Jasper County Democrat, Volume 5, Number 5, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 May 1902 — COMMERCIAL AND FINANCIAL [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

COMMERCIAL AND FINANCIAL

FT “ ”~1 “Two large strikes, schedN6V lOFK. ule<l t 0 commence on May 1,1 *l, were averted, at least temporarily, and a number of smaller ones were settled, but many new controversies have begun. This labor factor is the only seriously unfavorable ono in the industrial situation, exerting considerable influence over the volume of transactions, and also tending to unsettle confidence. In seasonable merchandise, especially dry goods and clothing, wanner weather has stimulated dealings, while outdoor work is prosecuted vigorously. Collections are more prompt as a rule, fewer extensions being asked. Shipments are less delayed by traffic congestion, and railway earnings thus far reported for April exceed last year’s by 7.2 per cent.” R. G. Dun & Co. thus sum up trade conditions in their weekly review. The review continues: Consumers of finished steel products are compelled to place orders subject to the-convenience of manufacturers, and it is the exception when any nearby deliveries are promised. An unprecedented amount of railway work is being done, while the erection of new buildings would be much more extensive if material were available. This structural work is on a record-breaking scale and promises relief to the situation hereafter, since most of the plants under construction will add to the productive capacity when completed. Pig iron has worked up to a higher point, Bessemer commanding S2O at Pittsburg on deliveries within Six months, owing to the full contracts held by the furnaces. Foreign dealers have shown much wisdom by making concessions in this market. Cereal prices have been less inflated by speculation than they were last week, yet a high level was maintained, and only slight reactions occurred. The general tenor of crop news was much more encouraging, aside from Kansas dispatches, which indicate that wheat needs moisture, although corn and oats have good prospects. Good foreign crop conditions were calculated to weaken the tone, yet exports of wheat from the United States, flour included, amounted to 5,579,637 bushels, against 4,132,357 a year ago. Recent attractive prices have brought corn to market more freely than in preceding weeks, but receipts of 1.686,050 bushels for the week fall far short of the 2.378,564 in the same week last year. The comparison as to Atlantic exports is still more striking, only 154.704 bushels going out during the week, against 2,560,211 a year ago. It was hardly to be exClliCdQO. pected that the week 8 would pass without a more serious turn in the labor situation. Trouble has been in the air for a time and the beginning of the new month brought the culmination of some long standing disputes. Strikes occurred in many places, yet, in the main, they were local troubles involving no great body of men. It is gratifying to note an exceptional freedom from the bitterness that too often characterizes disputes between capital and labor, a tendency to avoid demonstrations liable to lead to violence, and a marked disposition to adjust the differences by arbitration. The building trades have suffered, and in some places new building plans have been hung up pending a settlement. This delay to spring building is the most serious aspect so far. In all the cities of the interior bank clearings are running far ahead of last year. Deliveries of wheat by elevators to millers on May contract helped swell the total. The grain markets held between the counter influences of unresponsive foreign markets and home conditions, tending to make a high price range. In the Northwest the season is backward. The fact that the crop will start uneven and generally late is not necessarily bad in Itself, as one of the largest wheat crops ever raised in the