The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1900-05-05

JUST Plain REACTION
From Abnormal Activity, Is
Dun's Emphatic Word.
No SIGNS OF DISASTER
Future Prosperity Conditioned
on Present Recession.

New York, May Ar. G. Dun & Co. s
weekly review of trade tomorrow Will
say: Failure returns for April are es-
pecially valuable because they show that
there does not exist, in the most impor-
tant branches of business. the conditions
which threaten disaster. They call at
tention to one line in which some curtail-
ment had seemed from previous returns
to be in progress and has been fastened
by extensive strikes in the building trades
/ The state of business has been represent
ed to it, and used to support, several
/ theories already. The simple fact is that
some reaction from the abnormal excite
ment and expansion and rise OF prices
( last year was necessary to continued.
prosperity. It's duration may therefore
be expected to depend upon the prompt
ness with which production and prices
adjust themselves to actual demands.
Much progress in that adjustment has
been made during the past week, with
increased activity already resulting.
Strikes springing from disputes about
the terms OF work and wages for the
coming year have also made distinct pro-
gress toward settlement. The reduction
in prices of iron and steel and their pro-
ducts has gone far enough to bring out
much new business. At the end of last
week cut nails were reduced 45 cents per
key and in plates and bars somewhat
lower prices have been reported Prices
for sheets have not yet been named, but
in pipes and tubes there is some yielding,
with larger business in fence and other
wire since the reduction Not a sale of
Bessemer gig is reported, the associa-
ton still asking $24.90 while eastern pig
is offered at Pittsburg below $23 ana local
forge is lower at $500, with eastern at
$1975 Chicago local coke has declined
30 cents, and southern also. Eastern
markets are irregular, with growing be-
lief that an output exceeding consump
ton will reduce prices until the demand
again expands. There are large foreign
contracts for pig pending, and important
sales of finished products for export
have been made 1t helps toward better
adjustment that coke is quoted 81 per ton
lower than a month ago, and anthracite
coal has also declined.
The close of the wool year has come
without the scarcity which some expect
ed but with the average of quotations by
Coates Bros reduced in April about 1
cent Sales have been small. and yet
have SO far refrained as to show that
they were much better supplied, six
months or a year ago, than dealers are
willing to believe The market for goods |
excepting the most favored staples, has |
been so far unsettled and irregular as TO |
give small encouragement for buying |
wool at current prices. Interior holders |
are still strong, hoping that the end of
the season brings the end of manufac-
turers' stocks. Cotton gods have also
shown similar weakness in transactions
for future delivery and new business is |
narrow. Until prospects for the new crop |
are more settled, the pressure of English !
spinners for supplies tends strongly to |
hold up prices here, though foreign mill |
stocks are now heavy.
April exports of breadstuffs have been |
large, both wheat and corn surprising /
last years record. Atlantic exports Of |
wheat in five weeks, flour included, have |
reached IOSO,9O3 bushels. against 1914, |
79S last year. Pacific exports 3,5l3 bush
els, against 2,090,737 last year, and corn |
exports 15,773,300 against 12,740942 last
year. In spite of conflicting stories the
of wheat from the farms con-
tinues larger than a year ago The price
closed as 1t opened, while corn declined
, cents
All exports from New York in four
weeks have been 33.4 per cent. or over
ST, 100000 larger than last year, and with
the gain of $15,G0O.0o0 in cotton from other
ports, the months aggregate for mer-
chandise should rise above a hundred
millions. Imports show a small gain. but
will hardly exceed seventy. millions.
Failures for the week have been 209
in the United States, against 15S last year,
and q in Canada, against % last year.
BRADSTREETS
New York. May 4-Bradstreet's tonor-
row will say: A further subsistence of
demand and levelfng of prices is noted
in several lines this week, this process
being. no doubt. aided by the unsettling
effect of the rather more than usually
disturbed conditions in labor circles. The
net result is something approaching dull