The age-herald., 1898-01-01
SkNGUlNE EXPECTATIONS
Were Not Fully Realized in 1897, Says Brad
 street.

New York, Dec. S1.-Bradstreets tomor- row will say:
 Holiday and the stocktaking close a year, while not fully realizing the most sanguine expectations, certainly contained much that was gratifying, and, more than that, is full of promise for the year 1898. Follow ing series of years of alternate panic, stagnation and slow and even painful re- vival 1897 presented large volume of bus mess done as a whole at prices which, while, not altogether satisfactory, resulted in a total of trade larger than any previous year since 1892. Tariff changes restricted demand but encouraged speculation and heavy imports in the first part of 1897, While the enlarged foreign demand for Ameri- can breadstuffs and for some varieties of manufactured articles bettered the condi- tion of the American farmer, and therefore business men quite materially in the latter part of the year. Price conditions have not favored the southern producer of cotton nor the northern manufacturer of cotton goods.
 Railroad interests share in the revival of prosperity, with gross and net earnings larger than any year since 1893, and the year 1898 opens with the business com munity with the few exceptions noted in very cheerful frame of mind.
 A heavy falling off in number and lia- bilities of individuals, firms or corporations failing was shown in 1897 from 1896 and the four preceding years. A partial return to more or less normal conditions is further indicated by a drop in the percentage of assets to liabilities and by reduction in the commercial death rate as compared with every year since and including 1893. The total number of failures reported to Bradstreet's for the year just closed was 13, ,Gs9 a decrease of 2,00O failures and over 13 per cent from 1S96 Liabilities of those failing constituted one of the smallest to- tals of recent years, amounting to only $156 ,166 0O0, a decrease of 37 per cent from 1896. The least favorable showing is made by the eastern states, which report in- creases in number and liabilities over 1896. In spite of depression in cotton prices, southern failures and liabilities are smaller than a year ago, while the greatest falling off is reported in the west and the north west. Those reliable indices of the busi- ness situation-bank clearings-point to the year 1897 as witnessing the heaviest business, both speculative and commer- clal, Qone since the record year, l69Z, Just preceding tn panic. The total clearings at fifty-eight cities for the year aggregated at least s5e,926, 900 900, sum larger by 12 per cent than the total of 1896, a year of silver agitation and an exciting presiden- tial election; per cent larger than in 1895, the disappointing year, when boom in iron and kindred products led to false hopes of business improvement; 25 per cent over the year 1894, when the depth of de- pression following the panic may be said to have been reached; per cent over 1893 the year of widespread disaster in financial and commercial circles, and only 2 per cent smaller than the total of 1892, when the boom following the large foreign de- mand for American breadstuffs and other products reached it's height.
 Practically the entire gain in clearings in 1897 was concentrated in the last six months, and it is significant fact that the heaviest monthly total reported for five years past was reported in the month of December. Gains were heaviest in the northwest, the Middle and New England states and smallest in the south and south-