The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1898-12-15
VOLUME OF TRADE.

Tyhat we Need Is not so Mucn q Boom
.s Continuation Of tho Present
Conditions.
Now York Journal OF Commerce: The
country has been watching so long for
rsylyal OF business, and has 80 thor
oprbly concentrated rs attention upon
condition hoped for In the future, that
q Is in some danger Of Misunderstanding
what has already happened. The truth
4. that what this country low needs Is
no, SO much a glorious boom as a happy
continuance Of present conditions.
These conditions are NOT universally
satisfactory; there arc Localities ana
there are lines where tho revival does
nat seem as substantial aSttnight have
bcsn desired, and It Is aa.general fact
anal the rate OF profits IS ibmnller than
4 was years ago. But this decline in
the rate OF profit Is not 60 much due
m any difficulty OF selling goods as s. Is
90 the vast accumulation OF capital and
the energyof competition irlproduction;
Il Is very much like the reduction IN
the rate OF interest. ThlE y an unfa-
yorable change for the capitalist az
such, but It Is unquestionAbly gain for
the community as q whole
The bank clearings Tor November
we're unprecedentedly large, but the full
force Of the fgures representing them
can only be displayed by comparisons.
There Is no difference OF opinion about
the prosperity OF 1892. The bank clear
ings for November OF that year aggFe-
gated $549l, 022, 1902 and for last month
they were S6,473, T34, 1926. Here 10 an in-
- a iINk1n aHgnN 10 NOR mont ElYVf
there has been a fall in prices In the
meanwhile OF per cent, using Brad
streets index figures, so that the vol
ume OF transactions represented may
be supposed to have been one-fifth
greater last month than they were in
the corresponding month OF the best
year this country ever had before the
late depression.
There is another comparison that
rorFeborates this, The eaBt-bound
freight movement from Chicago for six
weeks ending December 8. 1892, was 49,
g9i tons: for the corresponding weeks OF
1928 the tonnage was 6S5,G4l. Here Is
an increase Of 40 per cent. Last year
the grain movement gave active employ
ment to the railroads, but the cast
bound tonnage for the six weeks was
only S0l,2l6 tons. For these particular
nearly double what 1t was last year, and
q gain of 10 per cent over the same
period six years ago must be recognized
es evidence of very great increase in
the amount OF business that Is being
done. II is not unreasonable TO suppose
that II the rate OF profit be less, the ag-
gregate profit Of so great a volume Of
business must be greater now than 1t
was six years ago.
Increases Of wages have not been FREE
Guent OF late, but It is evident that labor
IS very generally employed; the aggre-
gate volume OF business could not In
crease so much without absorbing prac-
tlcally all the unemployed labor. The
recent controversy between the manu-
facturers and the laborers In the glass
trade was won by the latter on all or
nearly all points, according to dis
patches from the center OF the trade,
and this could only have been possible
had the volume OF demand and the
margin of profits been quite satisfactory
to the manufacturers. More recently,
some increases of wages have been
mentioned in the news dispatches. but
wages had already got back very gen
orally to the rates prevailing before the
depression. and as wages were then
high and prices have not got back TO
the level OF six years ago, an advance
OF wages above the level OF 1892 can
hardly have been looked for.
The Iron and steel trade Is undenia-
big in n state of activity never before
experienced, and II not so much can be
said for some other staple lines Of pro-
ductlon It is generally true of them
thnt they ere selling as much, or more,
than they ever sold before, and are not
losing money, What used to be known
as business booms were largely specula-
1--we. If the country is not having one
now It has no reason to deplOre the fact.
II is certainly doing an enormous busi-
ness OF healthy character. There IS
no evident reason why the present VOL.
unle OF trade should not continue, and
expand with the increase Of popula-
ton and the growth of capital In
disposition to over trade. and the ineV-
fable reaction, there Is some excuse Tor
regarding panics as an essential feature
Of commercial growth, but with Inn
proved business methods and improv-
ed banking, and a currency above sus-
nlcion, the superstition that panic is
certain at periodical intervals can be
exploded. The condition Of our currerl-
cy was the cnuse Of the trouble In 1898,
and It had much to do with the trouble
IN 1919 A writer on the Bank OF Eng
land has pointed out that while there
have been periods Of monetary strln-
Esncy IN London since then, there has
not since 1866 been such panic as had
occurred previously about every ten
years since the beginning OF the century.
There is reason to believe that the COM
mercfni world Is adjusting itself TO
modern conditions, and that It will find
an alienation Of booms and panics
quite unnecessary. These violent ale
formations are peculiar to new CONNER
clal developments. and the commercial
development Of this country IS fast ma
turing. while there Is no other large
commercial nation to supply specula-
tlon with virgin fields. We may hope
for greater degree or steadiness in
the worlds commercial expansion In
the coming century than in that now