The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1900-05-19
DUN'S WEEKLY
REVIEW OF TRADE.
Business is Not So Prosperous as it
Was a Year Ago.
DIFFER AS TO THE CAUSES
What Some Regard as More Spring
Dulness to others is the Begin
ming of the Reacrion-Works
Stopping to Relieve Output

NEW YORK, May 1s.-R. G. Dun and
Companys Weekly Review OF Trade to-.
morrow will say:
Business is not what it was year ago.
but men do not agree IN dehnlng the oli-
ference. The working force, then IN
creasing fast. is now decreasing. Works
are stopping to relieve excessive output
in manufactures Of paper. cotton, "coi,
leather and some forms Of steel, Whiie
prices are suddenly reduced for the same
purpose in lead, wire and nails. Nhat
seems to some merely spring dulness,
The remedy for one difficulty does not ut
the other, and there is more need than
usual for close attention to the meaning
OF events.
In place of the wild speculation in Sc
curities which swelled exchanges year
ago. there has come such liquidation that
twenty preferred industrial stocks have
sold this week at prices averaging SSt.14
per share, though the same stocks said
in April last year for 1896 per share, and
twenty common have sold this week for
s3S 40 which sold last year at SI6.93, double
the price Yet many Of these companies
have earned and paid good dividends,
and all have enjoyed a year OF extra
ordinary business. The Industrials have
reached the lowest average they nave
ever known while the sixty most active
railroad sto ks, though depressed about
81 per share since early in April, are
higher now than in most Of January or
February, higher than early in December
and higher than a year ago.
CONSUMPTION CHECKED
Business in some lines has been him
dere. ny the holding of prices SO high
as to check consumption. The closing Oh
works by the Steel and Wire company
followed by the reduction or S2o per Ton
in prices of its products, the closing OF
many naper mills because of ovec-pro-
duction: the sudden reduction of seventy
cents per 100 pounds in lead from the
prico to which it was raised late IN De
cember; the report that tin plate WORKS
NAV be closed while for similar reasons,
create feeling that some business 10
longer has the guarding and suld!ns IN
fuence of prices answering quickly 10
the demand for consumption But prog
ress toward a healthy adjustment mas
been reached within the past week
Transactions at Pittsburg in BessemeI
mig seem to be largely at guaranteed
prices so that definite quotations are
avoided, though much Bessemer from
the East is offered at very low hgures
Grey Forge is a shade lower there, ana
local coke at Chicago, while NO Lee
high is quoted at S2l.5O here. BARS sell
at PhiIadelphia for rs. while the Pitts
burg Association reaffirms its quotation
of two cents. which is shaded. Plates
also sell there at II cents, with l.io
quoted at Philadelphia. The demand Tor
structural! and other products has been
much reduced in part by building strikes.
Woollen manufacturers are not meet
ing a very satisfactory market at the
advanced prices asked. and until change
appears in that respect the holders OF
wool will need patience.
COTTON PRICES BREAK.
Cotton has broken in price and may
go lower as the time comes for new
crop prospects to have weight, but the
decline of an eighth to a quarter IN
brown sheetings and drills has been
largely due TO opportunities in the eX-
port trade which have been promptly
met. Large sales for shipment to China
have been effected. said to cover l5.eoo
bales, and for the first time since August
the American outlook in that direction
is cheering.
The movement of grain continues large
corn still rivalling wheat in quantity eX-
ported. Atlantic exports OF wheat in three
weeks of May have been. flour included,
$3.50, O4l bushels, against 7.O16,5i0 last
wear. and Pacific exports of corn in the
same weeks have been 1o,3S2,95 bushels,
against 6,9l4536 last year.
Wheat advanced over a cent, and corn
shows no change for the week, but in
both grains the prospect for the coming
crop is excellent.
Failures for the week have been III
in the United States against 147 last
year, and 80 in Canada against II last
year.