Show 6 HOLUJAY TRADE Business Exceeds the Most Sanguine Expectations HIGHGRADE GOODS BOUGHT i Wholesale Conditions Good AllOver All-Over the Country Only Adverse Feature of Situation Is That Supplies of Fuel Arc Utterly Inadequate New York Dec 19R G Dun Con wgekly review of Irudo tomorrow will say Holiday trade has exceeded even the most sanguine oxpcctalionn and retail dealers in nil staple lines of merchandise are well maintained with tIle better grades of Roods In brisk1 demand Whole sulo rondlilonri arc good In most sections of the country although In parts of the Southeast tho season has fallen below the average JSxen In these cases reports are encouraging for tho future Induslrlal plants are well employed orders running far Into the future arid labor condjtlonb are better Tho only adverse feature of the situation situa-tion Js the fact that supplies of fuel arc utterly Inadequate both for household and manutacturlng uses snow increasing the delay of delivery Railway earning thus far reported for December oVcccod last years by 12 per cent and l thoao of 1000 bj 101 I per cent Two events of Importance have occurred oc-curred in relation to this leading manufacturing manufac-turing Industry The United States Steel corporation has greatly extended its scope by absorbIng many oiitaldo plants nnd certain desirable railway connections Tho other was the announcement of the advanced freight rates IQ lake effect on January 1st showing axurafce increase of about 10 per cent on producln of Iron and steel Otherwise the sit nation Is unchanged un-changed the largest producer havlnp over 5J2SOXO tons of unfilled Orders on Its books and work Is being pushed as rapidly 09 supplies of fuel and material will permit Supplies of coko do not increase and many furnaces arc idle Contracts for bridge work and track elevation are freely offered by tim railways rail-ways and accepted only on condition that the exact date of deliver shall not bo specified Despite the fact that nail mills are Bold close np lo the cifd of next year new business Is offered and1 refused and buyers aro compelled to go abroad Now Tinglahd producers of boots and shoes are not seeking now business which connrs forward moderately In the form of supplementary orders Prices are llrmly held but no further advance Is reported Although the larger shoe manufactories are fairly well supplied with solo leather there Is steady demand from the smaller ahopuThlrtller Fiirlhcr deterioration In the quality of hides has again produced a lower range of quotations In Western markets and heavier recclpls of culllo add to the depression de-pression In the woolen goods market there Is a fair xolurne of orders In many capes exceeding ex-ceeding available offers Vorflicd and yarns aro also firm while a few grades of raw wool secured another advance Heavy arrivals of silk have not weakened the lono 1 lonoFailures for the week numbered 267 In Ihe United Stales against 265 lust year and 1C in Canada compared with 27 a yea ago |