Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 35, Number 74, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 May 1903 — COMMERCIAL AND FINANCIAL [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

COMMERCIAL AND FINANCIAL

T| “ ““I “Unrest in the ranks of Hew York. lalsor h as increased rather J than abated since May 1, when difficulties of this sort usually culminate. No single struggle of great magnitude is in progress, but the frequency of small strikes is disturbing, and in the aggregate tr large force Is idle, while important industrial undertakings are checked. Good reports are received from footwear factories, shipments from Boston for the year thus far surpassing all records, and clothing makers receive duplications of spring orders in addition to getting out fall samples,” according to R. G. Dun & Co’s Weekly Review of Trade. Continuing, the report says: Prices of commodities declined slightly during April, Dun’s Index number failing from $99,267 to $98,561. A year ago the highest point of recent years was touched at $102,289. Railway earnings in April were 13.4 per cent larger than in last year nnd 28.7 per cent above 1901. Cancellation of orders where deliveries failed to be made according to contract and new business at lower quotations indicate a tendency i toward more normal conditions in pig iron. This is highly desirable, and gives assurance that present activity in iron and steel may be maintained. Pending contracts for. about 50,000 tons of structural material have been closed, and other orders are only postponed by uncertainty regardingtha" labor situation. Railway requirements appear to have no limit, and the proposed extensions will consume large quantities of steel. Billets are one of the scarce articles at present, even imports being arranged with difficulty. 'lmplement manufacturers are surpassing all records in their purchases of merchant steel, machine shops are working at full capacity, and there is a brisk demand for plates, pipes and tubes. All leading machinery-markets report satisfactory conditions. Trade in hardware is of good volume, orders assuring activity for snipe time and new business still coming forward freely, especially at the South. Textile manufacturers at the East have not improved their position during the past w’eek. Jobbers are buying only small quantities, exercising a discrimination that indicates dull markets elsewhere, and salesmen are being withdrawn from the road. With large print mills closed, there is no activity in print cloths, nor fa the movement of brown sheetings and drills of any account. Abnormal prices for raw cotton might be expected to stimulate inquiry for goods, but the only effect Is to prevent sellers from making concessions. Higher figures are expected next week at the official opening of the season in carpets. More woolen mills have closed, and the market is featureless, but the new wool clip is firmly held. A steadier tone is noted in silks owing to reports that production will be curtailed. Bradstreet’a Trade Review. Business continues large and industry active, in most cases surpassing previous years at this date, despite unseasonable cool weather in some sections and a swarm of vexatious labor troubles. Most of the-measures of trade and industrial volume still titake farol-nble showings. The simply enormous gain in gross railway earnings reported for April, 15 per cent over the best in previous years, is proof that past good reports of trade and traffic were fully justified. Wheat, including flour, exports for the week ending May 7 aggregate 3,201,680 bushels, against 3,418,289 last week, 3,302,240 this week last year and 4,178,872 in 1901. Wheat exports since July 1 aggregate 191,503,163 bushels, against 219,166,728 last season and 180,939,973 in 1900. Corn exports aggregate 1,631,709 bushels, against 2,210,155 last week, 126,755 a year ngo and 1,583,831 in 1901. For the fiscal year exports are 57,011,659 bushels, against 25,655,355 last season and 158,222,268 bushels in 1901.