The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-11-17
CONGESTION GROWS
WORSE WITH TIME
Domestic and Foreign Iron and
Steel in Demand
RAILWAYS FACE PROBLEM
Are Doing Their Best to Relieve the
Car Situaton-All Industrial
Plants Are Being Pushed
to the Utmost.
RAILWAYS FACE PROBLEM

New York, November 16.-Bradstreets
tomorrow will say: Further and serious
congestion of railway shipments, more
advances in wages, satisfactory recorders,
large volume of spring trade, greater
activity in retail lines in consonance with
colder weather, a marked development
of demand for holiday novelties and
persistent requests for domestic and for
eign iron and steel are among the sig
nifcant features of an exceptionally busy
week. Complaints of poor deliveries are
widespread and while the railways are
making every effort to remedy the sit
uation, little progress is being made in
that direction. Because of these delays
collections are not so good as they might
be, though most of the Improvement re-
ported last week is maintained. Ship
ments of grain probably suffer most
from the congestion but delays of fuel
to manufacturing plants and shipments
from iron and steel mills are also ham
pered. Industrial plants are being pushed
to the utmost.
The interior points, especially in the
cotton belt of the southwest, seem to be
pretty well supplied with funds, owing
to the large crops and the freer move
ments of cotton All in all, the situation
throughout most sections of the country
is an inspiring one, except Virginia, the
Carolinas and Georgia, where shorter
crops have curtailed collections consd-
erably, resulted in requests for extern
sions and hampered trade, and in parts
of the northwest, where bad weather and
slow wheat crop movements have made
trade and collections backward.
Demand for spot pig iron, domestic and
foreign is as insistent as ever and the
high prices prevailing have not curtailed
consumption. English and Scotch irons
are being ordered in goodly volume, the
feature being the disposition to contract
for future deliveries at $3.50 per ton.
New York. Most of the business placed
in the south calls for second quarter
delivery and in the central west demand
for No. foundry and malleable iron for
delivery in the second half of 1907 has de-
veloped considerable proportions, S1 to
500 being the quotations. Finished lines,
save structural shapes, continue very ac-
tive Machinery makers are unusually
busy. Wire products are up 81, hoops
are 81 higher and late in the week steel
bars were advanced 81 ton by the prin-
cipal interests. Coke and anthracite and
bituminous coal are more active and
prices are firmer. Copper is quiet but
firm. In the speculatively dealt in staples,
cotton has been easily first in the volume
of business done, and in the range of
price f1uctuation. At the decline the
south Except Texas) seems to have
stopped selling, and over selling by shorts
caused rally of so points in four days
of the present week. Reports of frost
and snow in the central south were a
stimulating feature. Present spot quo
tations are 100 points above the low point
of the year. but 1876 points below the
high price in January 1906.
The cotton goods market has been quiet
but strong with business limited, simply
because of mpossibility of making dely-
cries. Labor shortage at the mills Is
subject of great complaint.
Business failures in the United States
for week ending November Is number 22f
against 19S last week; against POS in 1902.
Failures in Canada for the week number
81 as against 90 last week and 2S In this
week a year ago Wheat. including flour,
exports in the United States and Canada
for the week ending November 10 (San
Francisco, Tacoma and Seattle missing,
owing to wire trouble due to storm, per-
haps) aggregated 3,742, 331 bushels against
4,155S11 last week. For the past twenty
weeks of the fiscal year the exports are
70564,41 against 41,51S,467 in 1905. Corn
exports of the week are 1,229,352 bushels
against S7O,924 last week. For the fiscal
year to date the exports are 16, 49, 43o
bushels against 20, 1872 ass in 1905