The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-10-28
Production and Consumption Of
Steel at High Mark.
Due Largely to Equipment
Orders Of the Railroads.
RAILWAY EARNINGS
Are Six Per Cent Larger Than
I'm October 1904.
Bank Clearings Show Healthy
Growth Throughout Country.

New York, Oct. 2s.-R. @. Dun and
Co.'S Weekly Review Of Trade says:
Almost without exception reports are
favorable regarding the nations com
mercial progress. A needed decline in
temperature has stimulated distribution
of wearing apparel and other seasonabIe
merchandise, relieving anxiety that
heavy stocks would be carried over at
the end Of the season. Some wholesal-
ers are receiving supplementary orders
in these lines. but as a rule. duplicate
business has not become general. There
is no decrease in the inquiry for spring
shipments from jobbers and little idle
machinery IS found in the leading man
ufacturing industries. Production and
consumption of steel is at a new maxi
mum, without the unsettling influence
of a return to the inflated prices Of a
few years ago. The railways have been
purchasing new equipment freely, yet
there is the usual delay in moving
freight that has apparently become in
evitable at this season. Textile mills
are well occupied, although the labor
situation is more uncertain, and the
teamsters' strike had a tendency to in
terrupt business. Shoe shipments from
Boston have now risen to within TO- 900
cases Of the movement to date in 1903;
all other years being far surpassed. A
sharp advance in prices of leading farm
staples was accompanied by the great
est activity of the season in option mar
kets and the average OF the sixty most
active railway securities established a.
new high water mark, although the out
side public was not a prominent factor
Railway earnings in October were 6 per
To- Tue ct a nd ion
commerce at this port showed an increase
OF 81, 537 sos in exports and $2,279,433 in
imports as compared with the same
week in 1904,
Limited offerings maintain hrmness
in the hide market, some varieties are
having still higher level, which now
means a new high record since the civil
war in nearly every instance.
Leather is quiet.
"Failures this week number 21O in the
United States, against 230 last year, and
Is in Canada, compared with 2s a year
ago.
BradstFeet's.
Bradstreet's says:
Activity. in fact buoyancy, still
characterizes practically all lines Of
trade and industry. Cooler weather is
a stimulus to retail trade in all but a
sections of the country. Recorder
business reflects this in a steady call
from Jobbers for dry goods clothing,
shoes, hats-in fact all lines of wear
ing apparel Holiday trade in many
lines also shows effects Of early buy
ing. The practical lifting of the last
of the southern guarantees is helping
southern trade, as is also the higher
price Of cotton which is lOOsening up
the movement of that staple. The
long awaited materializing of Euro
pean demand for our breadstuffs is
apparently now at hand. Business in
this line, it is claimed, is now limited
only by vessel room capacity. Higher
prices for nearly all farm products
have helped demand in agricultural
districts, and to a certain extent i'm
proved collections. Industry retains
the lively appearance noted for some
time past.
''In railway lines the efforts max
ing te handle the immense business
offered are such as were never put
forth before. Bank clearings, though
comparing with very large totals q
year ago, show expansion, particularly
at cities outside the metropolis. Taken
as a whole, the situation is one which
finds no precedents for this season of
the year and stress is being laid upon
the need Of conservatism If runaway
markets are to be avoided. Features
deserving note in the iron and steel
trade this week are the very liberal
orders placed for cars and other roll
ing stock, which have been covered by