination In
the same time hoiSted wire nails 20 per cent.
since making it 2S per cent. and cut nails -
nor cent Rails were advanced Is per cent,
bars at Pittsburg Is per cent. plates at the
East 10 per cent angles at Pittsburg per
cont and beams per cent Most Of these ad-
vances have legitlmately resulted from de-
mond heavier than could be promptly filed,
tbouoh there has been no such excuse in nails
The entire metal class IS In relative impor-
tanco only about II per cent Of the whole value
Of commodities Quoted and the articles in that
class which have greatly advanced are by no
means relatively the more important. In judg-
ing Of the rise in prices It is necessary 10 re-
member that the average for all on December
was only 10 per cent above the lowest point
eyer known. which was in July. 1897. Reck-
oning articles according 10 their relative i'm
portance the entire rise from that lowest point
on February / was 12.S per cent. Of which 53
per cent was in breadstufs. per cent in dairy
and garden products and 4 per cent in meats
In these three classes. which embraced most
of the farm products. Is found 81 per cent Of
the rise from the lowest point while In all
other commodities the rise has been Al per
cent Of the whole Of which over = per cent
IS due TO the new war taxes imposed on tobacco
and beer Less than 81 per cent remains for
all other products of which IL per cent was
in the clothing class. including raw cotton and
wool. | Der cent in the entire metal class and
not G per cent in all other manufactured and
imported articles With this rise, the average
Of all products on February | was lower than
II ever was until the summer Of 1894. either
during or for a year after the panic of 1893.
------------
Mccartney ought to be thankful for small