The sun., 1900-11-17
THE STATE OF TRADE.
Comment by Dun's Review on the
Business of the Week.
RAILROAD STOCKS ADVANCE.
Activity Mt Iron and Steel Mills Re-
ported to Be steadily increasing,
With mn Equally Uniform Ad-
vance IN Quotations.

New York, Nov 1G-R. G.. Dun &
Co.'S weekly review of trade says:
Sixty railroad stocks this week ad-
vaneed to an average price of SIIT.12 per
share, the highest in ~ years The top
point of September, 1889, was STG.29 per
share. Wall stfcct Il moving, as is its
CUSTOM Il ltl,p III advance of the rest Of
the country hat there is not one Of the
great industries ~ which contracts, de-
layed until after election, are not being
closed. daily. Prices Or commodities ad-
vance almost without exception, and all
the changes in manufactured goods are
i'll the direction 0f iirmer quotations. The
SHallness Of stocks u goods carried is d
feature of oili reports from most of the
leading contefs. Scarcity Of labor gives
manuiactureg. ii the. middle states great
concern.
Largely on rcod1t of Wall street onel-
atinAs payments through He New York
clearing house Show il gain Of - per
cent for The Wcek compared with last
Eal, NltilG tle elin over 1898 is AS
lQp cent. For loading cities outside Of
NrW 40rl, lherc Is !: asa of % per cent
from fN99, hHt 4 gaia uf n per cent
over 1s!ls fdr the Neck. Railroad earn
iA-s still 5haW GOOD results all lines re-
porting for Octlhm gaining Gl per cont
OVER lS!E lna 2il Rpi' ccut over 1888.
ihaa1l greater interruption u business,
due to tho election. c;ilsea i reduction
~ tta gam n :sf1@s f0r tha hst week
Of November 70 = jl@l cont. tr shortage
is reported fFom tlle Ohio riyet region
Activity NJ iron and steel mills steadily
increases, mud thrro is Ha equally uni
form advance iii quotations The gain
hats been more general this week than at
ANY previous time Ills season, pig iron
moving UP - cents ton and corrc
spending gains appearing in bars, billets,
plates and structural materials generally.
Instead of the recent agitation for cheap
er steel rails there is now talk Of an adj
vance to S2S owing to the further rise in
steel billetS. Orders come forward in the
best volume since last spring, when there
was severe imitation of prices, and re-
quests for quick delivery are general.
The report of pig iron production on Nov.
] by The Iron Age shows a weekly ca
pacty of only 215,304 tons, the smallest
since September, 1893, but the reduction
of $4,000 tons from Oct. 1 in furnace
stocks is most encouraging. These fig
ures, with the activity in all branches OF
the industry, indicate that there will he
no further reduction in output, but the
December statement will probably show
more than 200 furnaces in blast.
The Cotton Market.
Cotton rose slightly. Exports to Great
Britain continued heavy even at prices
cents higher than year ago. Total cot
ton shipments in October were valued at
S60,391, ,107. exceeding all records and
showing gain Of 200 per cent over the
previous month.
New Orleans took about 100000 morr
from New York this week for crop move
mcnt, but otherwise the interior business
in currency was largely in favor of oul
banks. the gain approximating $2,0O0,00G
| from all sources. Government ntaking>
Of money were small, and pension pay
ments increased. while the Pacific coast
sent more drafts on tho New York sub.
treasury against deposits Of new gold 1T
San Francisco. Although exchange was
| tirmer, it was believed that steamers soon
arriving from Europe might bring some
gold ordered before Rates stif'cnpd, and
futher Australian shipments will soon be
due.
Our foreign trade still indicates that
we shall have Il great store of gold at
command next season. Exports from this
city i'll two weeks of November were ia
per cent larger than last year, with less
than per cent gain in imports.
Final returns FOR October show mer-
chandisc exports exceeding all records by
S25.000,000 and making the balance of
trade for the month $92 2,4Tj,226 in favor
of this country. Rates for money aver
age 11a per cent higher for street loans,
though railroad collateral was taken at
per cent when loans largely on indus
trials were refused at 6 per cent. The
banks are proceeding carefully and are
doing nothing to encourage another pc
riod of overspeculation in industrials.
which could have but one outcome. Com
mercial paper was more active at the
start, but the market received shock in
the large dry goods liquidation.
Failures for the week were 217 in the
United States against 219 last year and
80 in Canada against 20 last year