The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-01-28
THE CONSOLIDATION CRAZE.
Part of 1t Is Due to Spe"uIGtiOm--EN
ports of Wheat and Corn.

Part of 1t Is Due to- SperuIatiOn--f:N-
ports of Wheat and Corn.
NEW YORK, Jan. Bradstreet's to-
morrow will say: The apparent steady rise
in the amount of business has been DIVERSE
fled this week by an outburst of speculative
interest in number of staples, notably cot
ton and whaat, which heretofore have reg
istered steady gains on actual consumptive
demand rather than on the development Of
marked bullish speculation. Large trans
actions and buoyant prices have been fea-
lures in these staples, and signs are not
wanting that sympathetic though smaller
movements in a number of other lines are
either under way or contemplated. Excep-
tional industrial activity, particularly in the
iron and steel trades, is another feature
of note, and here, too, price advances are
all but general, rejecting so far as can
be seen, chiefly the urgency of consumers
requirements, the claim in fact being made
that speculation has not as yet entered
into the buying in this branch of industry.
The same claim, however, can hardly be
made as regards a number of movements
towards consolidation in this and other in
dustries where in fact, the movement to-
ward combination is described as approach
ing a virtual craze. In the regular chan
nels of distributive trade conditions con-
tinue in the main satisfactory, the volume
Of spring orders st most markets being
reported ~ larger than in any recently
preceding year at this time.
While ii is hardy possible to fix the en-
tire responsibility for the bullishness in
wheat and cotton on the movement which
so far has proved so successful in stocks,
the claim is freely made that considerable
profits realized in the stock market have
sought expression in the channels of staple
food and textile distributions. Color IS Civ
en- to this claim by the fact that the stua~
tion in actual wheat shows but little change
from recent weeks. 1t is true that the ten
dency to pare down alleged official esti-
reports from the West have been more en-
couraging to the holders of actual wheat,
but the magnitude of the outburst of new
buying, shared in by former persistent
shorts in wheat alone hardly explain the
activity in this market which has resulted
in the highest prices reached since the col
lapse of the Letter deal
Wheat including -four shipments for the
week, aggregate 4,997,572 bu. against 5,19S671
bu last week, 5.026024 bu in the correspond
ing week Of 1898, 2,5l5.40S bu in 1897, 1850 206
bu in 1896, and 2,4S3S5S bu in 1895 Since
July l, this season, the exports of wheat ag-
gregate 144. ,291 bu against 146 494,SS9 bu
last year Corn exports for the week aggre-
gate 1886 1893 bu, against 292S, 191 bu last
week 1852, ,559 bu in this week a year ago,
3011 G02 bu in 1897 31970S6 bu in 1896, and
942 461 bu in 1885, Since July /, this season,
corn exports aggregate 5,115,92 bu. against
96, $685. 73S bu during the same period year
ago.
business failures are fewer in number,
aggregating 246, against 262 last week, 2SS
in this week a year ago. 326 in 1897, 1913 in
1896, and 312 in 1895.