The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-01-01
MINIS REVIEW OF THE YEAR.
u,r>D OF THE VARIOUS INDUS
TRIES DISCUSSED.

,,.uati0nS OF iron nhu Steei's
Trade Has Been DuII-Wnr
,ripn Checked Demand for Cot
Goods-StOcks Pretty Wen
leaned Up After Galveston Disas-
However-A Boom in Mill
,,Jinr in the South Closing
~.or of Century IA Remarkably
asfactory One 10 Planters.
~. York. Dec. 3l.-Dun's Review, in
urinary reviewing the business Of
49,, wear Just closed, will say regarding
-, leading markets.
conditions in iron aud steel during 1900
,,..ro much more sound than in the pre-
.Iir- wears when speculation was rife
and nrices inflated far beyond the bonds
of reason.
statistics of the weekly capacity of
t,.races in blast show that the highest
,ont on record was reached Feb. l. while
there was little diminution during the
,,ovt few monbs But, with the collapse
80 ejaculation during the spring ana
raalization of the fact that operations had
been overdone there came steady re-
duction in output.
From 296 furnaces in blast on Feb. 1,
+bore followed continual shutting down
until but 2G1 were in operation on Nov.
and the weekly production decreased
So7,n tons. Even at this rapid rate of
declining output, stocks accumulated with
startling rapidity and on oct. the
ton was reached at 670,5S1 tons. Business
conditions were satisfactory, however and
demand expanded, while exports of finish
ed products grew very heavy when prices
reached a level that made competition
possible with British and German produc-
ers In two months, ending Dec. l. fur
mace stocfs of pig iron decreased 1885
tons, and the tone was so much improved
that many idle furnaces resumed.
Manufactured articles have moved along
similar lines Quotations of iron and steel
products at the beginning of the year were
little below the level prevailing thirteen
years previous, and the fall was almost
uninterrupted until October, when the aV-
erage was but 636S per cent. of the fig
ure prevailing Jan. l, 1881
The wear 1900 opened with favorable con-
ditions prevailing in nearly every branch
of the dry goods trade. The home demand
continued good for the first three months
and then fell away until by June the
market had lapsed into pronounced dull
ness and from a steady upward course
in prices began to gradually decline again.
The arrest of buying was remarkable. In
wooden goods stocks began TO accumu-
late again and their course up to the
close of the year has shown pronounced
weakness in both mems wear fabrics and
dress goods, with the result that the gain
in prices made last year and in the early
part of this has been lost in many direc-,
TONS and where any retained al all 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, was unfortunately checked by
the outbreak of the Boxer rising, and
since then there has been an entire sus-
pension of buying for that country. In
September another stimulus was given to
cotton goods by the rapid advance in raw
material, which followed the Galveston
disaster and short crop predictions. Prices
assumed their upward course, and the
market ruled strong again until the end
of October, when there was another lull
IN the demand Stocks had. however,
been well cleaned up as rule and al
though some of the staple lines have
eased off slightly, a fairly steady tone
has since prevailed.
The prosperous condition of the cotton
goods trade last year and the early part
Of this has had a marked effect upon
the cotton industry in the South, reviv-
ing the boom in mill building which pre-
vious depression had checked A num-
Der of new mills have been added, and
many more are in course of erection. It
is probable that when the years Stats
tics are compiled they will show the adj
If ,rlxr -,,fY, 70 fHa
productive capacity of the South.
After advancing from 1901 cents as the
average of 100 grades of wool reported by
Choates q Bros. on May 1, 20 2470, in
December, 1899. it was only natural that
the year 1900 should witness severe reac-
ton 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.
The closing year of the century was a
remarkably satisfactory one for farmers
and planters, Notwithstanding the fact
that some sections harvested smaller
crops than in preceding years. While the
South produced less cotton than in two
previous record breaking seasons, prices
We're the highest in, ten years, and the net
profits made on plantations were enorm-
Gus 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 abnormally advanced until there oc-
Cured natural loss in exports, so that
Russian ports were able to secure much
foreign trade. that had belonged to Ameri-
can producers. Corn was put up to with
in a fraction of 30 cents here, and specu-
latve manipulation forced the Chicago
price still higher. These operations had
naturally deleterious effect on eXporta-
ton, and foreign surplus countries reap
cd much of the benefit from excessively