The Oskaloosa herald., 1900-05-24
SHOWS 4 FAILING OFF.
Conditions ia the commercfaI world
Not SO Encouraging NJ They
Were n Year Ago.

New York, May 19.-R. G, Dun & Co.'S
Weekly Review of Trade says: "Business
is not what 1t was a year ago, but men do
not agree in defining the difference, The
working force, then increasing fast, is now
decreasing Works are stopping 70 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 lead, wire and nails.
What seems to SONS merely spring dull
ness others think the beginning of re-
action The remedy for one difaculty does
not 6t the other, and there Is more need
than usual for close attention to the mean
ing Of events. In place of the wild specu-
lation in securities which swelIed ex-
changes a year ago there has come such
M%qnfdation that 20 preferred industrial
stocks have sold his week at prices aver
aging $sS,14 per share, though the same
stocks sold In April last year for 1896 per
share, and 20 common have sold this week
for $3.50 which sold last year at 1868,
double the price. Yet many OF these COM
panies have earned and paid good divi-
dends and all have enjoyed q year of ex-
t~raordinary business.
HBusiness in some lines has been him
dered by the holding of prices so high as
to check consumption. The closing of
works by the steel and wire company, fol-
lowed by the reduction of $40 per ton in
prices of fits products; the closing Of many
paper mills because of ov~erproduction; the
sudden reduction of 20 cents per 100 pounds
In lead from the price to which 1t was
raised late in December; the report that
tin plate works may be closed awhile for
similar reasons, create a feeling that some
business no longer has the guarding and
guiding influence of prices answering
quickly to the demand for consumption.
But progress toward a healthy adjustment
has been rapid within the past week.
"The movement Of grain continues large,
corn still rivaling wheat in quantity ex-
ported. Atlantic exports of wheat In three
weeks of May have been, flour included,
S,232,0n bushels, against 7,016,540 last year,
and Pacific exports 2,203,s09 against 1867
906 last year, while exports of corn in the
same weeks ave been 1~0,3S2,95S bushels,
against 6.914,536 last year. Wheat has adj
vanced over a cent, and corn shows no
change for the week, but in both grains
the prospect for the coming crop is excel
lent.
Failures for the week nave been III in
the United States, against i47 last year,
and 80 in Canada, against II last year."
Bradstreet's says: Continued dullness
in many branches and a further shading
in several staple lines constitute the lead
ing features in the business situation this
week. The weakness of prices is displayed
In lower quotations for corn, pork, but
ter, cheese, wool and cotton among the
great agricultural products, and petroleum
and lead among mineral productions.
Wheat is slightly higher, partly owing to
less favorable crop reports here and
abroad. The iron and steel situation is no
stronger, and shaded prices fail to develop
much new business. The industrial situa-
ton is on the whole rather better than
for some time past, In that new disturb-
ances are fewer and some old ones have
been settled up, but the practical tie-up at
Chicago is still unbroken. At st. Loui all
kinds of business have been hurt blythe
strike Of street railway employees, and un-
certainty at other cities, particularly in
the building trades, has had an unsettling
effect upon lumber.