Arizona republican., 1898-01-06
The End Of Four Years of Finaa-
 Cial Depression
DAWN OF A BRIGHTER DAY
A Commercial Review of the
 Year Just Gone.
BountifuI Crops and Unexpected Conditions ConspIred to Aid in tho Results to be Attained by a Wisc and Business Like Policy.

New York, Jan. 5-(Special. .)-The year just closed was in some respects one of the red letter periods of our commercial and financial interests. It followed three successive years of almost unprecedented depression and disturbance of confidence consequent upon the imperilled position of our monetary basis. The national election had defeated the silver faction, but by immediately restore confidence. When the republican party came into power, with the presidents declarations in fa- vor of sound money and the passage of tariff calculated to remedy the effects of the Wilson act wave of revived confidence swept over the whole country; and, from midsummer to the end of the year, there has been one continuous revival of business
 Providence too has been propilious to our welfare. At time when the failure of the cereal crops was general throughout Europe, our harvest was abundant, and we have been able to export at high prices unprecedented quantities of wheat and corn. At the beginning of the revival, impor- tant sources of consumption were blocked by large accumulations of unmarke,ed products, most of which houn c;nno Iaos, divspocod hf of ss,pn a recovery in prices, thereby preparing the way for profitable increase of production during the coming year.
 Simultaneously with this recovery in the home markets, we have beel favored with an extraordinary in- crease in our export trade; the ship ments of merchandise for the first eleven months of the year having amounted to s974, 4,6OO, ,OOO, against SSS,6J0, ,O00 in 1896, $732, 300, 900 in 1895. $74O, 100000 in 1894, and $7S2.- 300 600 in 1893. This large increa SC in the export trade has been favorah' { to the foreign gold movement, our net exports of the metal during the e'ev- en months having been but $6, FOG, 900 i These figures, however, imperfectly represent the actual course of the for eign trade balance; for we have l bought from other countries certainly not less than s75,OOO,OOO (marke1 value) of our securities and have al times been lenders to Europe to the extent of $35,0OO,OOO to $4O,O0O, ,0O0, st a means of preventing importations o
 gold when we had no use for it an6 when London, Berlin and Paris could i'll afford to spare it. How such op erations became needful will appeal
 from the fact that, for the clever
 months, our exports of mercha ndiSt
 and silver bullion exceeded our i'm
 ports by 1925, ,000,O0O
 It is not to be inferred that thu
 large increase in our exports is main ly the effect of the unusual shipment
 of breadstuffs. There has also beer
 an extraordinary addition to our ex
 ports of manufactures. Under tn,
 pressure of recent hard times, our in
 dustries have been enabled to so ia
 reduce the costs of production-with
 out at the same time putting dowl
 wages-that our ability to compet
 with other countries has opened to u
 a much increased area of foreign mar kets. Indeed, the signs of the time : have afforded clear indications that a last we have attained an economy il production which will open new mar kets to us corresponding to the rap, increase in our industrial plant ana the rising ratio of the popu atiol which must be dependent on manufac lures. We may reasonably expec that this expansion of the exports o
 it's beginnings, and that this brancl
 of trade will next year exceed that q 1897. Just as the year closed event. happened in eastern Asia which foEe shadow the early opening of the Vas 5 empire of China to the marketinsr z manufactured products To this cnur ? try, impelled towards manufactlArin by new natural drift of it's raipidl
 increasing population, this is af mos
 welcome foreshadowing of an Axpar
 sion of our trading relations With tn
 worlds greatest empire It isl to b l hoped that our government Will e,
 ercise the utmost vigilance iIi guard [ ing American interests pending tn
 struggle among the European DOW
 CTS to gain control of the fbest DOS
 tions for forwarding their aegressiy f purposes. We desire no fhreipn te, f ritory; but we cannot afford that mil f tary governments shall be nprmitte
 to invade our esta blished ureatv right
 UT ul'iue up Cnina at tnIeir pleasur
 UT set up a seinsh pollcys of excludin
 others from the best mArkets of ii empire- rms IS matter upon whic
 'ne attltuoe or the United Stata