The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-19
SLOWPROGRESS|N
 TRADE CONTINUES English Labor Strike Hav-
 ing Some Effect GOOD FALL OUTLOOK Gains Are Moderate, However, With Tendency to Operate Cautiously
 Awaiting Outcome of Crops
 and Tariff Revision
GOOD FALL OUTLOOK

New York, August 1s.-R. G. Dun X
 Co.'S weekly review tomorrow will say Sentiment is improved at Boston with
 d prevailing belief that business will soon be much better Dry goods job l bers report a fair demand and orders
 are well distributed. Indications ap- pear of expansion in industrial activity although curtailment Is still drastic al cotton mills. Mems wear woolen mills
 however are booking a good volume oi business, shoe factories are busy and
 wool trading is brisk. Slow progress is noted at Philadelphia, merchants 1T most lines confinng their operations as much as possible to actual require. ments. Manufacturers are buying cot. ton and wooden goods to some extent while wool millinery sale houses are busy with preparations for fall and re. port inquiries very encouraging. The wool mark ct Is very active and firm With industrial plants increasing op- erations to a moderate degree, there : more optimism in commercial lines al Pittsburg, and wholesalers of dry goods notions and shoes receive good orders for future delivery.
 Numerous visiting buyers have stfm- ulated trade activity at Baltimore, es- pecially In wholesale lines. Local re- tail merchants were also well patron ized, the reduced prices incidental to this season of the year attracting many buyers.
 The outlook for fall in the whole sale dry goods and notion market is exceptionally good. Normal conditions prevailed at New Orleans, retail trade being considered satisfactory and a good demand developing for plantation supplies Visiting merchants are in- creasing in numbers at St. Louis, and while purchases are usually along con- servative lines, stocks of dry goods millinery, clothing, hats. footwear and fancy goods have been considerably re- duced.
 Retail trade improves slowly, hot weather retarding business In a measure Chicago wholesale operations include 8 wider variety of fall, winter and holiday goods and road and mail orders compare well with this time last year. Cleveland reports that trade in nearly all retail branches is slow and unsatisfactory.
 The general undertone throughout the northwest is good and stocks of merchant disc are not burdensome. Abundance of rain has repaired much of the early dam age by drouth, and threshing returns are proving better than expected.
 New York. August 1s.-Bradstreet's to- morrow will say:
 The improvement which Is generally conceded to have occurred in the later planted western crops, particularly corn. since the first of the month, the advance of the season of fall jobbing activity and the consequent presence in the leading markets of fall buyers were reflected in a further slight improvement in the vol ume of wholesale trade this week. These gains are moderate. however and the ten dency to operate cautiously, pending clearer views of crop outturn and of pos sible tariff revision, is as marked as here tofore.
 In the case of the wool tariff revision the disapproval by the executive of the measure has apparently brought out more confident buying of goods and of raw ma terial. with some hardening values. Most activity in dstributive trade Is shown in dry goods and kindred lines, groceries and fall supplies generally Trade at best however, is only fair and demand waits upor real or expected consumption to an extent not often witnessed at this sea son. Not all lines of trade are equal in showing expansion.
 The close inter dependence of interna- tional trade is shown in the less satisfac- tory reports received as to some branches of export and import trade, which gre feeling the effects of the labor condi ct in Great Britain with the consequent inter ruption of or congestion in the usual chan nels. Grain, provisions and manufactured lines exported most affected by the regulations adopted by some steamship companies pending the strike settlement and even some lines of import trade note cumulative effects of past interruptions to traffic by this country's greatest GUS toner's territory
 Although production of finished steel is of goodly volume, there is rather less ooing in the way of new business and re- rorts of price cutting are more numer- oUs. Buyers in general are conserva- tive. and 1t is said that attractive busi- rcss would bring out lower quotations. Collections run fair to slow. Business failures in the United States for the week ending August IT were 2l5 against POS last week, 222 in the last week of 1910, 1S3 in -fO9, 236 in l5OS and 153 in 1907
 Wheat, Including flour, exports from the United States and Canada for the week ending August F aggregate S,507,- 3s5 bushels, against 2.56e,96. last week and i,l9I.5l4 this week last year For the seven weeks ending August r exports are lc72s,707 bushels, against 9,047,41 in the corresponding period last year.
 Corn exports for the week are 2S9, 53i, against 635,7S1 last week and 4s s,537 in 1910 For the seven weeks ending August II corn exports are 4,o1e.12o bushels, against 1 956,S33 last year