Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 35, Number 70, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 May 1903 — COMMERCIAL AND FINANCIAL [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

COMMERCIAL AND FINANCIAL

r~7 ~ ~| “Trade responded N6W Ml P rom Ptly to better weatbei —— LI jn many sections of the country, notable activity appearing in seasonable lines of wearing apparel, yet wholesalers report conservatism us compared with earlier months this year, although business is more active than it was a year ago. Some branches are still backward, and there is more or less complaint regarding collections, while fenewals. aro frequently asked. Outdoor work is vigorously prosecuted, agricultural communities endeavoring to make up lost time, and structural undertakings call for large quantities of lumbpr and building materials, sustaining quotations,” according to R. G. Dun & Co.’s Weekly Review of Trade. Continuing, the report sayst-"" Labor problems are being solved with encouraging celerity. Lake navigation has had the expected effect in reducing rail freight congestion, and shipments are. more prompt, yet there is no diminution in the splendid increase o$ gross railway earnings, which show a gain of 13.1 per cent over last-year’s figure for April thus far and 25.3 per cent over 1901. Ample supplies of fnel mako it possibel for blast furnaces to turErout pig iron in abundance, as this was the only drawback, and a new high water mark of production may be expected for the mopth of April. Augmented stocks of coke and pig Iron, however, fail to result in sufficient steel as yet, billets being in urgent request. A rail mill has commenced work on billets, and other similar changes are contemplated, which indicates the pressfire, as steel rails are more readily marketed than any other product. TTJ ‘ We are told that never uDiCdQO. before was the question of good crops more important to the West than this year, that never before have the.eastern financial centers in this connection watched the West more closely. This is true. There has been a widespread speculation in farm lauds over the West and Northwest. This enters into the situation in an important manner. While the Northwest went through the drought of 1898 which -eut the wheat yield almost oue-half without hardship, it is_ probable such a disaster occurring under existing conditions would be-felt more severely. Iu the Southwest we now find the winter wheat very fine. Of course, there is a long time to pass before harvest, and anything may happen. But the promise now is so fine that all the land is jubilant. The railroad men are looking at it in pleasant anticipation. Should the crop come out anywhere near what is now indicated the yield will be heavy beyond all precedent. Then what of price maintenance against a phenomenal yield and a large surplus? Only this, that on Wednesday of this week the official German crop report was given out and showed the wheat and rye crops of Prussia to be about 33 per cent under last year in condition. France has had some bad weather and Paris grain men say the yield will iu nil probability be under the average. Other parts of Europe are not up iu condition. No one is going to venture any estimate of the European wheat yield at this time, but there seems little doubt that Europe will need much more wheat than she imported last year, and since it is promises for the future that we are here dealing with, we cannot be blind to the fact that this makes a brilliant promise. Some fall business is already being worked up, the northwestern flour mills have resumed operations, collections are easy, railroad earnings large and failures less numerous. Anil the outlook now is that Europe will need to buy more than a normal quantity of our wheat; we will have the wheat to sell her, and if this ; shall materialize there will be a further [ period of prosperity in our country equal to anything we have ever known.