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VoL. VIII. The Schlesinger Failure Among the iron ore sales agents the second failure of Fer- dinand Schlesinger, a tew days ago, was not a surprise, and from all that can be learned it is probable that the action of the Chi- cago & North Western Railway Company in enforcing its claim for freight against the Buffalo Mining Company will result in a readjustment: of the affairs of all the Schlesinger properties ex- cepting the Chapin, in which other and more powerful interests have ruled since the trouble of two years ago, when the Van- derbilts joined M. A. Hanna & Co. of Cleveland in clearing up the difficulties connected with that mine. If the present paral- ysis in the iron trade removes Mr. Schlesinger from the active position he has held with several mining companies in the Lake Superior regions, he will not with his associates have sustained the loss of millions that might be inferred from the numerous sensational . stories. that have been printed about the wealth and great operations of the Schlesinger "syndicate."' 'The fact is that when Ferdinand Schlesinger and his two brothers began the purchase of Michigan mines they did not have between them more than about $400,000, and there was no syndicate of wealthy foreigners then nor has there been since any such syndicate back of their operations, They managed with this capital, however, to promote some monstrous enterprises, first by the purchase of the big Chapin mine, then the building of a railway with docks at Escanaba and latterly the construction, through the assistance of M. A. Hanna & Co. of Cleveland, of a fleet of six steel steam- ers and ore receiving docks at Ashtabula. As these undertak- ings were all controled by seperate companies, they have since undergone changes of management that have removed them from any connection with the Buffalo and other mines under the direct control of the Schlesingers. Escanaba are, as is well known, now owned by the North West- ern company, or the Vanderbilts,who control that company, and the Chapin Mining Company as well as the vessels built under contract with the Chapin company, can only be affected to the extent of the Schlesinger interest, which has not been important since the reorganization of two years ago. Strange Features of the Freight Market. In all cases where managers of mining companies have been able to secure ready money enough to pay freight charges they have moved ore, during the past ten days, more freely than any- thing in the way of direct assurances as to the future of the ore market will warrant, but the rates of freight have been so low that there is no possible chance of loss on account of the cost of transportation. 'The movement from Marquette, where the rail rate from the mine combined with the lake rate has been in some instances lower than 95 cents, has been especially active. 'This action of the ore shippers, together with some demand for vessels to take grain out of Chicago, has furnished cargoes enough to induce owners to keep their vessels in commission, in pursuance of the hope entertained for several weeks past, that confidence in general business circles will soon be sufficiently restored to bring about improvement. 'There is, however, a discouraging feature to the vessel owner in this movement of ore, aside trom the low freight rates attending it. The ore that is now coming down is, on account of the general suspension of mining operations, large- ly drawn from stock piles that are not usually cleaned up until late in the season, and the shipment of it at this time is altogether: favorable to the mine owner, who can get along with just so much _CLEVELAND, O., AND CHICAGO, JLL., JUIY) 20) 1863, The railway and docks at No; 3. less tonnage later on in event of higher freight rates. The pres- ent shipments from stock piles will not add materially to the season's business, which must in any event fall far short of pre- vious years, as a most active resumption of mining operations could not result in regaining the loss already sustained through idleness in the mines. There is grain enough in the west to give employment to the surplus tonnage if the export demand so long anticipated should materialize, and the shortage of soft coal in the northwest is another factor that would lend improvement to freights if the condition of finances should change so as to permit of the coal producers increasing their output, but these are un- certain matters that afford little relief in considering the proba- bility of a large amount of tonnage being forced to lay up during the coming month, when stock piles at the ore mines are pretty well exhausted. 'The best hopes of the vessel owners must, accordingly, center in grain shipments, which at present show some signs of life. The only encouraging feature in. the iron market of late,. which does not, however, indicate an increase in the consump- tion of ore, is a reduction of the number of furnaces in blast. The make of pig iron has been reduced on a weekly basis that is equivalent to about 1,000,000 tons a year. A Coal Trade Relic. Among old papers in the office of one of the lake coal ship- ping firms of Cleveland, there was found recently a circular letter, dated Youngstown, O., Feb. 1, 1860, and issued by David Tod, afterwards one of the war governors of Ohio, and a man of re- nown in the history of the state. In the circular Mr. Tod announced that, as owner of the Brier Hill and Mineral Ridge coal mines, he was prepared to deliver on board vessels at Cleveland any quan- tity of coal from either of the mines named. For the informa- tion of gas companies, from whom he evidently expected con- siderable patronage, he had obtained, through the Manhattan Gas Company of New York, analyses of the coals, which were printed in connection with the circular. The analyses were compared with similar data regarding the coals of Newcastle (Eng.) and the Pittsburg district of Pennsylvania. It was evi- dently the custom in those days to give references in such com- munications, as Mr. Tod referred prospective customers to Hon. Millard Fillmore of Buffalo, Hon. Frank Granger of Rochester, Erastus Corning of Albany and Charles Roome of New York. The Brier Hill coal, a Mahoning valley product, is of course well known as yet to the trade. Stocks of Grain at Lake Ports. The following table, prepared from reports of the Chicago board of trade, shows the stocks of wheat and corn in store at the principal points of accumulation on the lakes on July 15, 1893: Wheat, bu. Corn, bu. CHitavo antsisanidert 19,383,000 1,748,000 Dalat goes tee coe tae <or 5jO010,000,; | i> -baeesite Milwaukee ...s0saccsa ets eee 1,202,000 6,000 Detnaite..staverer cae nuears 734,000 1,000 Toledo t57Ht 2 1 tise. eee 1,554,000 187,000 Buiialo sg.cced cok Sesser: 2,181,000 495,000 TOtAN ss crkintsacy a 30,070,000 2,437,000 At the puints named there is a net decrease for the week of 1,422 bushels of wheat and a net decrease of 620,000 bushels of corn.