The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1893-12-30
WORST In FIFTY YEARS.
THE PAST YEAR H4s PROVEN A DIS
ASTROUs ONE ~ COMMERCE..
A Collapse OF Industry and Business AL
most without Preceden The Only
Increase Is IN Groceries.

say. under the caption, THE Year 1875
Starting with the largest trade ever
known. mills crowded with work, and ali
business stimulated by high hopes, the
year 1898 has proved. in sudden shrink
age Of trade, i'm commercial disasters
and depression Of industries, the worst
for fifty years. Whether the final results
Of the panic Of 1873 were relatively more
severe, the scanty records Of that time
do not clearly show. The year closes
with the prices Of many products the
lowest ever known. with millions Of work
ers seeking in vain for work, and with
charity laboring 70 keep back suffering
and starvation in all our cities
Hope tor Br ght Thing.
All hope the new year may bring bright
err days. but the dying year leaves only
dismal record. The review of different
departments Of trade given to-day exhibits
a collapse Of business and industry which
is almost without precedent. The iron
industry still leaves forty per cent OF
the force unemployed. over hair the
wooden manufacture IS idle, and excepting
brief recovery i'm November, has been
ever since new wool came in May the
price having fallen twenty per cent. Tor
fleece, to the lowest point ever known.
Sales or cotton goods are fully a quarter
below the usual quantity. The small
advance attempted in boots and shoes
a year ago. was not sustained, but with
prices as low as ever the shipments or
boots and shoes from Boston are twenty
four per cent. less than last year in De-
cember. Not only manufactured goods as
q whole, but the most important farm
products are so low that producers ma
little comfort.
Groceries show the Only Increase.
clear evidence Of the shrinkage in
different branches OF business is record
ed By answers already received TO several
thousand circulars requesting figures OF
sales during the last half OF lSSs ana 1870
Full information Of the results VIII be
given hereafter, but returns OF textile goods
already show a decrease Of thirty-seyen
per cent Iron returns thus far snow
n decrease of So per cent. Reports
thus far Of iewelry. show decrease
OF % per cent, furniture, 26 per cent
dry goods 20 per cent; hats, lyo per
cent; hardware. 10 per cent shoe manu-
facturers, IS per cent, and by dealers
g per cent, and of clothing, I'D per cent.
II is curious that the only trade showing
any increase as yet. IS In groceries, the
aggregate sales being / per cent. larger
than I'm the last half of 1Ss2
Record Of s.IurFs.
In thirty-seven years covered by the
records Of this agency, the number OF
failures has only once risen little
above 1850 In year. In 1893 the number
reported has been 1860. The aggregate
of the liabilities I'm all failures reported
has in six years risen above &O0WOyW.
This year the strictly commercial liabili- |
81, f,taH a.
liabilities Of banking and financial insti- |
tutions have been s2l0,9j6s6i. and the |
liabilities Of railroads placed In the hands |
OF receivers, about Sl2l2,2n.S53.
As all reports hitherto have been TO |
some entent erroneous, through inclu- |
sion Of failures not strictly commercial |
the classified returns show 1925 manu- |
featuring failures with liabilities OF Sl6i,- |
707 449; 1888 failures I'm legitimate trade |
with liabilities Of sSj,527 SOC. and 3O2 other |
failures. including brokers and specula-
tors, with liabilities OF s36,6C2. 755. The |
average OF liabilities in manufacturing |
is $1,000; in legitimate trading, 5000, and |
In other failures, $1,000.
D,clin IN The Va ume of Trade
NEW YORK, Dec. 2S.-Bradstreets to-
morrow will say: IAN absolute decline
in the volume Of general trade this
week, the week in the year in which dull
ness I'm wholesale circles is most con
spicuous. merely emphasizes conditions
previously reported. With a few ex-
ceptlons. holiday trade has been dis
appointing. Restriction OF production In
industrial lines continues as severe as
heretofore noted. the tendency being To
add 10 rather than subtract from the
total number Of wage earners I'm enforced
idleness throughout the country. In the |
more important lines Of manufacture OF
textiles and metals restrictions Of out
put within the past six months have
ranged from p TO 40 per cent, the larger /
share of which is still maintained.
Augusta, Ga, cotton mills. fully en-
ployed during the year. have recently de-
clared about $SO0,OC in dividends.
A. Philadelphia wool manufacturers are
doing very little. with no Improvement
In prospects FOur-hfihs OF the employees
Of the leather factories there are idle.
and dullness regns in petroleum, lumber,
tobacco, and iron.
Report From the south.
Orders for spring delivery at Baltimore
are Of smaller volume than usual, and
the outlook Is not as favorable as antici-
pated. At Richmond stock taking en-
phSsizes the recent dizziness and keeps
&c nmercial travellers of the road. There
Is n Improvement In the trade circles at
Charleston or Memphis. Az Augusta the
relative prosperity OF the cotton mills
-.ises the condition Of general trade above
the average At Atlanta few purchases
are being made. and old supplies have
been largely disposed Of. Stock-taklng
and dullness I'm general trade rule. Bust
ness is only fair at Savannah. prices OK
lotion and OF naval stores having greatly
reacted. Business seems quiet at Bir-
ringham. but is better than expected at
Mobile. where prospects are bright.
While trade Is dull at New Orleans, the
outlook is for an earlier improvement
han anticipated. and sugar men rejoice
II the prospect OF receipts OF 1.2J0.Oo0 bar
els. Vnseasonably mild weather lends
% further depression at Galveston and
,ther Texas points.
snow hurch Campsnv.
The sncw-church ccmpany's weekly
review OF trade is as follows:
General trade for the last week has
leen outlet brought about principally