The age-herald., 1901-05-04
TRADE REPORTS
 ARE EXCELLENT Warm, Sunny Weather Helping
 Retail Business. CROP SITUATION IS BETTER Iron and Steel Trades Continue To Furnish the Best Reports, While Textile Industries Return Most unfavorabIe Account.
CROP SITUATION IS BETTER

New York. May s.-Bradstreets tomor- row will say:
 The sanguine feeling as to trade and speculation finds reflection in the enor- nous activity in stock speculation which has attracted much money from the usual money channels and expanded clearings | to unheard-of totals. Warm, sunny weather is helping retail trade in the cit les. General business the country over may be elassed as satisfactory. The iron and steel trades. though reporting some what of lull in the cruder forms. con- tinue to furnish the best reports. while the textile industries return the least fa- 1 forable accounts.
 1 The textiles are relatively the worst situated of all the industries. The slow ness of demand for cotton goods on do- | mestic account has been the cause of reduction in the price of print cloths of I 3-16c, which, following the decline of hc | last week. makes a net decline of 5-16c l in ten days. Curtailment of production by the mills limits stocks but does not help demand. Export business. however, is better, and there is a scarcity of brown 1 cottons reported. Wool Is quiet mills buying only to fill immediate wants. East ern boot and shoe factories are busy on summer goods and there Is more doing for fall account. Shipments are larger than last week and the excess in favor of last year is being cut down. The crop situation is quite encouraging. Warm, sunny weather is helping corn and cotton, and wheat maintains a generally good condition, notwithstanding reports of damage by insects in the Southwest Cotton crop advices are fairly good and an increase in acreage is still foreshad- owed, despite much replantng having been necessary in Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee where the scarcity of seed for this purpose is remarked
 Iron trade production naturally appears to be catching up with demand in the cruder forms first. Bessemer pig is % cents lower this week and sales have been made of Southern pig 50 cents below the asking price of some weeks ago, although Birmingham reports schedules adhered to. The advance of g per ton in rails, which went into effect May 2, has resulted in considerable orders being placed by the railroads and Chicago alone reports 125.- 000 tons secured.
 In finished products consumers are still urging quick delivery and premiums are offered for the same, particularly by az ricultural implement men who are eager bidders for bars. Export trade has almost completely stopped, particularly in the cruder forms.
 Wheat, including flour shipments for the week, aggregate 5100.76S bushels against 4,6S2, ,12s last week, 4,537. OPP bushels in the corresponding week of 1900, 3,4S4,- 0S1 in 1899. and 2.92S,77 in 1898. From | July 1 to date this season wheat ex- ports arc 238 bushels against 166,- 035, ,602 last season and 201, ,19S, ,46S in 1898 and 1899.
 Corn exports for the week aggregate 2,471,S91 bushels against 1,344 656 last week, S,l1,015 in this week a year ago, 2,S47, 200 in 1899 and 61S5,904 in 1898. From July ts de this season corn exports are 157,- 015, ,4S6 bushels against 173, 903, ,075 last sea- son and 142, ,511 ,107 in 1S98-99.
 Failures for the week number 163, as compared with 214 last week. 153 In this week a year ago, and 164 in 1899 and 20 in 1S9S
 Canadian failures in April numbered 1o3, the same number year ago, but liabilities aggregated only .3S5, a de- crease of 20 per cent from 1900.