The Washington herald., 1908-04-20

tanned so easily. It is difficult TO bring
pressure upon owners Of securities to sell
them, and speoulators whose habit it is
by preference TO operate for the decline
are cautious about indulglng in sales.
On the other hand. it must be admitted
that the general run Of developments of
late has been toward indicating that bus
mess the country over is not as active
as 1t was "a month ago.
Iron and steel Trade Good.
These signs have been most pronounced
in the iron and steel trade, where a gen
eral lower tendency prevails in quota
tions for many lines of iron and steel
products, even IL no definite cuts in
prices have yet been made In the more
important branches Of the Industry, such,
for instance, as steel rails. Indeed, It
Is believed that the larger steel-making
concerns are not cutting prices ar ali,
but they are unquestiOnably making this
stand at the expense of business, and
some Of the smaller steel companies are
taking contracts that the larger concerns
refuse TO hiI on the terms offered The
situation in this regard seems TO be quite
unsettled. and confidence that prices in
NA4C AAAGtll VIA Dt iallltAAaluG4 klAuttS A0uk
the present period of depression is GER
tainly not as strong as It was.
The price Of copper. TOO. has declined
very considerably of late. and is still
weak. The outlook for the crops re-
mains excellent, but is perhaps not quite
as brilliant as il was a fortnight ago, be-
cause of an accumulations of evidence
that the rainfall in the winter wheat sec
tion is not yet all that could be desired,
Rains have been abundant east OF the
Mississippi River, but west of that line
have apparently not been sufficient
First Gold Expectation.
On Wednesday the first gold export en-
gagement took place; and though IN
view Of the immense plethora Of money
here, the event had not the slightest pos
sible bearing on conditions of the mo-
ment, a question OF some Importance
later may prove TO be the amount OF
gold that is likely to be exported be-
fore the movement ceases. II Is the opin-
ion Of our best bankers that this amount
win not be small unless money rates
here move TO a higher level than that on
which they now stand, a circumstance
that might be brought about, of course.
by heavy withdrawal of government
deposits from the national banks and the
common expectation seems TO be that
such Withdrawals will be ordered in the
course Of a short time. The gold taken
for export has thus far been shipped TO
France, but it is understood that the real
country asking for the money is Ger
many. since the Imperial Bank of Ger
many is Offering TO make advances 10
the French bankers Of a fortnights in
tereSt against the gold IN transit. The
matter draws attention To the fact that
financial and business affairs in Ger
many are in a greater state OF strain
al the moment than in any other Eu-
rOpean country. and that in all probable
ity some such period Of retrenchment and
readjustment must take place there as is
already in progress in our own land.
Exports Are Less
Indeed. the one signal development of
the week was the striking evidence con-
tained in the figures Of our country's ex-
port and import trade for the month of
March that business everywhere in the
world just now is tending toward shrink
age. Our imports In this period were
Si4 o00.G9e less than they were in March,
1907, although they were a little larger
than they were for February or January
IN the present year. Our exports. how
ever, were $25. .0080 900 less than in Feb
Tuary and $64,O0O.000 less than in January
this year, and this is the first month
since October of last year that our ex-
ports have decreased The balance Of
trade, of course still stands enormously
in our favor. although it is 81, eco, ,000 less
than in the preceding month.
The only deduction that can be drawn
from these statistics is that OF a general
slaekening trade In Europe as well as
here,