Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1903-07-13
BUSINESS FEATURES.

J. BUSINESS FEATURES.
: Business again responds TO improve
conditions. Retail distribution of mer
chandise is accelerated by more season
able weather and fewer labor contro
versies. while the Wholesale and job
bing trade. especially al the interior
shows the encouraging effect of bright
: er agricultural prospects. There is tn
customary excessive demand for farm
hands; in one extreme case labor solt
al auction for Sc a day, while train
loads of. men have been seized before
reaching their original destination. Re.
ports of holiday traffic and trade il
holiday goods Indicate no diminution IN
purchasing power. and semi annual in
ventores show a more gratifying stu
alton than expected. There is less thar
/ che usual midsummer idleness in man.
iufacturing, except in the cotton indus
try. Opening of fall lines at Baltimore
meet with good returns, there is sea-
sonable activity in dry goods at Bos-
ton, reports from Philadelphia indi-
lcate that lumber and building materi-
ais are in brisk demand. while railway
traffic and industrial activity are most
satisfactory at Chicago. Commodity
prices advanced slightly during June,
| Dun's Index Number ON July l being
$99456, compared with s9s.936 a month
| earlier. A decline of 81 per cent is
recorded in comparison With July, 1902,
| chiefly in articles of food. Security
dealings continue light but money is
Railway earnings for June are 49, per
cent larger than last year and 25.S in
excess of 1901. Bank exchanges at New
York for the week surpassed last years
| by AZ per cent. AT other leading cities
there was a gain of 10.4 per cent.
| There is something almost incompre
hensible in the latest figures of pig iron
production issued by the Iron Age.
Considering the midsummer season
some decrease ilr output might be eX
pected. but, on the contrary. all previ-
ious high records of weekly capacity
were eclipsed, furnaces III bast produc-
ling at the rate of 414,636 tons, against
39S,139 tons on June / and 310.950 tons
on July !, 1902 Ali records for a short
month were surpassed in June, when
i.716906 tons were produced, and for
the half year an output of s.671,615
tons was recorded. Last years maxi
mum figures were officially reported as
IlTS2l,3 07 tons, which viii be far sur
PASSED IN 1903. unless some unforeseen
| interruption occurs.
Violent changes in quotations of raw
material are never good for business in
finished products. so that as yet the
cotton goods manufacture shows no I'm
Iprovement in response to fluctuations
at the cotton exchanges. But it is GER
tain tina. there will ultimately come a
revival Of normal activity at the mills
when the material reaches a less in
tated level at which goods can be man
'ufactured with profit. Despite the re-
sumption of mills at Fal. River the cur
tailment of production continues, and
il is predicted by experts in the trade
that before the new crop year opens
the idleness will surpass any period
since the civil war. New lines of me-
dunn and low grade woolens have been
opened at full prices and met with an
average demand. Recorder business In
heavyweight woolens is moderate, and
quotations are irregular.
Another week of favorable weather
has done much 10 restore normal crop
especially in sections where
replanting had put agricultural prod
rcts so far back that there was danger
from frost at the latter end of the sea-
son. Gloomy statements are being sue
ceeded by reports of a more cheerful
tone, and quotations require specula-
tive support to maintain their posi- !
ton. owing TO the interruption of re-
ports and movement of grain by the
holiday, the weeks statistics are less
instructive than usual. Receipts of !
wheat at interior cities aggregated |
1.S41,652 bushels, against 2,653,0S9 las |
year,, while exports from all ports OF
the United States, flour included, |
amounted to 1,52a,494 bushels, com. I
pared with 2,25O,729 last year and
4,352,736 bushels two years ago. Corn
receipts were 2,119.l9O bushels, against
i ,33S,545 last year, and Atlantic exports
763.14S bushels, compared with 1859
a year ago.
Liabilities of commercial failures for
the first week of July amounted to S2.-
$50, 3O3, of which s1,5SS,599 were in
s1,o12,25i in trading
and $22S,450 in other commercial lines
Failures last week numbered 1914 in the
United States, against 1913 last year,
md twenty-four in Canada, compared
With nineteen a year ago.