The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1876-11-03

Jnmlstskable Sign. of Grada.i Re-

Unmistslsa BILE signs Of . Gradusi Re-
n ~ .,. o. covery. ..,.. ~. = $50
All the signs, says New York con
temporary, are suspicious for an i'm
proved tone in business. From every
quarter there come indications that a
feeling of confidence is springing up
which will encourage capital to push our
industrial interests and embark in new
lines of traffic. When once this spirit
becomes settled and universal the de-
precision OF the last three years will give
place to the good times for which the
merchant and the laborer alike are anx-
iously waiting. 1t is always a healthy
token when our exports largely exceer
our imports, and the difference in favos
OF the former for the first eight monthd
of the current year is $1O1, 777,841.
From January l, 1875, to September l
of the same year, we imported in value
1914, 1888, 511 and during the same period
we exported $500, 832, 588, leaving an ex-
cess OF Biz, 843, OF in our favor. This
year our imports from January to Sep
TENDER have amounted to 1906, 905, 1872,
and our exports to S407, 6S3,573 A de-
crease of Sos, 083, TO in imports, and an
increase Of SIC, $50, 9S5 in exports, are
certainly encouraging indications for the
future. Another promising sign is the
steady increase in railway earnings. The
gross receipts of twenty roads for Sep
tember, as given in the columns of To-
cal financial organ, amount to $6,827,-
S66, against Sc, 408,677 for the CORES
ponding month of last year. This is an
increase of $419, 1S9, or 81 per cent.
From the LIST of January, this year, to
the LIST of October, the net earnings of
the same roads amounted to $52, 275, 000
The excess for the corresponding period
last year is SO, 909, 900, or an increase at
the rate of per cent. 1t will 20 per-
ceived from these figures that the growth
OF earnings has been steady, and that it
Is not a mere temporary squirt. From
the Pennsylvania and Ohio iron regions
there are most cheering reports, indicat-
ing recovery in the iron trade, and
work enough to set all the furnaces run
ming. In Chicago, the great produce
center of the West, the receipts of grain
and live stock continue heavy, and there
is steady movement of currency in the
country. Far down East, too, the cot
ton and wooden mills have
heard the renewed demand for their
productions, and the factory hands
in Lowell have been promised the
speedy restoration of the rate of wages.
Against all those facts that 60 to show
renewal of prosperity, it is urged that
the report of failures for the current
year is larger than in 1875, and that the
total of liabilities is largely though not
proportionally increased. But ii cannot
be granted that this is disheartening
sign. On the contrary, IT is an indica-
ton that the atmosphere is being
cleared of its clouds before the breaking
out of sunshine. 1t would have been
far better for many firm that has gone
into bankruptcy this year if it had quiet
ly succumbed to the elements two or
three years before, and wiped out its
old score and be- IN anew. Indebted
ness has been virtually reduced by these
failures and the line of credit has been
lessened, and confidence in those firms
that have weathered the storm well has
been strengthened. Meanwhile a de-
mand has sprung up for those staples
that are based upon our daily wants.
People can economize in their homes
and dress for a while, but there is con-
slant and steady consumption, which,
after season, will empty the store
house of the producer. High prices
and large stocks naturally put every
thing backward, but we seem now to
have reached point where the demand
for those articles that concern what we
eat, drink and wear must be constant.
The demand is met by q more healthful
condition of our commercial organiza-
ton than the country has seen for many
a year. Our farmers also have pros
pered, and good crops, reduced wages
and cheap freights have largely in
creased their purchasing power. In
Wall street money has advanced from 2
per cent. to 6 per cent, in few weeks,
and, though this movement is usual at
this season of the year, it has been
stronger and more rapid this fall than
for somo years past. Thus, in many
widely separated pursuits there seem to
be ] ealthful sigus of recovery, giving
hopeful promise that the hard times are
almost ended. The process will not be
rapid, and may not extend at once to all
interests, but it may be looked upon as
tolerably sure. The tide has turned at
last. and it will bring fortune with it.