The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-06-30

I AdhS commerce through the 500 canal in May aggregated twelve mil
 lion tons compared with seven million
 tons in May. 1915.~ In April a new high record for the opening month i of navigation was set, and in May
 more commerce passed through the l Canal than ever before in any one month. The eastbound movement was nearly ten million tons compared with five millions last year and the westbount tota1ed over two million l tons compared with approximately the same amount year ago.
 l Building operations at 162 cities in May aggregated 121amillion dollars, a new high record, compared with 95 million dollars in May, 1915. Build CTS throughout the country were evil dently quick to take advantage of l somewhat bettered labor situation among the building trades and of slight price recessions in some mate rials.
 l Although the cut of lumber in this country continues to exceed lumber shipments, April figures did not show as serious a situation in this respect as in previous months. Lumber cut
 in April tota1ed 1,O58 million feet l compared with 939 million feet in April 1915, and April shipments were 1,O32 million feet compared with 893 I I lumber cut was composed. of 962 mill lion feet of soft woods and 96 million feet of hard woods compared with S49 l million feet of soft. woods and 90 mill l lion feet of hard woods cut in April l1915. April lumber shipments con sisted of 955 million feet of soft woods and TT million feet of hard woods compared with 8s2 million feet of soft woods and 6I million feet of hard woods shipped in April last year. Anthracite coal shipments in May aggregated 5,548 thousand tons com i pared with 3,955 thousand tons in May 1915. Production in May was hampered By labor difficulties Of va | rious sorts.
 | Production of coke in the Councils vile District in the four weeks ended May 27 totaled 1,723 thousand tons compared with 1922 thousand tons. for the month of May, 1915. Ship ments of coke for the four weeks to- tailed AS thousand cars compared with
 s5 thousand cars in May of last. year. On June 10, out of 38,5o4x ovens. a34,- 1 072 were in blast compared with 34, 1 SIS on May 13. = | May production of pig iron set a new high record with total of B. | 351 thousand tons compared with B. l FPS thousand tons in April; and D. l 263 thousand tons in May, l e16. 2The daily output during May was over 1O8 I thousand tons compared with not quite 108 thousand tons in April. There were 321 furnaces in blast on
 June with a daily capacity of 1O8 thousand tons compared with A322 fur naces a month. earlier with a capacity l of 109E thousand tons a day.
 Lake Superior iron ore shipments in l May were larger than ever before in any Inonth,. totaling 8,450 thousand tons compared with 5.O12 thousand tons in May, 1915,
 l The thrilled tonnage of the steel corporation again reached a high : mark on May 31, standing at 9,938 l thousand tons on that date compared ] with 9,830 thousand tons a month be- fore, and 4,265 thousand tons on May I 31, 1915.
 Receipts of zinc and spelter at the principal market during May tota1ed 551 thousand slabs compared with 294
 thousand slabs in May, 1915, while 1 shipments from this market totaled 1 356 thousand slabs in May eempared
 with 334 thousand slabs a year ago. l Domestic consumption of tin in May | totaled 5,455 tons compared with A. 202 tons in April. and $500 tons in
 May last year. Shipments of tin from the Straits Settlements to the
 United States during. May tota1ed D. 145 tons compared with 1,260 tons in April and 3,805 tons in May last year. Stocks of tin in this country at the close of May were 2,46s tons com pared with 2.756 tons a month earlier, and 1,425 tons a year ago. The to-
 tai visible supply of tin at the end of the month was 19,614 tons compared
 with 19,739 tons a month before and 14,646 tons at the close of May, 1915, New oil production during May to- taled 154 thousand barrels. compared
 with 95 thousand barrels in April. There were 2,658 wells completed in
 May compared with 2,070 the pre- vious month.s
 1 Final figures on the production of Portland cement in this country in 1915 are now at hand and confirm the figures given in our February report. The production of Portland cement In
 1915 was s5,915 thousand barrels
 compared with SS,23O thousand bar
 rels in 1914 while shipments were 86,-
 S92 thousand barrels compared with 86,438 thousand barrels in 1914. This
 caused decrease in stocks during
 the year to 11,781 thousand barrels
 compared with stocks of 12,773 thou
 sand barrels at the close of 1914.
 Transvaal gold production in May
 totaled ITS thousand fine ounces com
 pared with 755 thousand ounces in
 April, and 764 thousand ounces in I May, 1915.
 The falling off in commodity prices
 which these reports have recently in-
 dicated was impending, is in further
 evidence this month. Following the
 slight but important recession of May
 1st, Bradstreet's index of comm odity
 prices dropped during May from s11.= 75 to $11.69 on June 1. This com
 pares with $9.74 on June 1, 1915. Du-
 ring May, 36 articles increased in