The Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1???-1928, 1907-06-10
Special to The Bulletin.

Special to The Bulletin.
New York, JuEe S.-Stock market
conditions are still somewhat contra
dictofy. The yeryl ow prices al
which many good dividend payers
lare selling should attract good invest
Inent buying. IL notm ore or less ex-
tensiye speculative purchases. But
partly from lack of confidence, and
partly owing to the relative scarcity
Of capital. there has been no large de-
Imand for railroad securities. All
fresh supplies of available capital dur
ling the last six months have been
rapidly absorbed by the new short
term railroad notes. AS Is wen
known these issues have run up into
several hundreds Of millions the high
rate of interest which they offer and
| the unusual degree Of safety giving
them a preference over most other in
,vestments at a time when more o
less doubt has entered into the gen
eral situation.
Let us briefly consider some Of the
elements which are interfering with
1.-THE revival of confidence. Chief
among these must be included the
lcrop situation Our weather has got
upon the average business mans
nerves and with much reason The
lgeason is from two to three weeks
backward: and temperature has been
below the normal, while rainfall was
laboye the normal The result Is an
Unusual degree Of uncertainty regard
ling the next harvest. It does not ap-
lpear however, that The wheat crop.
which last year was valued at $780,.
100000, has been badly injured This
Important crop is late. yet condition
lis generally good, and the most re-
liable reports seem to indicate that
with reasonably fair weather during
the balance of the growing season an
average crop may be anticipated.
There II really no reason at present
for anticipating any real scarcity of
wheat in the United States or Can
ada. The shortage. If any, will be in
Europe; contingency that will
cause good foreign demand for our
surplus at relatively high prices.
This insures profitable wheat crop
to the American and Canadian far
mers. and should check all present |
anxiety on that account. With regard |
TO corn, the situation is somewhat diff !
ferent. Last year this crop was val
ued at $1,167, 100000. Planting has
been much delayed and many fields
have had to be resown. Experience !
has proved, hawever, that corn can /
be sown as late as June 10th and a
good crop assured by September 18th |
under ordinary weather conditions. 1t
Is thus quite premature to be over
anxious about the corn crop The
cotton crop, however, which last year
was valued at S640000,000 and Is the
crop Of second importance, is nnques- |
tionahly in an unsatisfactory, If not /
precarions condition. The June gov
eminent report gave the condition at
705, compared with 10-year average
of S3.G per cent. This is an exceed 1
ingly poor outlook, especially in view
of the very small increase in acreage,
and threatens a probable reduction
in the yield. While good prices may
somewhat compensate the farmer. a
raj scarcity of cotton would be nothing
short of a calamity to the textile in
terests of the United States and other
parts of the world. since these in
dustries are almost entirely depend
emf upon the United tSates for their
supply of this staple. Nevertheless
good weather from now on might give
ne fully an average crop. The hay
crop, which ranks next to cotton, is
IN good condition. Other grains-oats
and barley-and the fruit crops, are,
Of course, backward, but their pros
poets have not been much injured
by the prevailing unfayorable wea-
Their except in certain localities. Such
have impaired a very
feeling amongst business
men. for the reason that any disaster
to the crops would unquestionably
cause a very decided setback TO bust
ness. Some branches of the retail
dry goods trade have suffered ma
terially from the backward season.
the feeling spreads that
business has reached the top notch
and that a reaction is inevitable A
few industries. like the iron and cot
ton trades. are still enjoying great ac-
tivity. but outside of these there is
evidence that reaction has begun. At
the same time it is altogether too
soon to take discouraging views of the
crop situation, especially as our far
mers are sure of securing very profit
able prices. II is quite reasonable TO
more seasonable weather
after fully two months of abnormal
and should we escape
early frosts there is no reason yet
why we should not be favored with
an average yield of all the great
staples, except possibly in the case of
cotton. which up to date has suffered
more severely than any other agricul.
tural product.
There have been two other sources
with the revival of con
fidence. viz gold exports and govern