The San Francisco call., 1899-12-30

manufactured products. a proportion never be
lore reached: and as TO imports, the heavy IN
ture bears testimony to the activity OF comes-
tic Industry.
The apparent trade balance in our favor.
though not as heavy as in 1855. VIII still as-
gregate an enormous amount.
Ihat the advance in the price OF staples mas
not been fictitious one. or based upon arpl-
trary actions OF combinations is evidenced by
me fact that similar price movement mas
been Witnessed abroad. the general level OF
prices in England, for instance. being higher
on December / this year than for more than
eight years past. The course OF values. too,
has been in accordance with the expectations
OF economists in that the greatest relative rise
has been in manufactured goods OF in products
OF INDUSTRY, not exclusively agricultural Bread
stuns alone OF all the classes Of staples are act
ualy lower now than they were year ago, the
decline being about per cent. On the other
hand. the ma1ufactured or partly manufactured
products. such as metals, raw and manufac-
tured tex.les. building material. coal and naval
stores have scored remarkable gains. Metdls
as a whole Were 50 per cent higher than a year
aso, dde largely, OF course 10 the tof"ard rush
OF IRON and steel prices, which nave al pIac-
ucally doubled in value within the year. Raw
cotton and wool have made especially notewor-
thy advances. and from being among the most
depressed of Industries the textile manufacturing
trades have become among the busiest there Is
record OF. other textiles have shared in this
advance, and the result is that textiles a
class are a third higher than year ago. Coal
ana coke have shared in the wonderful lndus,
trlal development Of the year. With "a rise equal
70 that in textiles. anc building materials too,
have made equal gairs. owing mainly 10 the
showed gain OF nearly a thlrd in price. liIues
and leather are a fourth higher Livestock;
dried fruits and oils are an eighth higher, ahd
provisions, chemicals and miscellaneous prod
ucts have all advanced
Taking bank clearings as an index. the out
look at present faVors a total at the country
clearing houses, making comparison with
previous years, of "a per cent over 1897 and or
81 per cent over 1892 while as compared with
1894 the volume OF clearings has practically
doubled. Active stock speculation and immense
industrial foatings, but above all enormous
ind fu1
but the gains in the New England group, in
cluding Boston, where copper-share speculation
was extensive, and where are the great manu-
featuring centers, were also considerable. The
largest monthly clearings up 70 December We're
reported IN March while outside or the metrop-
oils the heaviest totals were shown as late as
October The furry in money late in December
swelled the weekly bank clearngs 70 un-
ally heavy December aggregate. Decreases from
lssS at individual cities were few and due
mainly TO changes in methods unconnected with
the generally large business done. As com
pared with 1885,. every city in the country nat
rally reports larger clearngs, but II is worth
noting that thirteen cities in all show decreases
from the year 1882. which still remains at those
cities year Of unequaled trade The rail
roads OF the country have done the heaviest
business In their history, proved by the gains IN
gross and net receipts over all previous records.
That the transportation interests deter
mined TO share still further in the uneXampled
volume OF tonnage Offering is proved by the
general advance in rates scheduled for January
l, 1900. Railroad building. though mostly OF
branches and feeders. was the heaviest re
ported since 1880. was double the average OF
the preceding four years and so per cent larger
than IN 1895
The record Of embarrassments has been OF
steadily diminishing scale regards number
ana even IN Liabilities the years record Is an
exceptional one. and We're IL not for a few large
failures in the last two months OF the year
that period as a whole would have been fairly
entitled TO the appellaton OF phenomenal.
Though the years record is not yet complete.
and the returns as TO assets and liabilities are
nT he
the total number of failures. based upon COM
plete returns for eleven months and partial re-
turns for December, Will be in the neghborhood
of $3.50, certainly little in excess Of that num-
Der, total smaller than in the preceding year
by Il per cent. % per cent fewer than in 1897.
80 per cent lower than in 1896, - per cent
smaller than in 1895 1894 and 40 per cent less
than In 1898. the year of panic. AS compared
with 1892 there Is even shown a decrease Of
per cent and the number OF failing traders
firms or corporations Is in fact the lightest
since 1852. As regards liabilities while the
showing Is not so good as expected, there is
reasonable hope OF the aggregate not being
much in excess OF Sl2O, 900. 900. which would be
i per cent less than in 1895. % yer cent smaller
than In 1887 81 per cent less than in 1886, 10 per
cent smaller than in the panic year 1898 and
only II per cent more than in 1892. a year OF ex-
ceptionally good trade. The return OF normal
conditions is indicated by the percentage of
assets which may aggregate So 0O0 900 TO liabil-
tiles. being only SIG as against 50 per cent
last year. 54.3 per cent in 1897. 5s9 per cent in
1896. 50 per cent in 1898 and 80 per cent in 1882
The percentage OF those failing in business. too
will show marked shrinkage and will be
among the lowest ever reported, the probabili-
ties favoring a percentage Of .OOs5 this year.
against .Ol6 per cent last year. .0l20 in 1897,
.0l7O in 1893 and ol0 per cent in 1892. the small
est percentage in fact since 1852.
That the improvement in business has made
itself felt at last in all parts OF the country is
indicated by the Southern and Pacific States
groups showing the largest decrease in failures
from year ago fully one-third in each case.
The business community looks forward 10 1900
with at least equally mixed feelings OF hope
and confidence.