Jasper County Democrat, Volume 5, Number 23, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 September 1902 — COMMERCIAL AND FINANCIAL [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

COMMERCIAL AND FINANCIAL

Unio Vnrb I “ Steady pros™*'' Is ~enev lOIK. ported in trade and indasi 'try. Distribution of iner- • ebandise is heavy and n healthy tone is evident. Prices are well maintained by liberal consumption, which more than neutralizes the effect of enlarged facilities for production. Domestic conditions continue ranch better than those existing abroad and home trade received more attention than foreign commerce. Farm products have appreciated in value owing to less favorable weather and producers will be fully compensated for any decrease in quantity by the higher quo. ations. Earnings of railways during August were 8.0 per cent larger than a yea* ago and 18.9 per cent in excess of 1900.’' It. G. Dun & Oo.’s Weekly Review off Trade makes tlie foregoing resume of the industrial situation. Continuing, it saysi Quotations of footvyear arc fully maintained nt the recent advance. It is noteworthy that buying has been heaviest in the finer grades and sample lines of spring styles are nls«) most sought in tlie good qualities. A good feature is the urgency for quick shipment, indicating that stocks are low. Leather sells freely at the recent advance in quotations, but hides appear to have risen above the views of tanners, resulting iu a quiet market. Advancing raw material aroused much anxiety among purchasers of cotton goods nnd there were numerous inquiries for forward contracts, but the volume of business was not materially increased. Agricultural conditions are less satisfactory, and if the official estimate as to cotton is not exaggerated the yield will not be large enough to sustain consumption at the present rate. Wheat is coming forward freely, though receipts do not equal the abnormally heavy movement a year ago. Corn developed strength because of fears that injury would be dona by frost, and the movement is very slow compared with last year's figures. ~ The Northwest lias had billOM another week of unseasonable weather. In spite of this, however, trade is reported good, and collections easy. The unfavorable feature is the continued light crop movement, Minneapolis reports being far behind last year in the matter of wheat receipts. The grain will begin coming in quantity eventually but every succeeding day of bad weather delays the movement still further. Something of a scare was worked up in a small way by low temperatures over the Northwest and the possibility of damage to wheat in the extreme Northwest, and to the late flax still iu some degree immature. To what extent stock market advances already made have discounted the future is problematical. Certainly it is a reasonable assumption that if the western railroads dependent largely upon corn, or the tonnage derived indirectly from corn, were able to hold up earnings last tear, and even make increases, they should do wonderfully well this year, when, as an illustration, the present condition of corn in Missouri is 108, while last year at this time it was 29 on a much smaller acreage. More Scotch iron was brought over last week for use in Chicago. A little of unfavorable comment was occasioned by this, although just why it is hard to see. It has no special significance nnd means nothing more than that we must have iron, and as there are many difficulties in the way of maximum production the mhst important of which is the roal strike, consumers are going abroad for what they cannot get at home. The foreign iron makers will lose their American trade whenever American mills can book the orders. Failures for the week were under the average and there were no new developments of an unfavorable nature in the industrial lins. The feeling is growing, however, that the anthracite strike must be settled even if a settlement must be forced upon the mine owners and their property rights disregarded, in view of the existence of something that has grown to be a serious menace to the general prosperity.