Business and Weather

This spring the cold, wet weather has played havoc with many different lines of business. Would-be purveyors of Spring garments have had to swallow a bitter pill. Buyers of automobiles and automobile accessories have held back. The consumption of gasoline has been adversely affected. The latest victim of the wintry Spring has been the sugar trade. The producers of sugar have held large amounts of raw sugar in hopes of high prices, while merchants and refiners have held back in expectation of a drop in prices. The cold weather has perceptibly decreased the normal consumption of sugar in the form of cold drinks, ice-cream and similar products. As a result, merchants have not been forced to buy sugar. The price of Cuban raws has declined in the past month from 4 1/2-c- to 3 3/4-c-, a new low price for the year. Meanwhile, estimates of the Cuban crop have gradually risen from the early figure of 3,600,000 tons to even 4,200,000 tons--thus placing producers actually holding sugar in an uncomfortable position. The principal argument in favor of holding the commodity for higher prices seems to lie in the undoubted fact that in general merchants' supplies of sugar are far below normal.