The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-06-09
Current Business Tendencies

The suspension Saturday of we'll known banking house in London was received in the market there with ap- parent indifference, owing to the fact that the failure had been long anttci- pated. The incident has no possible connection with American finance. al- though it calls attention to the fact that other countries are having their troubles. Total applications for cap- itaI in. London during May were not half what they were in May 1913, the l figures being $11O, 900, 900, as against $27O, ,000, ,00O. This reveals a curtail-1 ment in new enterprise fully compar- able with recent experience in the United States. The New r ork stock market had another dull week, with l light trading but with no material change in the price level. The mar ket closed Saturday noon with a sud- den upward tilt that did not mean much, but optimists pointed out a. genuine basis for greater strength in prices by reason of the highly favor fable government crop report expect the first of this week, the rumors of 1 a favorable freight rate decision with | in few days by the interstate com
 merce decision. improved trade re- ports and notably increased buying Of pig-iron and railroad equipment.
 There is no doubt about the pres
 
 wheat is sssnade' and win surpass all records. The hay crop. also. prom ises to be enormous. As for the still
 doubtful rate decision, the less 1t is banked on the better. The steel and l iron market after a, bad experience in
 signs Of real improvements for sew
 eraI railroads have placed large or ders for cars and rails. The Penn
 sylvania system is expected to order 100000 tons of rails at once ands while the amount is smaller than in recent years. 1oO, ,00O tons will help
 the slackened industry. Tn the first week in June, the United States Steel corporations daily orders exceeded
 those in April and May by 5000 to 1 4,000 tons. Iron and steel statistics | for May show a low level of activity, the falling off from year ago being
 some 80 per cent. in production of pig-iron. But, if the industry has passed the low point of production, as appearances indicate, there IS ground for real encourage cement That gem eral business last week was active IS to be seen in the bank clearings,
 which exceeded by 2 per cent those | Of the same week a year ago and also June opened we'll, after a disappoint- ing record in clearings for the month Of May. May failures were fewer than in any month since September
 last.
 Complete statistics of railroad earn tings are no later than for April. There
 is an improvement in net, but the l gross still shows a shrinkage. The net revenue of 123 of the largest
 roads of the country during April was 1 $29O per mile of line. whereas it was
 but $281 last year. The net revenue of the eastern roads was $4424 per
 mile of road during April. an increase of s9 per mile. The net revenue Of the southern roads was $1s0 in April, I1913 whereas it increased to $2IO per western district enjoyed a net revenue of $241 per mile of road an increase of $6 per mile The net gain, which I will improve the financial position of the roads, has been secured of course l through economies, fewer trains and
 smaller operating staffs Examining
 the April gross earnings, based on re-
 turns of 68 large systems, it appears l that total for April 1913. was $s3.- s574,272 as against total Of $91, ,967,- l gross was about one million and a | half for the 68 roads-no very great
 shrinkage after all. One of the dat- test railroads in the country, the Bos- ton 6 Maine. had gross in April last of $3,S73s6OO, as against $3,878,797 last year and $3ss755,653 in 1912. Ob- lviously, internal management is re- I sponsible for the depressed condition of that railroad rather than general 1 business; and the same is true of
 many other railroads in the United States. Increased freight rates may help temporarily but not permanent l ly. AS for the railroads of the coun- try as a whole, it is clear that very appreciable differences in their gross
 revenues will be felt if the great I grain carriers have big crops to
 transport this year.
 Recent tendencies in the foreign Il trade attract a good deal of attention.
 The increase of imports and decline lin exports is accounted for mainly
 "by increased domestic Gemand for
 foods or Iessened exportab1e supplies
 carried over from last years short Icrops.'' Such is the statement of one
 trade Journal, and there appears to
 be a sound basis for it in the statis- tics of seven months of imports and I exports under the new tariff Inn ports in that period gained 2.2 per
 cent. due entirely to an increase of T IT. 4 per cent. in imports of foods
 and meat animals, for imports of
 manufactures declined 2.9 per cent. and imports of crude materials de- clined IT per cent Exports for the
 seven months shrunk z per cent. due
 almost wholly to our crop shortage of
 1913, for exports of bread StuffS fell
 off from $168. 100000 to less than
 $130, 900. Take the period as a
 whole, it is not possible that actual
 sales of foreign goods should have
 had any paralyzing effect upon our
 manufacturing industries. On the
 other hand, it is fortunate for con-
 sunlers here in the East that impor- I tations of meat and other foods have
 been possible in year following 1 the short corn crop on substantially a free trade basis.
 The textile situation is somewhat
 extraordinary With a rise in the price of raw cotton, the demand for T cotton goods has increased of late and there are reports of distinct improve s ment from the Rhode Island mills
 The buying, however, is still on very
 short notice and the mills have few i longtime orders. Whatever may ] happen in the way of curtailment this
 summer, the New England cotton in