The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1900-05-19
AN OVERPRODUCTlON
In Ali Lines Causes Business to Re-
cede From the high Standard Of
Last Year-Healthy Adjustment is
Looked FOr-erain Movements

NSSASN
Large,
NEW YORK, May 1O.-R. c. Dun &
Co.'S Weekly Review of Trade will say
tomorrow;
Business is not what It was a year
ago, but men don't agree In defining the
difference. The working force then in
creaslng fast, is now decreasing. Works
are stopping to relieve excessive output
in manufactures Of paper cotton.
wool, leather and some forms Of steel.
while prices are suddenly reduced for
the same purpose IN iedd, wire and
nails. What seems to some merely
spring duiiuess," others think "tGe
beginning Of reaction" The remedy for
one dlfilcuity does not fll the other end
there Is more need than usual for close
attention to the meaning Of events.
Year Of Extraordinary Business.
In place OF the wild speculation in
securities which swelisd exchanges a
year ago there has come such liquIda-
tlon that twenty preferred industrial
stocks have sold this week at prices hv-
erhglng tSS "a per share, though the
same stocks sold In April Of last year
for 900 90 per share, and twenty COM
mon have sold this waok for lSS 40,
which sold last year at SIC %, double
the price. Yet many OF these compan-
los nave earned and paid good diVi-
dends ana all have enjoyed q year Of
extraordinary business. The lnduBtrials
have reached the lowest average they
have ever known while the sixty most
nctiye railway stocks. th0pBh depFess-
cd about u per share since shriy in
Aprli, afe higher now than In most Of
January or February, higher than
early In December, and higher than a
year ago Business IN some lines has
been hlnderad BY the holding Of prices
10 high as 10 check consumption.
healthy Adjustment Has Been Rapid
The closing OF works by the Steel &
Wire Company, followed BY the re-
ductIon Of t90 per ton In prices Of Its
products; the closing Of many paper
mills because OF over.produutIOh; the
sudden reduction OF seventy cents per
one hundred pounds In lead from the
price to which It was raised late in
December; the report that tin plate
works may be closed while for slmi-
lar reasons, create a feeling that some
business no longer has the guarding
and guiding influence Of prices answer
Ing quickly to the demand for con-
sumption. But progrcss toward q
healthy adjustment has been rapid
within the past week.
Transactions al, Pittsburgh in Besse-
ner pig seem to be largely at guarnn-
teed prices, so that definite quotations
are avoided, though much BesSsmer
from the east is offered ut very low
figures. Grey forge is a shade lower
there and local coke Mt Chicago. while
No. Lehigh is quoted at &2l so here.
strikes Hurt Lne OSuhuu'
Bars sell at Philadelphia for LIS,
while the Pittsburgh association reaf-
firms its quotation Of two cents, which
is shaded. Plntes also sell there at 10
cents, with 1.75 quoted at Philadelphia,
The demand for structural and other
products has been much reduced in
part by building strikes.
woolen manufactures are not meet"
ing very satisfactory market at the
advanced prices asked, and until a
change appears in that respect the hol-
ders OF wool wifi need patience. Cotton
has broken in price and may go lower
ns the time comes for new crop pros
poets to have weight, but the decline OF
an eighth to quarter in brown sheet
lngs and drills has been largely due to
opportunities in the export trade which
have been promptly met. Large sales
rshipment to ChInahave been effected,
said to cover $4,000 bales and for the
first time since August the American
outlook in that direction ls cheering.
Largo Quantities Of Grain Moving.
The movement of grain continues
large, corn stlll rlvallIng wheat in
quantity exported. Atlantic exports OF
wheat in three weeks OF May have been
-four included. ,23g.OIl bushels, against
7,O16,54O last year, and Pacific exports
2,2O3,9 against 1,S6I,0c6 last year, while
exports Of corn in the same weeks have
been 1Ossg,9 95S bushels, against 6.sli,bSs
last year. Wheat has advanced over q
cent and corn shows no change for the
week. but In both grains the prospect
for the coming crop is excellent.
Failures for the week have been III
in the United States. against 1i7 last
year, and 80 in Canada, against II last
,.,,r