Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1900-05-26
DUN'S REVIEW OF TRADE.

NEW YORK, May Pr. G. Dun &
| Co.'S Weekly Review of Trade to-mor-
| row will say:
Transition to a more natural range
of prices after time of extraordinary
| buying, speculation and rise, is not
wholly delightsome, however needful
| it may be to business health. But the
gradual change this year, though
| Wearying, has given opportunity to
various branches to avoid losses. 1t
| is nearly six months since the highest
prices of pig iron We're reached, No
| vember 20, and of wool, December l,
| while hides reached their maximum
December IS, leather and iron products
! January 10, boots and shoes January
"a, woolens February 81, and cotton
| and cotton goods March 81. The tables
| have shown that the highest point for
| all prices was March 16, and after two
| months of slow decline, the range for
all prices was by As per cent lower
May IS. But the past week has added
| its full share, fall of Az per cent in
| cotton, 8 per cent in pig iron, LIS per
| cent in iron products, per cent in
| hides, 21a per cent in boots and shoes,
and 31a per cent in leather 31s per
cent in petroleum, and little in other
products.
The decline in cotton was rendered
| sensational by the failure of the firm
which had most strongly resisted it,
and for some months had led the cam
| paign for high prices in the belief that
| stocks for the rest of this year would
| scarcely meet demands with the next
J crop in doubt. The course of the mar
| ket for some months to come cannot
well be predicted, as provision for the
| future has been made by spinners on
both sides of the ocean.
| Weakness in wool, as yet not enough
| to prompt heavy buying has hindered
| free purchases of goods without doubt,
| and there is of late somewhat more
complaint Of cancellations and Of slow
| collections. But the market is waiting
rather than unhealthy; with quick adj
| justment to lower range of prices for
| material it might soon become as ac-
| tive as at any other time for years.
| The silk manufacturer is helped by re-
| duction in prices of raw, and the de-
cline in Manila hemp also aids a manu-
facture which is beginning to accom-
plish more than many realize.
The nominal price Of Bessemer pig
is held without change at Pittsburg
| and without transactions. Bessemer
| is offered much below the $2490 asked
| by the association, while prices of fin
ished products of iron and steel have
declined more than 10 per cent within
| two months, without any reduction in
rails, structural shapes or in sheets.
Number 1 Lehigh pig is quoted here
at S21 and the best anthracite $22 at
Philadelphia. But doubt about suffi-
cient supplies of steel making iron for
coming months seems the one impedi-
| ment to renewal of activity. Tin is
also a shade lower, with copper and
| lead unchanged this week. Sales of
Connellsville come below prices recent
| ly quoted exhibit in strong light the
| change in the iron manufacture.
Payments through clearing houses
south of the Potomac and west of the
] Alleghanies have at almost every point
| been greater than a year ago, and the
| shrinkage at New York and eastern
| cities is largely because heavy fnan-
| cial operations connected with the Gre
alton of new corporations are now be-
| ing repeated.
Failures for the week have been 185
in the United States against I42 last
year. and 20 in Canada, against 16
| last year.