The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1900-05-26
down 10 RIGHT PRICES
Trade Settles So Slowly as to
Avoid Loss.
HIGHEST POINT MARCH 10
Range Was But As Per Cent
Lower May 10.

| IUWCi way iV'
New York, May 2S.-R, G. Dun & Co.'S
weekly review OF trade tomorrow will
say: Transition to more natural range
Of prices after a time of extraordinary
buying, speculation and rise. is not wholly
delightsome. however needful lit may be
to business health. But the gradual
| change this year, though wearying, has
given opportunity in. various branches to
avoid loss.
1t is nearly six months since the high
est prices of pig iron were reached, No
vember %, and of wool, December l, while
hides reached their maximum December
81, leather and iron products January 10,
boots and shoes January "a. woods Feb
ruary q and cotton and cotton goods
March q. The tables given by this pa
per have shown that the highest point
of all prices was March Is, and after two
months Of slow decline the range for al
prices was but As per cent lower May
16 But the past week has added its full
share, fall of 1-2 per cent in cotton,
3 per cent in pig iron, 1.5 per cent in
iron goods, per cent in hides, 1-2 per
cent in boots and shoes and 1-2 in leath-
er and petroleum, and a little in many
other products
The decline in cotton was rendered SEN
sational by the failure of the firm which
had most strongly resisted 1t and for
some months had led the campaign for
high prices in the belief that stocks for
the rest of this year would scarcely meet
demands with the next crop in doubt
The course of the market for some
months to come can not well be predict
ed as provision for the future has been
made by soinners 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 com
plant of cancellations and of slow col
lections. But the market is waiting rath-
er than unhealthy, and with quick ad-
justnent TO lower range of prices for
material might soon become active as
at any other time for years. The silk
manufacture is helped by reduction in
hemp also aids a manufacture which is
beginning to accomplish 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 $3.50 asked by the asso-
citation, while prices of finished products
of iron and steel have declined more than
II per cent within two months, without
any reduction in rails, structural shapes,
or on sheets. No. l Lehigh pig is quot
ed here at 81 and the best anthracite
$50 at Philadelphia. But doubt about
sufficient supplies about steel-making iron
for coming months seems the one i'm
pediment to renewal of activity. Tin is
also shade lower, with copper and lead
unchanged this week. Sales Of Connels-
Vile Coke below prices recently quoted
exhibit in strong light the change in the
iron manufacture. Sudden and extensive
changes are now reported in leather ami
boots and shoes, apparently resulting
from the unyielding refusal of many
dealers to place anything like their usual
orders for the season at prices recently
| asked. Concessions are now reported at
! 2 - to cents per pair in leading grades
for which such reduction was not report
ed a wekk ago, so that the general de-
cline averages about per cent 1t was
| doubtless based in part upon considerable
! concessions in I5atheT, as It now appears
that subsequently all staple grades have
| been sold at prices IL to l II cents be-
low those recently quoted, the fail aver
/ aging about 1-2 per cent.
The movement of breadstuffs has not
materially changed, Atlantic exports of
wheat, finur iocuded, having been In
four weeks 1O,405,5 97 bushels, against s.
675,165 last year. Pacific exports ., 81, 7g1.
against 1,SS2. 7O3 last year. and exports of
corn 15,9IL6Sl. against 10. 267, 662 last year.
| Prices have changed very little, the ex-
element being concentrated upon cotton,
which declined 7-16e.
| Failures for the week have been 1S5 in
the United States against JAP last year
and 20 in Canada, against &c last year.
BRADSTREETS.
New York, May 25.-Bradstreet's to-
morrow will says: Tride Is, if anything,
quieter and prices are lower than a week
! ago. while efforts toward a readjustment
of productive capacity TO present condi-
tons are noted in several lines Of in
dustry, notably iron and steel, and lum-
her. Unsettled conditions in the cotton
trade and large failure. due mainly to
overstaying the bull side OF this staple.
has tended TO weaken quotations in sew
eral lines Of speculative business. Rather
better crop reports. and the backward
/ demand for cotton goods are. Of course,
partly responsible for the sharp break,
but statistically the stample remains very
| strong. Crop reports are as a whole
good. except for wheat. AS regards the
latter it may be said that in the north
west some much-needed rains have fall
len. but the claim is made that more