The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1894-01-05
THE YEARS REVIEW.
Dun's Report on the Condition OF Trade-A
Shrinkage without Parallel

Dun's Report on the Condition of Trade-A
Shrinkage Without Parallel
NEW YORK, Dec. 3O.-R. c. Dun &
Co. Weekly Review of Trade says uu-
der the caption ''The Year 1885,"
Starting with the largest trade ever-knowu,
mills crowded with work and a bu ines slim
ulated by high hopes, the year 1898 has proved.
in sudden shrinkage OF trade, in commercial
disasters and depression of industries, the
worst tor fifty years. Whether the final results
OF the panic OF 1857 were relativel more severe
the scanty records that exist do not clearly
show. The year closes with prices OF many
produ Is the lowest ever known. with millions
of workers looking in vain for work. and with
charity laboring TO keep back suffering and
starvation in all our cities. All hope the new
year NAV bring brighter days, but the dying
year leaves only dismal record
The review Of different departments OF trade
given today exhibits a collapse OF industry and
business which is almost without precedent
The iron industry sustained a weekly produce
ton OF 1871, 55i tons pig May /, but by October
the output had fallen TO % s95 tons, and the re-
Gov nv to about t0OU December, still leaves
40 per cent of the force unemployed Over
half the wooden manufacture is idle, excepting
brief recovery in November. has been since
new wool in May, for all sales at the three chief
markets In the eight months have
been but l06.57J.500 pounds, partly for
speculation. the price having fallen 20 per
cent for fleece, TO the lowest point ever known,
against 2is, $500 pounds in the same months
last year Sales of cotton goods are fully one
fourth below the usual quantity The small
advance attempted in DO Is and shoes year
ago was not sustained. but with prices as low
as ever the shipments OF boots and shoes from
Boston are "a per cent less than last year in
December. ard though in November the de-
crease was but IDS per cent, it has been - per
per cent for the last four months Not only
I
important farm produ.ts are so low that pro-
ducers find little comfort
Official and other reports give the notion that
the crops of last wear were so short that famine
prices could be realized on purchases Enor-
nous stocks were bought and held with the aid
Of banks till heavy receipts in the spring
caused n collapse OF wheat pork and cotton
pools Disastrous failures helped to produce
the alarm which soon made money impossible
| to get but even at the worst hour of the panic,
prices were scarcely lower than they
now Wheat has repeatedly sold higher. and
at Chicago at the lowest price ever known and
is but 4 cent above it now. Pork fell 81 in an
hour when the speculation burst. but sells
lower vet to-day. Cotton was lifted a cent with
| accounts of scarcity in September. but has lost
most of the gain and sells belo cents. Thus
unreasonable specuat ons By preventing lhe
sale Of surplus products, have proved great
injury to farmers at u TIM when their en- creed
CuTlhllI1euL Oh puTCuaSe5 Is uiShSbEOuS W AL
other industries
Monetary anxieties appeared to cause the
panic anu became epidemic when doubts were
raised in Apr about redemption of treasury
notes in silver. Western banks had given
IT ason for distrust By connection with real
estate. produce and stock ventures Deposits
in national banks alOEe declined in five months
nearly S0J.O0l,0p. Purchases for consumption
shrunk so much, MANI hands were
out OF work earning reduced
wa es, and business of all kinds was
so reduced that the accumulation of idle money
became the greatest ever known, exceeding
S2O.UU00JO in New York The transactions
through the clearing houses outside New York
in January were rs per cent larger than last
year, and 3 per cent larger than for the first
quarter. 7 per cent. smaller in the third qu1r-
ter and - per cent smaller in the last quarter.
Clear evidence Of the shrinkage in different
branches of business is afforded b. answers al
ready received to several thousand circulars
requesting figures of sales during the last half
of 1891 and 1897 Full Information OF the rail
roads will be given hereafter. but returns OF
textile goods already show sales amounting to
s43 S43 s15 this year. against So 3 So last year,
a decrease OF 81 per cent
Iron returns thus far aggregate Sii.Si3 49,
against $50 92l last year, a decrease of 30
per cent: reports thus far OF jewery shows de-
crease of 20 per cent. OF furniture, 26 per cent:
of dry goods, % per cent: OF nats 10 per cent
of hardware 10 per cent of shoe manufacture.
Is per cent. and by dealers, per cent. and Of
clothing. ID per cent It is curious that the
only trade showing an increase is in groceries,
the aggregate 81 es bel ng I per cent larger
than in the last half of 1897.
In thirty seven years. covered by the records
OF this agency, the number of failures has only
once risen n little above 1862 in year. In
1898 the number reported has been ID. $50 The
aggregate of the liabilities in all failures re-
ported and in six years have not risen above
S.00,0U,nO], AM this year the strictly CONNER
cial liabilities alone have exceeded 939;
the liabilities OF banking AMI financial institu-
lions have been $40, 955 s6I, and the liabilities
of railroads placed in the hands of receivers
about 81. Il, 2l7, SI3. AS all reports hitherto
have been to soma extent erroneous through
inclusion OF failures not strictly commercial,
the classified returns show 3,226 manufactur-
ing failures with liabilities OF Si6i7J1, ii9 10,
6S3 failures in legftim ate trade, with liabilities
OF So. 81 1896, ard .6s other failures including
brokers, spectators. etc. with liabilities OF
s3S, 662 as The average Of Ii Utilities in manu-
featuring is $4,000 in legitimate trading 50, ~
and other failures slI,0Ol