The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-10-04
WEEKLY TRADE REVIEW
GROWING ACUTENESS OF THE
 COAL SITUATION.
Fall and Winter Trade Already Book. ed is Exceptionally Good-A Few Scattered Pessimistic Re-
 ports from the South.

New York, Oct. 3.-Bradstreet's tomor- TOW VIII say: In the almost uniformly favorable returns of nine months fnan- ciai, commercial and industrial operations the only depressing note Is the growing acuteness of the coal situation The re- turns of failures. clearings and the other Items bearing upon the results of the three quarters of the years operations at hand point to conditions having been largely favorable and to the unprecedent- Cd fall trade. the moving of larger crops at higher prices. immense cattle receipts and unsurpassed industrial activity are in great measure chargeable to the numer- ous and heavy gains shown in widely separated sections. Failure returns. too, are almost entirely favorable, the number Of endorsements being the smallest with two exceptions in ten years and the liabilities being the lightest, with one exception. in twenty years.
 Trade telegrams to Bradstreets this week. while pointing to some letting up in the heretofore active jobbing demand at nearly all centers-partly the result of religious observances-testify to the fall and winter trade already boked hav- ing been exceptionally good. in most cases in excess of preceding years, and crop yields, except in some sections, guaran- teeing a full volume of business in the remaining months of this year and the early part of 1903.
 Except for a few scattered pessimistic reports from the South. advices from that section are generally of a fair to good trade. with improved collections. At the east large distribution of dry-goods is noted at such cities as Philadelphia, New York and Baltimore. Hides and leather are strong and active and shoe manu- facturers are generally employed.
 Rather less strength is noted in some TfaAl NR he trAa heretofore but the quieting down in the cruder forms is due to scarcity of fuel and of pig iron ,as much as to the flood of foreign iron, which appears to be steadily increasing. Special investiga- Sion shows that receipts of foreign iron and steel in August exceed 14oooo tons, but exports of iron and steel and their products. mostly machinery are still more than double the imports for that month. More inquiry for pig iron for fhe last half of 1908 Is noted at Chicago and new orders for rails, structural ma ferials and plates cannot be guaranteed delivery untA the last half of next year edany steel mills in the PiNsburg district Nave closed for want of iron. This has essulted in rather lower quotations for Bessemer pig and steel billets than was Che case year ago. The refusal of the tin worke-- to accept lower wages in order that Welsh plates may be shut out has resulted in the shut down of a num- Der of mills. Structural and plate mills are crowded with orders, but sheets have been cut s per ton.
 Eastern cotton goods manufacturers re- bort a quiet demand, but this is much due to their own unwillingness to sell freely ahead as it is to the consumers desire to wait on the raw cotton market. which, more noticeably than in recent years, seems to regulate the course of the manufactured products. The strength If the foreign demand for this staple has l-rgely offset the much heavier and earlier moving of the crop to market. Woolen mills are well employed both on recorders for winter trade and as regards spring business and large interests are renorted to be actively buying wool this week.
 wheat dncluding) flour exports for the week ending October 2 aggregate 6S1o'- 57s bushels, against 5.o77.07O last week. g ls5. .749 this week last year and 445o'l6' fn 1900. Wheat exports since July aggre- gate 67, 4S4,713 bushels. against si's4"S46 saat season and 667 in 1900.
 Corn exports aggregate Al, 42S bushels' .1ainst 7s52 last week, 907.94 last year and 2.264,249 in 1900. For the nscal year svnorts are 1,l97,234 bushels against b. sse Ssa last season and H,5l1,66l in 1900
 p,,a,ness failures in the United States =. tha week ending October ?, number ssl as against 172 last week. TO ao m this s ss,aelS last year, TIT in 19oO. l1s In l's9 anu ses in 1898. Canadian failures not ho'eu