The daily silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1903-1907, 1903-10-27
TRADE STILL CONSERVATIVE

trade and caution in buying is the
dominant feature now. From all sec
tions of the country come the reports
that buyers are taking no more goods
than they need and that the liberal
and often thoughtless forward pur-
chasing of the past several years is a
thing of the past. Steel mills. iron
furnaces. p coal and iron mines
have shut down in a number of widely
separated regions, another general re-
duction in the price of pig iron is an
nounced in spite of the recently di-
minished output and a movement is on
foot to still further cut down the pro-
duetion unless business improves.
Soft coal prices are held up purely
by combination and would drop if left
alone. The textile mills are no longer
working overtime and refusing to &C
cept orders where prompt delivery is
required. They are now willing to ac-
cept all business offered. The only
briskness worthy Of noe among the
great eastern manufacturing districts
is shown by the cotton mills, which
report rather more activity, and by
the footwear factories of New Eng and.
which continue to do an active bus
mess. The movement in general mer-
chandise throughout the country is
less than at this season for seyera,
and the decline in prices, ac-
cording &c Dun's index number, on
which the cost of living is based, is
slightly over 3 per cent compared with
1902, and the decline from May l, 1902,
which was the highest point reached
in recent years, is now about 5 per
cent. The index number of commodity
prices October l was S97.37, against
s93.54 September 1. The chief de-
cline has been in breadstuffs and
meats, the latter having declined
about IA per cent during the past year.
1t will be remembered that a year
or so ago, when the so-called beef
barons' marked up quotations Ior
meats with no apparent conjunction
and the people and press all over the
country were Indignantly protesting
against the summary proceeding, that
the prediction was freely made that
the days Of moderate-priCed meats had
forever passed and that in the neal fu-
ture beef would be to the workingman
OF America as it is to the average
European-beyond the reach of his
purse and eaten only on Sundays and
holidays as a treat. But it seems that
Providence is ordaining otherwise and
that from present indications the
American wage Garner will still be a
beef eater for a good many years to
come. For which may we be truly
thankful.
AS for cured meats, such as the
products of the hog, the western pack
ing markets are dragging and for some
months prices have been held up by
main strength alone, while the gen.
eral expectation is that the markets
must fall TO a still lower level.
Briefly, the cost of living is decreas-
ing and has been for months, though
the decline is so gradual that it is
noticeable only to those few CONNER
cial statisticians who keep close track
of prices. To the general public it is
imperceptible, though it is going on
silently all the time, like the noiseless
formation Of frosting on the window
panes during the cold nights of win
ter.
So much for general trade. AS for
finance, the conditions have been
further unsettled of late by the sus-
pension OF a couple of trust companies
in Baltimore, a bank in Pittsburg, and
rumors of impending trouble in ST.
Louis, though the latter were not real
ized. All this tended to still further
demoralize Wall street and led to
further liquidation. Money, however,
was not materially affected, and rates
no change worthy of note. 1t
is gratifying to observe that thus Iar
this fall the stringency of funds ex-
to accompany the regular aut-
umnal movement of the crops has not
materialized. and when We recall the
sweat we were in last spring over
was going to happen in this d.
during the fall we cannot but