Rensselaer Republican, Volume 18, Number 41, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 June 1886 — GENERAL. [ARTICLE]

GENERAL.

Colonel Richard M. Hoe, of New York, died suddenly at Florence, Italy. Mr. Hoe had gone abroad for rest and pleasure; in company with his wife and daughter, and was apparently in his usual good health when suddenly stricken down with heart disease. Mr. Hoe was the senior member of the firm, of R. Hoe <fc Co. His name is inseparably connected with the development of the printing press in this country. . The Yardmasters’ Mutual Benevolent Association held its annual convention at St. Paul, President Campbell, of Derry, Pa-., in the chair. ’. .The Prison Chaplains Association of the United States held iti first annual meeting at Indianapolis.... The Western Union Telegraph Company, in passing its quarterly dividend, reports the payment df heavy judgments, and of taxes levied by the State of New Y’ork on the entire capital stock. The Washington crop report for June shows (hat the condition of spring wheat is .98A per cent., against 97 per cent, a year ago, with practically the same acreage as then. Winter wheat is stated to be from an average to a high crop in those States which produce the. largest quantities in normal years, but its condition is 2 per cent, lower than a month ago, being now given as 92.7 per cent. The statistician says that the prospect is still good for a.little more than twelve bushels to the acre, which statement is understood to apply to the whole crop. This yield would give, approximately, about 300,()00,0(10 busheD of winter wheat, or a total of 400,000,000 bushels of both kinds. It is stated that the torpedo experiments at the Pensacola naval drill demonstrated that the spar torpedoes, as at present used, are worse than useless. The Chicago Tribune, in its weekly review of the business situation, says: General business is rattier dull, but not much more Sb than is usual at this time of the year, and is scarcely’so bad as might have been expected to follow the lassitude caused by the labor troubles. The loss of the recent advance in wheat has somewhat checked preparations for increased mercantile dealings with the country, but oats are strong, and corn nnd hogs ' comparatively steady, so that the buying ability of the farmer may be a fair one after all. A great deal more is thought than has been written about the effect of the railroad extensions on the world of trade. It is said that contracts are out for railroad building, the total of which is nlaced by some as high as §75,01)0.000. If it be only half that, the circulation of so, much money, most of it in the labor market, could not but prove a decided stimulus to many branches of industry, in which the merchant would have his full share; and the carrying of the material on good.rates of freight would give a large augment to the earnings of the lines directly interested. Steel rails were active and firm last week, with 834 bid for lots of 10,000 tons a few days ago, and rumors that another lot had been sold to arrive from England. But the demand for manufactured iron does not improve, and is not expected to do so for the next two months. In dry goods and clothing there is a fair volume of trade, with no new features. The prospect in cotton goods is far from being a brilliant one, and the suspension of the Lewiston mills may bd accepted as a sign that the demand has not kept pace with the supply.