The San Francisco call., 1901-10-21
TRADE ACTIVE BUT CONSERVA-
TIVE.

~ ONSERNATISM still characterizes the busi-
ness situation all over the country. At the
- two great centers of speculation, New \ ork
and Chicago, there is a noticeable lack of that fever
ish activity which so often prevails in stock and
grain trading. Neither market is really dull, how
ever, and an occasional squirt in wheat corpora
ton shares shows that but little stimulation is needed
to provoke eager speculation. Money is plentiful
everywhere and is easily accessible at moderate
OF interest and the long period OF prosperity enjoyed
by the country has thoroughly imbued the trading
public with confidence III the future But the New
York banks are going slow They are scrutnizng
industrial securities before making loans and have
lately been wedding out OF their loan accounts good
many which they consider doubtful This course acts
as safety valve on Wall street and maintains as
much stability in values as is ever seen in that busy
mart and imparts feeling of confidence throughout
all lines OF trade.
But in spite Of this conservatism business continues
to expand The country's bank cearings which are
accepted the reliable indicator of the condi
ton OF trade, show, week after week. an unvaryng
gain the corresponding periods last year. Some
times the percentage OF increase up to 90 and
over and sometimes falls to 20 and even less but it
is always ahead of the preceding year The clearings
last week showed gain Of 262 per cent, and with
the exception of New Orleans and St Paul every i'm
portant trade in the country exhibited an in
crease. This tells the commercial story. The failures
for the week were z20 against 200 last year. They
have been running ahead OF the previous year for
number OF months. but almost always small and
unimporant Seldom do we see one that attracts the
attention of the country large as was the case five
or six years ago.
The distributive trade OF the country is good in
all sections. except possibly in the South, where
bar
usual fall trade and collections but even in this sec
tion some improvement is observed. Cooler weather
and fear of rosts have stimulated raw cotton Wool
is moving off freely at firm prices and the wooden mills
generally busy, there being no reports of slug
gshness anywhere Footwear factories still report
an active demand for their product and say that in
view of the advance in hides and leather one of two
things must occur-either prices for shoes must
advance or they must be made of inferior quality to
equaize the higher prices for material The iron
trade IS in good shape as ever, the mills being
hlled with orders. many of them for months ahead.
The persistent prosperity in this line during the past
several years is surprising Coal and lumber are also
quoted frm and active almost everywhere. The only
staples that have Jagged are the cereals, notably
wheat'and the feeling in this grain has become more
bullsh during the past few days owing chiefly to
persistent reports of increasing damage to the Ar
gentine crop by drought, though much of this is
regarded as exaggerated.
In our local market still busily engaged in
working off orders for merchandise accumulated
during the recent strike and some merchants are
complaining of the scarcity of cars, which retards
this work OF clearing the decks. The commercial
part of the city is active and bids fair to continue
so for some time come. Farm and orchard prod
uce continues TO bring good prices though rais;ns
and dried fruits hating at the moment the former
in consequence of dissensons among growers and
packers and the latter owing to the heavy buvng in
August and September. which stocked everybody up
for the time being. All other lines of country prod
uce are reported in good movement, while merchan-
disc is being moved fast as Our supply of cars and
drays carry it away from wharf and store There
is dullness in trade in San Francisco.
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Carter Harrison is writing autobiography which
le says is not to be published until twenty years