The Globe-republican., 1894-01-05
THE PAST YEAR.
Some Points in Dun's Review Of
Trade.
A Shrinkage In Everything Except Gro
ceries The Great Panic and Its
ProSress-Unprecedent
Collapse.
The Year 1893.

Collapse.
The Year 1893.
! NEW YORK, Dec. Sir. G. Dun &
/ Co. S Weekly Review of Trade says un-
! der the caption The Year 1S93:''
| Starting With the largest trade ever known.
mills crow led with WORK and all bu lines, s,:m-
uated by high hopes. the year 1898 has proved
! in sudden shrinkag. of trade. in commercial
disasters and depression OF industries the
, worst tor fifty years Whether the final results
| OF the panic Of 1887 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 mav bring brighter days, but the dying
year leaves only a 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 sus tlined q weekly produc.
ton OF 1875 tons pig May !, but by October
the output had fallen TO g sos TONS and the re-
GOV, ~ to about lU0.0)1 December. still leaves
~ per cent OF the force unemployed Over
half the wOolen manufacture il 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 l0s.57J 800 pounds. partly for
speculation. the price having fallen % per
cent for fleece, to the lowest point ever known,
against 2i2, $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 ~ per cent less than last year in
Ilnn hxA~
crease was but 1913 per cent, it has been % per
per cent for the last four months Not only
manufactured goods as a whole, but the most
important farm products are 50 low that pro-
ducers find little comfort
Omeial and other reports give the notion that
the crops Of last year 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 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 are
now. Wheat has repeatedly sold higher. and
at Chicago at the lowest price ever known and
is but X cent above it now. Pork fell S3 In an
hour when the speculation burst but sells
lower vet to-day. Cotton was lifted o cent with
accounts OF scarcity in September. but has lost
most Of the gain and sells belo 8 cents Thus
unreasonable speculat:ons. by preventing lhe
sale OF surplus products have proved great
injury to farmers at n time when their en- orced
curtailment of purchases is disastrous to all
other indus tries
Monetary anxieties appeared to cause the
panic. and became epidemic when doubts were
raised in Apr about redemption of treasury
notes in silver. Western banks had given
rt ason for distrust by connection with real
estate. produce and stock ventures Deposits
in national hanEl alOp,. docliDod IN Nvo he
nearly 500, 100000 Purchases for consumption
shrunk so much, so many hands were
out OF work or earning reduced
WAGES, and business of all kinds was
so reduced that the accumulation of idle money
became the greatest ever known, exceeding
$20OO0OO in New York The transactions
through the clearing houses outside New York
in January were 12.5 per cent larger than last
year, and Is per cent larger than for the first
quarter. per cent. smaller in the third quar-.
ter and y per cent smaller in the last quarter.
Clear evidence Of the shrinkage in different
branches Of business is afforded by answers al
ready received to several thousand circulars
figures of sales during the last half
Of 1898 and 1899 Full information Of the rail.
roads will be given hereafter. but returns of
textile goods already show sales amounting to
e4S 843 8i5 this year. against $40 3 49, last year.
\ decrease of 81 per cent
Iron returns thus far aggregate 80. $50 49,
s3oinSs &o|S-O'0Si ioSt year, ueCre1Se Oh DO
per cent: reports thus far Of jewelry shows de-
crease Of 20 per cent of furniture, % per cent:
II dry goods. q per cent: Of hats 105 per cent:
of hardware. 10 per cent; Of shoe manufacture.
10 per cent, and by dealers. per cent and of
clothing. 10 per cent 1t Is curious that the
,nly trade showing an increase is in groceries,
The aggregate sa es bel ng l per cent larger
han in the last half Of 1892
In thirty seven years, covered by the records
II this agency, the number Of failures has only
,nce risen a little above 1850 in q year. In
So3 the number reported has been Is $50 The
aggregate Of the liabilities in all failures re.
,orted and in six years have not risen above
zoo, ,0O, 900, and this year the strictly CONNER
ial liabilities alone have exceeded 81. Ar $50;
he liabilities OF banking and financial institu.
ions have been $40 s5s. s64, and the liabilities
Il railroads placed in the hands Of receivers
bout 81, l22, ,2i1. SsS. AS all reports hitherto
lave been to some extent erroneous through
Inclusion Of failures not strictly commercial.
he classified returns show 3e26 manufactur. |
ng failures with liabilities Of ei6s 705, 49, TO-
50 failures in legitim ate trade. with Liabilities
Il &S5. 81, 800, and 362 other failures including
,rokers, spectators. etc. with liabilities Of
Sd 662 135 The average of liabilities in manu-
scturing Is $4,000 in legitimate trading g, 90