The San Francisco call., 1898-01-01

products. raw silk and wool while decreases are reported in raw cotton and cotton goods, nearly all metals. anthracite coal and petro- 1eun. Railroad interests share.in the revival ef prosperity, with gross and net earnings
 s apen with t Seab sdqee so am9 sb frame of mind: :'.::.: =. =.
 A heavy falling of in number and in la- :bilities of individuals. firms or corporations failing was shown in 1897 from 1896 and the four preceding years: A partial return to more by drop in the percentage of assets to ia= ;bilities: and by a reduction in the commercial death rate as compared with every year since and including 1898: The total number of fail. ures reported to 'Bradstreet's for the year just and over 13 per cent from lss6 a falling off of IS per cent from the panic year of 1893 and. a decrease or more than, per. cent from 1891; a year of prosperous business, but of numerous business endorsements. Compared with 'lss2 there was a gain in the number of failures shown Of about half of 1 per cent, while com pared with 1892 there was an increase of :g7 per cent. Liabilities of those; failing constf- tuted one of the smallest totals of recent years. amounting to only s156 166 00o. a decrease of S7 per cent from 1S9s; of so per cent from 1893 and of ls per cent from 1891, but gain of Al per cent over lsSZ: The least. favorable showing is made by the Eastern. States which report increases in number and: liabilities over 1896 h spite ures and liabilities are smaller thar,.,F year ago while the greatest falling off is reported in the West and the Northwest: The percent age or assets to liabilities of those failing in 1887 was 54.4 per: cent the smallest percentage since: 1893, and only slightly above the norria iar
 The commercial death rate, that is: the per centage of those in business failing in :iSe7
 was Iz4 gsoa as compared with 1.4o in 1896 and
 Those reliable indices of the business s,tr,a- uon-esnk clearings point to the year 1897 as witnessed: the heaviest. business, both specula- tlve ana commercial done since the record year, ss2, just preceding the panic The total clearlngs at nfty eight cities for the. year one week estimated, aggregated at least s56 e2g . total of 1896, the year of silver agitation, and existing Presidential election; 8 per - cent larger- than 1885, the disappointing year, when a boom in iron and kindred products led to cent over the year 1894, when the depth of de presslon Following the panic may be said to nave been reached; 5 per cent over 1893, the year ol Wioespread disaster in financial and CT than the total Of 1892 when the boom fol- towing the large foreign demand for Arneri- can oreadstuHs and other products reached its
 Practically the entire gain in clearfnes in 1887 was concentrated in the last 6. months
 ana IL IS significant fact that the heaviest monthly total reported for 5 years: past was reported in: the month of Decernber. Gains were heaviest in the Northwest the. Mjddrs ana New England States. and smallest in the southern and Southwestern, in the latter Of WI Whlch trade improvements were rather late The total exports of wheat Cdour as. wheat, rom both coasts of the United States and tanada amount to. 5.495.0o0 bushels or double those ln this week year ago. and 100000 bush: els larger than those of last week Corn ex- ports reported slightly small CT aggregating fuSo,pO bushels. against 4,Sf9,0 600 bushels last week and 2742. 900 last year. " = '
 Ihe failures for the Dominion of Canada and Newfoundland for the calendar wear 1897 amounted 60: 1g27, with total liabilities of SlS zfs.W0. a falling of of B per cent Tn num- Der ana ot IS per cent in liabilities from a