The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-02-04
TRADE REVIEW
CoEn WEATHER HAMPERS BUSH
 NESS IN ALL LINES.
In sEe South, ahe Situation is Not En- cOuxagtng Increase in Num- Der of FafIzreA and Amount
 of Liabilities.


 Nav York, Feb. s.--Bradstreet's to- morrow will say: Widespread cold weather hampers trade in nearly all lines. thus retard~ ing. but not entirely checking the opening of spring distribution. Except In a few cases. however, notably trans portation and mining. industry dis plays rather less than seasonable in- tegference. Except in a few lines, es- pecially cotton manufacturing, ad- vance business has been placed with a free hand and the feeling is none the Tess strong that milder weather will usher in widespread activity in all lines.
 While the situation may be said to savor rather of promise than perform ance, 1t Is to be noted that the South, which has been and is suffering from the depression in cotton. shows rath- CT better tone this week, coincident with an advance in cotton prices and reports that the holding of cotton movements grows rather than lessens. The late freeze In Florida did much damage to fruit and truck crops
 Records of past movements confirm fairly optimistic reports given m these @ largest ever recorded in that month though falling behind those of De- cember. The South alone shows small CT January totals than year ago. ines and balancing of books in large number of failures, but in greatly re- duced liabilities as compared with January a year ago. The South here, too. carries the chief burden, in that the entire increase in number over a year ago Is reported by that section, which also shows the largest liabtli- ties Of any group of States.
 Die Fron rauaainR quiet heretofore reported, but the output in the crude form is not Indicative of the large business in finished products, said to be of next to record proportions so far as orders on . hand and specifications coming in can indicate. Hardware while rather quieter is in excellent shape and manufacturers are largely sold ahead. Copper and lead are high
 The dry goods trade stiiI shows hes- ftation in the cotton goods branch. Woolen goods meet with encuraging trade at the leading Eastern centeTs' Western jobbers note that cold weath- CT restricts buying at large centres, but a fair business IS doing through salesmen. Eastern shoe manuIaetnf- are smaller than year ago. Wool IS quiet, but firm here. London wool sales prices were good except that some low grade cross breds weakened
 Business failures for the week end ing Feb. 3 in the United States num- Der 239 against 22S last week, 2l6 Tn the like week in 1904; sn EOS in n lsSS; %nada S45 failures for the week numbered 30, as against 43 last week and 25 in this week a year ago.
 Dun's Trade Review.
 New York, Feb. S.--k. G. Dun x 70; weekly review of trade tomorrow will say: .,.,-. .,, specnlative excesses having been avoided thus far and the numerous ne- gotiations now pending indicate that the maximum of activity IS yet to come. Some irregularity in report for inc first month were undoubtedly due to exceptionally severe weather. The - weakness of cotton also has a ten dency to check operations at the Soutn
 Taken as a whole, however, results for January were very much better than in the same month last year, par ticularly as to failures. Distribution of merchandise is once more on Q I'D erai scale, traffic blockades having disappeared and in many cases large oiaarance sales having disposed oi burdensome stocks.
 ra~t1iar. but on the whole there is little raIiae for complaint. Few labor dis nutes are interrupting work, although Saveral new controversies are threat :, ened. Manufacturing plants are max
 
 from furnaces and steel mills oper- atA close to their full capacity and the quarterly report of the leading con cern showed an enormous tonnage of h.ainess on the books at the end of inc wear despite the fact that the clos ine months of 1904 made very good exhibits.
 Woolen mills maintain records of ac- .tivitv. but there Is still much to be desired as cotton plants and shoe fac forfes have only a moderate amount If business in sight Railway earn ings for January were II per cent larger than a year ago and foreign cor1nnerce at this port for the last veek showed an increase of $975,OSs 1T, exports and a gain of S52S,O67 in inports. Prices of hides weaken only n proportion to the deterioration tr 1,.aiity that is seasonable and the tone Is really firm with fair volume of business in progress. Leather it auiet with no disposition to force
 Commercial failures this week in thu United States are 25O against SO9 las week and 246 the corresponding weeh last year Failures in Canada number 80 against 43 last week and 29 las year.
 Sewing Machine Needles
 for all makes of machines at Flvl Gents per package, and everything els. pErGAining to sewing machines at great n aaM- Na.a.