Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 34, Number 31, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 December 1901 — COMMERCIAL AND FINANCIAL [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

COMMERCIAL AND FINANCIAL

: i While business in every How York h ine ia in an extreme|y I healthy condition there are many factors which always develop in prosperous times and restrict manufacturing interests to a considerable extent. Labor troubles, a shortage in supplies of raw material, slow deliveries, and a scarcity of cars and motive power are incidents that mark the business situation. These things are always to be expected. The business of the country has grown faster than the equipment of motive power, and cars of the railroads to successfully handle it notwithstanding their recent additions. The railroads have in the past found_ it is not advisable to carry extensive equipment, as their' traffic has only been of the rush order for a few months at a time in the spring and fall, and then a larger percentage of their cars had to be sidetracked to await a return of the next busy season. For the past year business has run along with unprecedented regularity, and railroads have been busy all the time, their miscellaneous traffic exceeding all records. The carbuilders have been full of orders, and their books are loaded with them at present. Locomotive builders have also been rushed and are full of orders for months to come. The scarcity of motive power and of cars has become a serious factor in tife iron and steel situation. Western furnaces are suffering from a scarcity of coke and coal, and three in this section are idle, as the coke cannot be moved from Eastern furnaces to keep the West supplied. Operations by the foundries are also materially restricted, some having suspended operations entirely.

A broadening in speculaChicani tive trading with a very a bullish sentiment and active and continuous buying of wheat by the public assisted by local professionals carried the price up 2c last week and the close was within %c of the top at a net gain of lc. It was largely a sentimental market with the Southwest and Wall street leading the buying. May sold tc 77%c and closed at 77c with a gain of lc. December touched 73%c, the highesl point since the August bulge, and wae 73c to 73%c at the close. The public if buying wheat because corn and oats are high and they have become impressed with, the belief that wheat is cheap at around 75c and consumption will be large enough to eat up the supplies and make stocks very low before the advent of a new crop. They have bought all the wheat offered and carried the price to a new level. No change has come to the com situation from a supply and demand point within a week. Speculative trade has been large, although it shows a falling off at the last as wheat became more attractive. The local talent on the whole are not enthusiastically bullish on corn, but the country is long and has bough! the market to a standstill. This has kept it in a fairly healthy shape. The Southern and Southwestern demand is good, and shipments from here last week were 1,183,000 bushels, or about half of last year’s, and exceeded receipts by nearly 700,000 bushels. Oats made a new high record last week, selling freely at 43%c for May, an advance of lc from the low point made early in the .week. The close was at 43%c, a gain ofx%c for the week. December was within J /4c of May early, but fell to l%c discount at the last Flour is somewhat lower than a year ago, while wheat is slightly higher—the relation being changed by the advanced price for by-product. Com shows an advance of per cent, oats 90 per cent, lye 28 per cent, barley 13 per cent, Jt>ran 42 per cent, potatoes 100 per cent, hogs 20 per cent, beef cattle 11 per ctnt. Sheep are slightly lower. More striking contrasts are reflected in values at Kansas City and elsewhere in the West. For 100 pounds of each of twelve items of foodstuffs the present valuation represents $26.39, compared with $22.52 a year ago, or a gain of over 17 per cent.