Jasper County Democrat, Volume 5, Number 45, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 February 1903 — COMMERCIAL AND FINANCIAL [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

COMMERCIAL AND FINANCIAL

U 77 T~| ‘‘Vigorous vitality is coa* NSW TOM. I spicuous in trade and in- **■ * dustry, despite the handicap of overstrained nnd lamentably inadequate facilities for transportation. Concentrated efforts to reduce the cod* gestion at a few favored points apparent ly intensified blockades elsewhere, and inclement weather added a new disturbing factor to an already complicated eitnation. Every possible method is being adopted to improve conditions, enormous sums are appropriated for extensions, yet accidents and losses are frequent.” The foregoing is from the Weekly Trade Review of R. G. Dun & Co. It continues: Transatlantic vessels failed to leave on schedule time, and many manufacturing plants nre closed in part or wholly. Labor disputes are more numerous, although not prevalent to any extent in the lending industries. As the season advances there is notable activity in building trades, with the customary acceleration of inquiry for materials. Retail dealings in most staples are fully sustained, especially of seasonable wearing apparel, but distribution at many points lins suffered through weather conditions. Wholesale and jobbing trade is steadily improving, although deliveries cannot be guaranteed. Foreign commerce is keeping pace with domestic trade. Railway earnings during January were 8.0 per cent larger than last year and 17.7 per cent in excess of 1901. Conditions in the iron nnd steel industry are without essential alteration. Far from catching up with its orders, the leading producer now reports over 5,500,000 tons of contracts on hand, nnd similar statements on a somewhat smaller scale are made by other concerns. Traffic difficulties increase, deliveries of fuel nnd pig iron are uncertain, and at Chicago coke is nominally $lO a ton, while Cqnnellsville ovens produce freely, but Pittsburg supplies are inadequate. A very large quantity is en route, and there is growing confidence in the trade that tiie wonst congestion is over for this seas m. —7“ Australia is still buying Chicago. wheat ou the Pacific coast, and stocks there having been reduced to a low point has extended inquiry into the Canadian Northwest. This legitimate demand remains one of the strongest features. Flour demand in general is good and much wheat is being consumed. The two uncertain factors in the speculative mind are the Argentine shipments nnd the attitude of the big Chicago houses. In the first week of important shipments Argentine sent out 1,080,000 bushels of wheat and in the second week 1,200,000. Unless the movement grows heavier than this it is not likely to affect speculative sentiment materially. Our own country is behind in exports so far. having sent out since July 1 152,5(55.538 bushels of wheat, compared with 170,140,6455 bushels in the previous year. In the stofck market the new developments of the week were mainly favorable, but they failed to stimulate activity. Tiie listlessness of the market and lack of speculative interest on the part of the public is in sharp contrast to the commercial and industrial prosperity of the country. While the many who have expected a bull market in stocks have been disappointed, the comparative quiet that has ruled for a time has directed inter?st more towards the channels of trade and manufacture. Many have had time letter to understand the wonderful development west of the Mississippi, where a larger amount of capital is being invested in legitimate enterprises than ever before. The result of it all has been a healthy reaction, a falling away from the feverish excitement of a period of advancing prices in stocks, and a turning more to the examination of the fundamental factors on which prosperity is based, and to which valueß in the long run inevitably adjust themselves.