Morning appeal. [volume] (Carson City, Nev.) 1877-1906, 1877-05-18
BUSINESS FAILURES.

| The circular of Dun, Barlow 4 Co, stating
the number of failures and amount of habih-
ties for the first quarter of 1877, appears to-
| day and is not an encouraging statement.
I'm number of failures there is a Slight increase
comparing with the first quarter of 1876, and
! in amount of liabilities decrease of SIC, 600,
| GEO The circular observed that two rail
road operators who really stopped payment
| long ago formally suspended within the past
two months, and that the liabilities of these
amount to nearly four millions But it does
not appear that during the first quarter of
1876 there were not failures of equal import
ance which really belong to an earlier period
These statistics have value only as records of
the number and magnitude of failures finally
ascertaned within certain period and would
be vaIIeleSS If II were attempted to ascertain
at what time the losses were sustained which
brought them about.
The first quarter of 1877 yields , 800 com
mercial wrecks, with liabilities of S54 53S 90 t
or SO ,OlO for each firm. The average of liza
bilites is very low, and i'll that respect the
report indicates an improved condition. When
ever the average OF mercantile liabilities Is
small, the average of liabilities to each fail
ure is correspondingly small. and the return
therefore indicates a reduction of indebted
ness amounting to about 81 900 per firm since
JlIG lISl Hlldl ter OI ICl u I)uI lllt l)SStS
have not been equally distributed In New
York, for example; the average Of liabilities
is greater than it was during the first quarter
of 1876. No doubt, the circular states,
this is due to the formal failure Of firms pre-
viously crippled, but III almost every quarter
this is the case. As has been well remarked
the report of failures Is only record Of the
wrecks which come ashore within a given
time it shows rather the point beyond which
credit cannot be pushed to support certain
firms, than the measure of losses sustained.
1t is important to bear this fact in mind,
because a large proportion of the failures now
recorded, and very large proportion of the
liabilities, are due to losses sustained in pre-
Vious years.
The excess of failures in comparison with
the first quarter of 1876 is due mainly to
California. where the increase is more than
100 per cent; to Connecticut, where it is
more than 30 per cent; to Chicago, where it
is nearly 40 per cent. to st. Louis, where it
is about 80 per cent, and to small States or
Territories. In Boston there has been a
decrease of over 80 per cent, i'll Georgia of
90 per cent, III North Carolina of nearly 90
per cent, and iii Rhode Island Of nearly 80 |
per cent. Comparisons of quarterly failures |
are not of much value, but the returns midi |
cate a generally improved condition of bust |
ness i'll Georgia, Maine, Boston, Michigan,
New York City, North Carolina, Rhode
Island, Virginia and Wisconsin, while j.
other localities the number of failures is gen
srally nearly as large or larger than it was
Turing the first quarter of last year,
1t is not possible to draw any just conclu-
ions of Importance from these reports. They
,learly do not show that the condition of gen
raj health has been reached. Nor do they
Indicate a general decline i'll commercial
stability. They point rather to an adjust
nent of business to new conditions to loss
where business has been speculative and rash
md to gradual Improvement where the gambl-
ng element has been duly eliminated The
osses are not over where honest exchange
las given place to dice-throwmg.-N. y.
'rihune.