The morning journal-courier., 1908-12-26
RETAIL SALES LARGE Dun Also Finds Evidence of Greater Activity in Man
 ufacturing. BIG PIG IRON OUTPUT Commercial Failures Dwindle Com pared With Last Week and
 Same Week of 1907.
Dun,s Weekly Review says:

Retail sales have been large, both of holiday goods and staples, but sea sonable dulness Is noted in jobbing and wholesale lines Fall River mills and some other misunderstanding plants closed from Thursday nightto Monday morning, but other shops had too many orders on hand for an extended holiday, and inventories promise much ,pressure for delivery after January 1. Output of iron and steel is steadily Increasing, blast furnaces at Gary be- ling added to the active capacity this iweek Little change occurs in prices most commodities rising where any Alteration is found Aside froA some tcomplaints at the south. attributed to ,the low price of cotton, trade reports Mndicate much greater activity than Ia year ago, while the improvement in sentiment Is still more striking, and tthe recovery in security values was Accelerated by purchases made in an tticipation of January dividend invest sments. Returns of lake traffic for the pseason, as measured by the freight movement through the Sault Ste. .Marle canal. showed a loss of 29 per Icent in comparison with 1907. The decrease of 32,S00 in number of idln sfreight cars in the last fortnightly re- bort was largely due to scasonahle movement in grain and coal ship ments. Foreign commerce at this port alone for the latest weeN showed a gain of se,165,761 in value of inn ports and loss of S237920 In eX- ports, as compared with the move n,ents in 1907. Railway earnings thus far reported for December were S6 per cent. larger than last year but 1.1 per cent. less than in 1906. Money is circulating freely, and mer- cantilc collections are more prompt Bank exchanges at New York were 75.5 DOT cent larger than a year ago, and at other leading cities 194 per cert
 stasonably quiet conditions prevail in the iron and steel markets, hui plants are fairly we'll occupied. and liberal buying is expected in January Output of pig iron is larger than at any previous time during the past year anl there Is some accumulation of stocks at merchant furnaces, owing to conservative withdrawals on old con tracts. Prices are steady There Is good movement Of bllets and demand for shaets and tin bars increases, Specifications for wire rods are fair. Tn the finished lines the most active features are wire and tin plate, about 75 per cent. of the wire mills being fin operation and 65 per cent. Of full tin plate capacity. Demand Is larR- est for bright plates to be used by tho canning industry. Sheet mills are more fully occupied, and car works specify freely for delivery of plates Structural mills are busy on old or ders, but competition has resulted in snrlc low quotations Merchant steel mills have some bie contracts, against which specifications arc constant.
 Commercial failures this week Tn the United States as reported by R. G. Dun X Co. arc 240 against 33S last wpak. 3t2 the preceding week and 280 tho corrcspondng week last year Failures in Canada number Q, against 34 last week. 42 the preceding week and 24 last year Of failures this week in the United States S6 were in tho east. 76 south, so west and B in the Pacific States, and 80 report liabilities of s5,0O0 ar more against 103 laet week. Liabilities of commercial fail tlres thus far reported for December arc s10,21S,932, against $1S,%9O.s65 for the same period last year,