The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-06-03

LEADING HABERDASHERS
and DRY GOODS STORES
circulation, Of gold coin and certif-
Gates. $496, 100000, and to-day the
amount is $1,100,0oe,O 900. Clearly,
then. the present Tightening Is not due
to an insufficient money supply.
Causes Of the Slump.
| An examination of the government
statistics suggests that a considerable
| part of the decline has been caused by
local, and, for the most part temper
airy, conditions, and that there is to be
no general slump. For instance. one
Of the contributing causes is the fall
ing off of shipments from the farms.
Lakes. Still another Is the decrease in
grain receipts at gulf and Atlantic
ports.
The cotton, lumber and flour mar
kets have also been on the decline.
These in the aggregate go far towards
statement that, Notwithstanding the
present year will break all records in
export trade, and the volume of cur
rency Is larger than ever before, there
has been decline in the home mar
ket.
Lakes is reported regularly from for
ty-nine ports Of receipt and fifty-four
ports Of shipment. Up to the end Of
April, only s5s,39S tons of freight
were received. Last season by the
same date 3,515,703 tons were re-
ceived, and in 1902. a.ss7,s5s tons So
much for the labor troubles.
| Total receipts of grain, including
flour reduced to bushels, at five ports
on the north Atlantic coast, for the
four months ending with April, were
61,269,96S bushels, as compared with
89,587,393 bushels for 1908. At New
York, Philadelphia and Baltimore the
grain receipts for the first four months
Of the present year were 49,942,178
bushels, as compared with 70, 040,162
bushels for the corresponding period
in 1908. Here the strike on the Great
Lakes shows its hand, also, but the
condition is aggravated by a reduced
foreign demand for American wheat,
due to larger crops in other counties.
Inordinate speculation and a conse-
quent unsettling of values have de-
moralized the cotton market. which,
so far as domestic consumption is
concerned, is far behind year ago.
At the two leading grain ports Of the
gulf the decline in grain receipts is
marked. To the end Of April this
year, New Orleans receipts were T.
1917 96 bushels, in contrast with 49,
553,350 bushels in 1908. If ApriPs
business be taken alone, the decrease
is still more marked, being but 553,453
bushels, as compared with 8,656,356
| bushels last year.
So the record Of domestic trade goes
| from top to bottom of the list with
few notable exceptions, save In such
items as live stock shipments and pc
| t~n1 hi Oy1l M
Less Doing in Domestic Trade.
In the aggregate these several items
necessarily affect the grand total of
domestic business transactions. The
| farmer Is shipping less of the products
Of the farm, except live stock, the
! railroads have less freight to carry,
| and the commercial agents at terminal
points have fewer accounts Added
| to this is the labor troubles, which
are most aggravated, so far as the
| influence on business Is concerned,
on the great lakes. The reduction Of
| the number Of railroad employees fol-
lows necessarily, as does the discharge
or reduction of clerks in business and
| financial houses at the great centers.
1t also follows that the farmer, who
| Is selling less than heretofore, has
less money with which to purchase,
| and that the country merchant Is
| therefore cautious in buying from the
wholesalers. Railroad officials are
glad that freight shipments have de-
| clined. For several years the bulk of
| this business was far beyond the capa-
| take care Of ali they are now receiving
and hope. there will be no further in
| crease until they have time to add to
their facilities.
After allowing for the dimunition
Of domestic trade, the fact remains
l
| is far ahead of what it had been at
any time prior to the business revival
| which followed the enactment Of the
Dingley law. With export trade con-
tinuing to increase, with the volume
| Of currency increasing steadily, with
| the bank clearings more than double
| what they were in 1895, and likely to
show an increase for the present year,
| the situation Is not one to cause
alarm. So say the government ex-
| perts, who are very positive that the
present decline, if confined within
| they think 1t will be so conf1ned-will
| be benefit. The riotous prosperity
of the past few years is not normal,
and it's effects on the public have not
been good. It is much better, they
say, for business to continue at
reasonable pace than to go pell nell
as it has been doing.
Wall Street Cuts No Figure.
I inquired whether there was any
thing in the Wall street situation that
| would help explain the falling off OF
domestic trade, and was told there was
| not. The slump in stocks, which al
most created panic in New York,
| was confined to that area, and 1t
ceased several months ago. Stocks
have once more found a solid bottom,
and Wall street is easy.
This being a presidential year, the
| democrats will likely claim that there
has been a partial cessation of good
times. In proportion as they can con-
vince the country that this is true,
| they will win votes It will be the
| purpose Of the republicans to over
come this argument, and experts are
already preparing tables and explana-
tory reading matter, proving there has
been no real decline in prosperity.
I These data will be published as part
of the republican campaign book.
w. w. Jermane.
Hot Springs and Return-S3O.
Via the Minneapolis & st. Louis
Return limit. twenty-one days. Tick
cts on sale twice a month. Stopovers
going and returning at ST. Louis to
visit the Worlds Fair For particu-
/ 11,,r ~ ..Iv1s-p