Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1903-07-23
TRADE OUTLOOK
IS ENCOURAGING
Better Weather and Disappear
ance Of Labor Troubles
Are Factors.
CROPS MAKING G0ODPROGRESs
Railway Traffic Is Increasing, Earn
ings Exceeding Those of Previous
Years-Iron Market Is Unsettled
Structural Steel In Better Demand.

New York, July 20.-"Conditions
continue satisfactory outside the re-
gion of speculation, many reports m
dicating further Improvement. Dur
ing recent months the two disturbing
factors have been labor controversies
and weather conditions, but each
week has brought better things in
these two respects until the outlook
contains much that Is encouraging.
Crops are making rapid progress. and
the army of unemployed Is diminish.
ing" according to II. G. Dun a. Co.'S
Weekly Review of Trade. Continu.
ing the report says:
Railway Traffic.
Railway traffic is heavy. earnings
thus far reported for July exceeding
last years by 1876 per cent and those
of 1901 by 1872 per cent. Retail trade
in seasonable merchandise Is fully up
to the average. and there Is less thaa
the customary midsummer quiet
among wholesalers, while the prepar.
ations Of jobbers and manufacturers
indicate confidence in large fall
business.
unsettled conditions still exist In
forge and foundry pig iron markets,
while Bessemer iron Is only barely
steady. The chief difficulty appears
to be the lowest possible quotations.
This Is condition to be expected In
declining market, but appears I'M
usually aggravating In the present In.
stance. Current consumption Is heavy
and the delay Is only in connection
with distant deliveries.
Labor Troubles.
Structural steel begins to reflect
the settlement OF labor troubles in
the building trades, but several i'm.
portant undertakings have been post.
poned until next year. two large
buildings at Pittsburg being conspic.
uous examples. Merchant steel and
pipe are in better demand, several
large contracts being under negotia.
ton. Steel rails are sold well into
1904, and other railway equipment Is
still one of the best features In the
industry. Southern iron furnaces and
steel mills are affected adversely by
the coal miners strike, although there
Is a belief that settlement will not
long be delayed.
Cotton Stocks.
ut Is a season of uncertainty in the
manufacture of cotton goods, and
-othing in the nature of Improvement
| IAN be expected until the artificial
| position OF the raw material Ia radical
| ly altered. Supplies of cotton goods
| in first hands are low and there Is no
| effort to make spot sales. Buyers I'll
| their requirements for immediate dis.
tributlon, but in no department Of this
great industry is there any inclination
to anticipate needs of even the near
future. As supplies diminish there Is
corresponding stiifenIng of quota
tons. Mills are steadily curtailing
production both here and abroad.
Woolens and Silks.
New light weight woolens are be-
ing opened, with fair results only,
buyers exhibiting no anxiety regard
ing the future. Silks are firm owing
to curtailed production and the high
price commanded by the raw mate
rial Western jobbers are operating
freely in the Boston footwear market
both on contracts for spring goods
and supplementary fall orders. East.
ern wholesalers are also purchasing
additional fall supplies, and New Eng
land factories are fully occupied.
Failures number 213 in the United
States, against 213 last year, and six
teen in Canada, compared with twenty
n yaar ago -