and returned others wherever a pretext, however shallow, could be made for doing so. Manufacturers were unexpectedly burdened with merchandise as stock which they had produced on orders, and in the endeavor to lighten these burdens the market became more or less disorganized, with prices weak and irregular throughout. Business for the coming spring has, so far, hardly reached fifty per cent. of a normal season, and according to credited estimates, there is fully that per centage of hosiery and underwear machinery lying idle at the present time, although some recently closed factories have resumed operations. The new season's prices are irregular, but on an average are fully 10 per cent. lower in hosiery and 12 per cent. lower in underwear, compared with a year ago. Woolen Fabrics.-Manufacturers of both men's wear woolen goods and of dress goods entered upon the year in a happy frame of mind. After successive seasons of indifferent trade, they were, at last, fully employed, with the bulk of production under orders. There was a constant demand for spring supplies during the first quarter of the year, and, in men's woolens, good orders for fall were taken also at steady prices. Then came the change, even more aggravated in the woolen than in the cotton division of the market. The demand fell away to trifling dimensions, but an even worse feature speedily followed in the wholesale repudiation of contracts by purchasers, cancellations and rejections reaching proportions hitherto unknown. This brought about a complete reversal of the manufacturing situation, and the market, instead of being oversold, became overstocked, with the result that it practically went to pieces. Endeavors to force sales were made all round during the latter half of the year, and prices were weak and irregular with even the most staple varieties, showing declines varying from 10 to 15 per cent. There was no profit in manufacturing at the current prices, even if the goods sold readily, and a wholesale resort to curtailment of production followed, and at the end of the year is still being largely adhered to. The prospects at the close are by no means cheering, buyers are as ultra cautious as ever, as while the worst of the general depression throughout the country has passed away, this department is peculiarly susceptible to the uncertainties of tariff reform, and its threatened severe reductions in duties in the woolen schedules. The preference for low and medium priced goods has been a prominent feature of business during the latter half of the year, cheap all-wool varieties, cheviots. and middle grade fancies doing much better than fine fancies. Cotton mixed goods have fared indifferently in face of the low priced pure wool goods. Overcoatings of all kinds have yielded but poor results, and cloakings, flannels, blankets and carpets all show bad returns for the year, both in volume of sales and prices. We are indebted to the editor of the New York Journal of Commerce and Commercial Bulletin for the following statistics of imports of dry goods for the year 1893 : REVIEW OF THE LEATHER TRADE OF NEW-YORK, FOR THE YEAR 1893. WHAT Would have been the fate of the tanning industry in 1893 if there had not been a concerted movement of those engaged in it to conserve their interests may be judged by a glance at the condi tion of affairs at the beginning of the year. The facilities of production were in excess of the requirements of consumers, competition had the doubly injurious effect of keeping the prices of hides too high, and of reducing the prices of leather too low. To remedy this dual hindrance to the success of the business a large majority of the owners of extensive tanneries formed a corporation, The United States Leather Company, with a capital of $120,000,000, $60,000,000 preferred shares, $60,000,000 common shares. The directors of it took the precaution to issue debenture bonds to the amount of $6,000,000, bearing 6 per cent. per annum interest. These they issued and obtained the money for before the first of May, consequently they were in a position of great pecuniary strength in the very height of the financial disturbance. They established their principal office in New-York, and co-ordinate stores in Boston and Chicago. They did not make any essential changes in prices during the year. They simply held to them firmly. In the nature of things they were compelled to carry the surplus, which was large. That they could not have avoided doing, in the circumstances, whatever prices they asked, but with their ample means they could hold their stock without inconvenience. They sold enough of their leather to keep their treasury well supplied with funds. They were fortunate in having a larger demand from Europe than there ever was before, and for all they sold alike for foreign and for domestic use they realized adequate profits. The export traffic, moreover, was a source of a good supply of ready cash, the payments being made by dealers over the sea virtually on delivery. They were also enabled to buy hides at lower prices than were ever known before, or, at any rate, ever within the memory of any man in the trade. The popular antipathy to Trusts found expression in the adverse criticisms of leading shoe manufacturers upon this gigantic organization. It is, nevertheless, a fact that the union of the tanners at that juncture proved to be a very effective regulator of the traffic in leather, and as a corollary of the traffic in shoes, so that these cognate industries were less affected than any others by the extreme financial and commercial depression of 1893. The year ended with prices steady and moderate, with a production not so far in excess of the consumption as to render it necessary for holders to submit to a sacrifice in order to realize, and with the trade in a wholesome and promising condition. RECEIPTS OF SOLE AND UPPER LEATHER AT NEW-YORK DURING THE YEARS 1893 AND 1892. The receipts of rough and finished upper and calf skins for the last two years have been as follows: The annexed figures show the exports of sole leather from NewYork only, for the calendar year 1893, in sides : EXPORTS OF LEATHER FROM NEW-YORK DURING THE YEAR 1893. The following table shows the destination of the exports of leather other than sole for the last two years ending June 30th. A large proportion of these are buff, grain, splits and finished uppers. PRICES OF HEMLOCK, OAK AND UNION CROP SOLE LEATHER, IN THE NEWYORK MARKET, FOR EACH MONTH DURING THE YEAR 1893. |