The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1900-05-10
REVIEW OF. TRADE.
Conditions which Threaten Disaster
shown by Dun AZ Co. Not
to Exist.

New York. May 5.-R. G. Dun & Co.'S
weekly review of trade says: Failure re-
turns for April are especially valuable be-
cause they show that there does not exist,
in the most important branches of business,
the conditions which threaten disaster.
They call attention to one line in which
some curtailment had seemed from preV-
Gus returns to be in progress and has been
FASTENED by extensive strikes in the build
ing trades. The state of business has been
represented to fit and used to support
several hundred theories already. The sim
pie fact is that some reaction from the abb
normal excitement and expansion and rise
of prices last year was necessary to con-
tinued prosperity. It's duration may there
fore be expected to depend on the prompt
ness with which production and prices ad-
just themselves to actual demands. Much
progress in that adjustment has been made
during the past week, with increased ac-
tiVity already resulting. Strikes springing
from disputes about the terms Of work and
wages for the coming year have also made
distinct progress toward settlement.
Failures for the week have been 209 in
the United States, against 1853 last year,
and q in Canada, against % last year"
Bradstreet's says: "a further subsistence
of demand and of the level of prices is noted
In several lines this week, this process be-
ing, no doubt, aided by the unsettling eff
feet of the rather more than usually dis
turbed conditions in labor circles. The net
result is something approaching dullness
in many channels of distribution, increased
conservatism in the making of ventures and
a disposition to digest business already ar
ranged for before making new engage
ments. That the basic conditions of gen
eral business, such as the outlook for the
crops, the export demand and the in
creased purchasing power of the people at
large, have not been much reduced, but
on the contrary, actually improved, seems
evident from the advices received this
week. Business at wholesale is relatively
quieter which is not unusual at this period
but more than ordinarily marked attention
Is being concentrated upon the retail de-
mand, which is, of course, relied upon as
measure of the progress of actual con-
sumption. Touching this particular de-
inand it may be stated that relatively best
reports come from the Paclhc coast ana
from the northwest.
.'Good crop prospects and the weakness
I'm provisions, charged partly to in
creased receipts of hogs, but also attributed
to bear operations by packers, have exer-
cised depressing effect upon corn and to
a less extent upon wheat. The situation in
iron and steel is still a mixed one. No di-
npinution of strength Of pig iron is reported
at such centers as Birmingham and Pitts
burgh, and predictions are that the ruling
price for bessemer pig will not be shaded
during the last half of the year. Some
cutting of pig iron prices is reported at the
west, however. The report from Birming-
ham is most encouraging one, due mainly
to the reawakened export inquiry hereto
fore noted. Scotch buyers are reported to
have taken 5000 tons this week, and an
order for 100000 tons for Germany, for de-
livery next year, is under negotiation, with
the differences between the buyer and SELL
er so small that expectations favor salts
factory outcome"