Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1899-09-28
GOOD DEMAND.
Buying Of Products Sustained
at q Remarkable Rate.
NO REACTION is VISIBLE.
The Prices on Few Articles Advance as
Much as the Wages and the Emu
ployment of Labor-A Fur
ther Rise In Iron.

-
ployment of Labor-A Fur
ther Rise In Iron.
New York, Sept. 23.-'-The reaction
in the stock market is not sign of
anything outside that market, but has
set many ITO look for signs of reac-
tion elsewhere. Such signs have been
hard to find. 1t has been for months
a wonder that the demand for products
was sustained at rates exceeding past
consumption in any year, notwith-
standing the general raise in prices,
But the. demand does not appear to
abate, and the rise in prices continues.
A partial explanation is that scarcely
any class of products directly consum-
ed by individuals has advanced as much
as the wages and employment Of labor.
with more hands ait work more
hours and at 10 to Is per cent higher
wages the gain in purchasing power
has been quite beyond the rise of A
per cent in boots and shoes this year,
or 8 per cent in leather SO per cent
in wooden goods, OF 1913 per cent in
| wool, and even beyond the rise of II
per cent in cotton goods. mainly due
to the rise of 10 per centsin cotton.
But products used in manufacturing
and transporting have advanced much
more because .of the erroneous in
crease in volume of business done and
in anticipated business for the future.
Higher prices cause shrinking demand,
other things being equal, but this year
other things are not equal" -
After thus describing present bust
ness conditions in the United States,
r.: G. Dun g. Co.'S Weekly Review of
Trade, issued today, continues:
Wheat exports fall a. little below last
years, but in three weeks, -four includ-
led, have been s,656,s77y bushels from
aAtlantic. ports, against 9,293 1881, last
year, and 1j0g1 ,29s from Pacific ports,
against GOT, s61 last year. But western
|ireceipts have been. 21;759, $50 bushels,
against 23,099,379 last year, ,anda,even
more impressive are the receipts of
1s,515,932 bushels of corn, against H.
177,4S3 last year, and the exports of
s,201, 427 bushels, against 5,943,966 last
year. Prices moved little either way
until Friday. when a sharp advance
made the weeks gain one-quarter.
| Further government reports have
been so far credited, abroad that cotton
has risen to 6.62 cents. but it comes
forward more freely than in years of
maximum crops.
When men pay So to SIS per ton more
than the latest quoted price for iron
products in order to get early delive-
ries 1t is because delay is threatened
on works OF railroads or bridges, yes
sells or machinery, promising a net
profit many times the cost of a small
fraction of the material. In Such cir
cumstances,sas in much of the recon
lstruction and expansion now, going on,
present cost counts for little compared
with the earning power ofathe finished
product1in a time like this. Bessemer
land anthracite pig are unchanged;
gray forge at Pittsburg and Chicago
and Southern iron are higher, bars SO
per ton higher and plates $3sper ton
Iand rails 81 per ton. Most of the bus
illness is for next year, with premiums
\ paid for more speedy delivery.
Negotiations for consolidation OF
Fall River cotton mills have developed
a contest between those favoiing local
or non-local management, with a new
| selling arrangement announced for
other plain goods as well as for print
fcloths. Prices of prints have been cut
one-quarter of a cent for indigo blues,
but otherwise the demand is strong.
The American WOODEN company has
announced that the whole production
of all its worsted mills has been sold.
(which may give unexpected opportun-
4 tiles for other mills. It's contracts for
u great quantity of new machinery in
dictate belief that within its field the
demand for goods will much exceed
the capacity of its works. Prices have
been firm, with wool somewhat strong
er since the general advance at London
sales. Sales at the three chief markets
4 We're 13,443.sOo pounds.
Failures for the week have been 1874
in the United States, against ITS last
year, and eighteen in Canada, against
sixteen last year.
Brastreet's says,
Satisfactory trade and price condi-
tons apparently still reign. So few,
in fact. are the reports of poor trade
fithat favorable reports may be said 10
be almost unanimous. An expanded
volume. of fail: trade. is indicated by
The aggregate OF. bank clearings for
The week, though reports from some
markets point to the greatest rush be-
ing over. Prices as n rule maintain
lull their former strength, decreases be-
ing few and relatively unimportant.