The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1914-04-10
! to make an the discrepancy.

| ed to make UP the discrepancy.
For the month Of February, building
permits for principal cities ran about
the average and about the same as
last year, IL New York is left out Of
| consideration. New York showed a
while gains were showed by Chicago,
Philadelphia, Baltimore, Pittsburgh,
Detroit, Kansas City, San Francisco,
| Dallas, Minneapolis, st. Paul, Toledo
and Fort Worth. Building operations
outside Of New York City for the year
| to date are slightly above last year.
A marked improvement was shown
in the business mortality for February,
failures being only a. few over 1900,
while in January there were nearly L.
500. The total liabilities for February
failures were $21, 600. 900 compared
with $4,000, 900 in the same month
last year, when there were 1880 fall
ures. It Is hoped and believed that
this turn in the business failure situa-
| ton will last as the most acute con
dition in the business world f3~ the
past year has been the increasing
number OF failures. II this turn for
the better indicates that the weak
ones have been pretty we'll eliminat ed,
it will mean much toward the settling
Of business conditions in the months
to come.
The railroad gross earnings for
February SO far as reported, show ~
| decline Of 10 per cent compared with
a year ago. Decreases are shown by
almost every individual road which
has reported so far. The interesting
item in this exhibit is the great de-
crease shown by the Canadian Paci-
fc line in gross earnings. The de-
crease on the Canadian lines was con
siderably greater than on the lines
| operating wholly within the United
States. There are many contributing
causes to the decline in grass earnings,
among them being the Goa miners
strike, the copper miners strike, the
small movement Of grain to market IN
which prevented the rapid and regu-
lar operation OF trains. This latter
condition will allow a gain in gross
earnings later on but the resultant
loss in net earnings is not SO easily
offset. The railroads are looking anx-
iously toward the crops Of 1914 and
the present excellent condition of the
soil in most of the country and the
healthy look Of the winter wheat and
rye areas are making them believe
that the late summer and early fall
will bring big business for them.
More than 100000 freight cars were
idle on March 1 compared with 81, 900
@ y S"4 o5Cs / 4A5 LAG WI poA IA
February, the surplus was reduced by
$4,000. Some Of this reduction was
due to the slow movement Of freight
or account Of the weather and did not
mean increased earnings for the roads.
Although the steel companies are
operating at about rs per cent Of ca
pacity on finished products and about
80 per cent on ingots, it is clear that
a reduction in operation must come
about unless there is a sudden squirt
| Of buying. Heavier railroad buying is
practically assured for later in the
year and orders for steel rails and for
| equipment were fairly good for Febru-
airy. A lull is on at present that will
bring about a curtailment Of OPERA
ton during April unless a considerable
volume Of the unusually large number
| Of foreign inqiries develop into orders.
The untitled tonnage of the steel
corporation at the close Of last month
crease over the previous months, but
the untitled report on March 81 will
show some falling off unless the or
ders for the last few days of the
month are unusually large. which they
are not likely to be.
Copper production has declined, the
visible supply has declined and prices
are weak. Consumers are evidently
not stocking ny during this period, al
| though later in the year it is practic-
ally assured they must pay much high
er prices. Exports last month were
above normal.
The visible supply of pig tin has in
creased materially during the past few
weeks, the total visible now being
above 1900 tons. Shipments of spell
| ter from principal markets are about
two-thirds what they were a year
ago. Lead shipments are also small
err.
The production of gold in the Trans
vaal for both January and February
showed a considerable decline as COM
pared with a year ago and two years
ago, the production of gold in that
district for the two months declining
over Is per cent. During the same
period, commodity prices declined
nearly 5 per cent.
The anthracite coal output for
February was only 4,121, 900 tons COM
pared with 5,674,000 a year ago. The
decline was caused by bad weather at
the mines which curtailed operations
and the inability to get cars to loa
because Of snow blockades. During
the same time. the consumption Of
anthracite was unusually large be-
cause of the bad weather.
Coke shipments have been heavier
so far for March than during the lat
ter weeks of February, but the number
of ovens in blast Is declining. The
present showing UP in iron and steel
orders has put the coke operators in
a hesitating attitude. The price is
steady but there is not much inquiry
for future delivery.
Dividend disbursements for March
will total $50. 900, 900 compared with
$50, 000, 900 a year ago, while interest
with $4,000, 900 last year. This makes
| total dividend and interest disburse-