The St. Louis Republic., 1901-01-01
structural Material in Demand.

ut IS difficult 10 select any one branch
Of this Industry as being pushed pushed ma narct aII
kinds have sold very freely. and the mar
ket is flooded with urgent orders for
freight cars. Structural material. parucu-
larry for bridges and ships. has been In
much better demand than supply
steel rails were reduced from last year 8
price Of s35 10 s2s. but It was an open secret
that the former figure had only been NOM
inal for months prior to the official change
in September. Contracts for 10000 tons:
deliverable during lsol' have been placed
suggest the probability that the list was
maintained.
"Tin bounded up from 25I+ cents at the
opening TO IS cents in July. and then grad
ually lost all the gain. But. during the
last week. there was recovery 10 zIl4
cents.
Copper has done nothing startling, vari-
ations remaining within the range Of z. OF
a cent. Opening at 16lz cents. there were
sales as low at 1s14 cents. and the close was
Trade has been active and domestic pro-
ductiOn pushed. One authority places the
American yield well in advance OF any
Lead fell from $40 at the start to ss7s.
and recovered 20 A.S7. where IL has been
maintained by the smelling company for
many months.
Dry-Goods Trade Was Dull.
"The year 1900 opened with favorable con-
ditioins prevailing in nearly every branch
Of the dry goods trade. The home demand
and then fell away until. by June 1. the
market had relapsed into pronounced dull
ness. and from a steady upward course In
prices began gradually to decline again
The arrest of buying was remarkable.
"In wooden goods stocks began TO ac-
cumulats again, and their course Up TO
nounced weakness in both mems wear
fabrics and dress goods. with the result
that the gain in prices made last year and
in che early part of this has been lost in
MANY directions and where any IL retained
at all IL is Of limited extent.
"A sudden demand from China for heavy
brown cottons in May. the first purchase
made for that market in several months.
unfortunately was checked BY the outbreak
of the Boxer rising. and since then there
has been anticipation Of buying for that
In september another stimulus was
given to cotton goods BY the rapid ad-
Galveston disaster and short-crop predic-
tions. Prices resumed their upward course
and the market ruled hs strong 1ssr again until n
other lull in the demand. Stocks, how
ever had been cleaned up. as rule. and.
although some OF the staple lines have
prevailed since.
Boom in Cotfon-MiII Building.
''The prosperous condition of the cotton
Of this had a marked effect upon the cot
ton industry in the South. reviving the
boom in mill building. which previous de
mills have been added and many more
are in course of erection. 1t is probable
that when the years statistics are COM
piled they will show the addition Of nearly
100000 spindles to the productive capacity
of the South
After advancing from 1901 cents. as the
average of one hundred grades Of wool re-
ported by Coates Brothers on May to 2.d0
cents in December 1899, II was only natural
that the year 1890 should witness severe re-
action and return to a more normal level.
The decline was gradual, and the year
closed about % per cent below the top point
touched twelve months previous.
Prosperous Agricultural Year.
The closing year OF the century was re-
markably successfully one for farmers and
planters, nOtwithstard ding the fact that
some sections hsryes, ed smaller crops than
in preceding years While the South pro-
duced less cotton than in the two previous
record breaking seasons. prices were the
highest in ten years, and the net profits
made on plantations were enormous.
Spring wheat States lost much grain.
but Kansas and other large winter wheat
growers made big crops. and the average
price was high. In fact. the cereals were
all ablormally advanced until there Oc-
CURED a natural loss In exports. 50 that
Russian ports were able to secure much
foreign trade that had belonged to Amer
lean producers.
Corn was put up to within fraction Of
20 cents he-e, and speCula tive manipulation
forced the Chicago price still higher. These
operations had a naturally deleterious effect
on expectation and foreign surplus coun-
tries reaped much OF the benefit of the ex-
cessively inflated domestic markets"