It Checked Progress

Assassin’s Bullet Retarded the Nation’s Trade for a Time.

     New York, Sept. 14.—R. G. Dun & Co.’s Weekly Review of Trade says:
     An assassin’s bullet checked the progress of a nation. For a time projected undertakings were abandoned, and orders held back that were about to be placed. Speculators sacrificed stocks and options on grain and cotton. Better news early in the week brought recovery in prices, and postponed business was transacted. After the crisis there will be a return to former conditions because the solid foundation of the country’s prosperity is too deep to be permanently disturbed.
     In the principal manufacturing industry there is a steady gain in the number of active mills, and full operation is considered near. Less urgency for immediate delivery of goods, and less inclination to pay premiums on the part of well-posted men, suggest that these consumers anticipate a return to normal activity with little delay. Mills are accepting contracts for delivery of steel rails far into 1902 at $28, so that no change in price in near. Finished steel is freely taken.
     Shoe shops still operate full force, and while the large producers of New England have the most noticeable activity, manufacturers all over the country share the heavy demand. Dry goods enjoy exceptional activity, the demand for current needs exceeding expectations and distribution of jobbers is of enormous proportions; at many points packers are working both day and night.
     Many lines of cotton goods, both bleached and brown, have moved to a higher level and this branch of the textile industry is in a better position than at any previous date this season.
     Business failures for the week numbered 175 in the United States, against 195 last year, and 18 in Canada, against 30 last year.