The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-01-01
FINANCIAL CIRCLES
The Old Year Retires Quietly and
in Good Order.
BANKS ON EASY STREET
Stocks and Bonds Very Quiet But Firm
Notwithstanding the Pos Utility
of a Free-For-All War in
the Orient.

New York. Dec Si.-Bradstreet's to-
morrow will say: Holiday quiet and
stock taking close year which, while
not fully realizing the most sanguine
expectations, certainly contained much
that was gratifying and more that IS
full of promise for the year 1895. Fol-
lowing a series of years of alternate
panic. stagnation and slow and even
painful revival, 1897 presented large
volume of business, done as a whole at
prices which, while not altogether sat
isfactory, resulted in a total of trade
larger than in 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 Amer
lean breadstuffs and for some varieties
of manufactured articles bettered the
condition of the American farmer,
therefore, business men quite material
ly in the latter part of the year. Price
conditions have not favored the South
ern producer of cotton nor the North
ern manufacturer of cotton goods.
The best reports come from the
West, Northwest and Pacific coast.
Prices at the close are as whole on a
higher range than at the opening, adj
vances being made numerous in food
products. raw silk and wool, while de-
creases are reported in raw cotton and
cotton goods, nearly all metals. an
thracite coal and petroleum. Railroad
interests share in the revival of pros
perity, with gross and net earnings
larger than any year since 1893. and
the year 1898 opens with the business
community, with the few exceptions
noted in a very cheerful frame of mind.
A heavy falling off in number and in
liabilities of individual firms or eorpor-
atoms failing was shown in 1897 from
1896 and the four preceding years.
partial return to more or less normal
condition is further indicated by drop
in the percentage of assets to liabilities
and by a reduction in the commercial
death rate as compared with every
year since and including 1888. The to-
tai number of failures reported to
Bradstreet's for the year Just closed
was 1909. a decrease of 1000 failures
and over IS per cent from 1896; falling
off of Is per cent from the panic year
of 1898, and a decrease OF more than
per cent from 1891, a year OF prosper
Gus business. but of numerous business
embarrassments. Compared with 1895
there was a gain in the number shown
of about Il per cent, while compared
with 1892 there was an increase OF -
per cent. The liabilities of those fall
Ing constituted one of the smallest to-
tails of recent years, amounting to only
$156, 166, a decrease of 81 per cent from
1896. and of so per cent from 1898 and
of 10 per cent from 1891, but a gain of
Al per cent over 1892
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 Northwest. The percentage
of assets to liabilities of those failing
in 1897 was 54.4 per cent, the smallest
percentage since 1893, and only slightly
above the normal The commercial
50 "a iE
those in business failing In ls9s, was
10 per cent, as compared with lao in
1896, and 15o per cent in 1898.
Those reliable indications of the bust
Eess situation-bank clearings-point 10
the year 1897 as witnessing the heaviest
business, both speculative and com :
mercial done since the record year OF
1892, just preceding the panic. The to-
tai cIearings at IS cities for the year,
enc week estimated. aggregated at least
$50, 926, 900 900, a sum larger by II per
cent. than the total of 1896. year of
silver agitation and an exciting presi-
Dental election. s per cent. larger than
1896, the disappointing year. when a
boom In iron and kindred products led
TO false hopes of business Improvement.
Is per cent. over the year 1894. when the
depth of depression following the panic
may be said to have been reached; .
per cent. over 1898, the year OF that
spread of disaster in financial and COM
mercial circles, and only per cent.
smaller than the total of 1892. when the
boom following the large foreign de-
hnand for American hreadstuffs and
other products reached its height.
Practically the entire gain in clearings
in 1897 was concentrated in the last six
months, and 1t Is significant fact that
the heaviest monthly report for five
years was reported in the month of De-
cember. Gains We're the heaviest in the
Northwest. the middle and New Eng
land states and smallest in the South
and Southwestern, in the latter of which
trade Improvement was rather late in
arriving.
Il The total exports of wheat flour as
wheat) from both coasts of the United
States and Canada amount to s,4s5, 900
bs1sheIs, or double those In this week a
wear ago, and roc. 900 bushels larger than
= last week. Corn exports are slightly
smaller, aggregating 4.0s6.0oo bushels,
against 4,S19.000 bushels last week and
7742 900 bushels last year.
"a Business failures for the Dominion OF
canada and Newfoundland for the year
EaS9f amounted to 1927 with total liabili-
lies OF 13,219,000, a falling off Of - per
Gent. in number and of - per cent. in
sliabilities from a year ago.
Dun's Report.
New York. Dec. SIR. g. Dun a. Co. i
weekly Review Of Trade will say:
The failures for the year closed last
night have been smaller than in any
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