Omaha daily bee., 1902-04-21
IMPLEMENT MEN WORRIED
Hard to Secure Machinery in Which Steel
Forms Large Part.
FORCED TO REFUSE MANY GOOD ORDERS
Western bbe Business C~urtaIIed
as Result of Present Large De-
mRnd for Of
steel Mills.

All has not been as bright as an I'M
olouded day with the Omaha wholesale i'm
plemeut dealer this spring. although the
business secured by the travelling repre-
sentatives has been larger than any pre-
vious year. The trouble with the local
houses has not been to secure orders, but
to find the goods with which to fill the
demands OF the retail dealers in the ter
ritory. Existing conditions are really seri-
Gus. and managers OF houses who find a
demand for farming implements In excess
Of any which has been seen since the first
house was opened west Of the Missouri
river. have hguratively torn their hair
when. they discovered that much Of that
demand will have to go %unsupplied because
Of the impossibility Of securing the goods
desired.
Spring trade Of the western jobbers con-
sists principally OF plows. harrows and cul-
t~ivators, machinery in which steel and
iron forms the major part. Steel mills
which supply this demand, ever since the
strike of last year. have been from three
months to six months behind with their
orders, and while many of the implement
factories have standing orders with the
mills, the demand for plows and kindred
tools has been so large that the regular
supply Is not sufficient to fill the orders
received from the jobbers. Managers OF
steel mills are the most independent OF
men at this time and when they have filled
their standing orders, turn their attention
to the supply of the transient orders, on
which, often, a premium is paid. and regu-
lar customers are forced to be pleased II
they can secure the full amount specified
In the contract without wasting time try
ing to obtain extra quantities.
Implement Factories Handicapped.
Such a condition has resulted in the i'm
plement factories running at normal rate
of output, when the demand for goods is
in excess Of the usual quantities. In con-
sequence jobbers have found themselves I'M
able to fill orders, and the volume of busi-
ness has been reduced to a point where it
exceeds by little II any the volume of last
year. which, however, was heavier than
any previous year.
When the condition first developed in
February, at the time the filling of advance
orders began, the dealers followed the
usual practice Of filling part Of each or
der received. and placing on the back
orders" the remainder Of the implements
called for. AS the trade opened up It was
found that It would be utterly impossible
to fill these back orders, and the majority
OF them were cancelled. Retail dealers
were forced into other markets, where they
found the same condition to exist, and It
ts said that in the states OF Iowa and Me-
braska, a thousand farmers are compelled
to use worn out machinery because 1t is
impossible to secure new ones.
Fortunately the spring trade is not the
heaviest Of the year. the value OF the plows,
harrows and cultivators being much less
than the value of the machinery sold later
In the season, which consists Of reapers,
mowers, threshing machines and similar i'm
plements used in the harvest. Local Job
bers say that the prospect for securing
this class OF implements is much better
than the prospect in the planting machinery
line, and that as a result they expect to
have a better trade this year than that OF
1901, which late in the season fell off on
account Of the drouth.
Loss Of Last Year now
Probably no accurate estimate will ever
be made OF the loss to the implement deal
ers caused by the dry weather of last year.
One house alone reported in September the
cancellation Of orders for vehicles aggre-
eating $4,000, and other houses reported
losses in business in proportion. The en-
forced reduction Of business last fall. found
its corresponding imitation this spring when.
after reduction in the size Of the crop had
been somewhat compensated for in the
higher prices Of grain and live stock, which
has prevailed since hat time, the farmers
were in a position to warrant the purchase
OF supplies which they had decided not to
buy in the fall. Much Of the advantage
which would have normally been secured
by increased demand has been lost by rea-
son Of the impossibility of securing ma
chinery. and it begins to look. in the Ian
guage Of the manager of one OF the whole
sale houses. "as though the condition Of the
iron and steel market was going to confirm
the loss temporarily caused by the dry
weather Of last year"