Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 19, Number 52, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 March 1898 — IN GENERAL. [ARTICLE]

IN GENERAL.

The steamer North Pacific, en route to Alaska, is still at Port Townsend, Wash., her crew and 120 passengers having deserted her, believing she is not seaworthy. The new wharf at Tampico, Mexico, constructed by the Central Railroad under Government supervision,was destroyed by fire. The custom house, under construction and nearly completed, was damaged to the extent of about SBOO,OOO. The total loss on wharf, custom house and merchandise is nearly $2,000,000, fully insured. Scurvy lias developed among the miners at Dawson City to such an extent that there are now seventeen eases in the public hospital. It is estimated that there are from twelve to fifteen cases in private cabins, swelling the whole number to thirty. Precautionary measures are be-, ing taken to prevent the spreading of the malady. An avalanche came thundering down the mountain slopes, and at the south end of Lake Bennett, Alaska, an immense Iliads of snow and ice was deposited on the trail, and 200 tons of supplies <vere buried many feet. Their owners had stacked them tip together, in what seemed to be a sheltered spot, while they were whip-sawing lumber for boat building. Now they have left only the whip-saws, and are trying to dig out their outfits. So far as can be learned, no one was injured by the avalanche. Four lives were lost by an avalanche at South Quebec, Que., which destroyed two houses 1 which stood under the cliff opposite the Grand Trunk Railway sheds. One house was crushed by the weight of -the snow from above, while Ihe upper stories of the other were cut plean off from the first story and overturned in front of it upon the street. In the lower part of one of the houses resided a man named Augers, his wife and six children. The father and two children were taken out dead. In the other house James King resided with his wife, son and daughter. Mr. King and his son and daughter escai>ed serious injury, but Mrs. King was killed. The gist of Bradstreet’s report for the week is summarized as follows: “Favorable features dominate the general business situation as a whole, ahd few commercial conditions present themselves which can be regarded js in any degree disturbing. Chief among those factors which make for continued or growing strength in commercial lines may be mentioned the renewed tendency toward advances in quotations of all staple articles and the steadiness of prices in other lines where increases are not at the moment reportable. Perhaps second in the list of suspicious features is the continuance of marked activity in' nearly all branches of the iron and steel trade, more particularly in the central west, where it is authoritatively reported over 90 per cent of the pig iron furnace capacity is in blast. The failure of the southern furnace men to reach a price agreement is of course a depressing feature in that particular section, which, however, finds a counterbalancing factor in the intention to advance prices reported from the Bessemer ore producers. The volume of distributive trade shows an increase, notably in dry goods and groceries. At the West iron and steel mills are reported generally busily employed and unwilling to take orders for early delivery. At Chicago 20,000 tons of steel rails have been sold in the last two weeks. The bicycle trade is reported starting up well at the West. The price situation is one of local strength. Compared with a week ago, not one article of staple use is reported lower. Prices of nearly all kinds of grain, hut notably wheat, corn and Hour, and most metals, and particularly steel billets, copper, lead and tin, have advanced. Cereal exports tend to increase. Exports of wheat (flour included) for the week aggregate 3,932.744 bushels, as against 3,419.000 bushels last week. Indian corn exports for the weplc are also larger, the total amounting to ft,055,000 bushels, as compared with 4,508,000 bushels last week.”