The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1899-12-30
Bradstreet's Presents an Excellent Com
mercial Statement.
ALL LINES ARE HANDLED IN DETAIL
Especial Attention Is Given to the
Question OF business Failures.
Which Show n Decrease.


the widespread and general upward move
| ment OF values, alike OF staples and OF Sc
| cirities. such IA occurred during this year,
| could have been foreseen. Linked with
an immense business and areeord break
| ing production in nearly all lines of bust
| ness and industry, except perhaps in soma
products of the agricultural interests.
! there was with II an advance of staple
| values either of which alone would have
made the year notable and, combined they
have served to establish the year as
/ record breaker ana set up new standards.
! The volume of domestic and foreign trade
| alike was the largest ever recorded, and
the bank clearings, rejecting immense
/ business expansion, active speculation in
! stocks and immense new industrial float
ings, far surpassed all previous records.
/ Prices as n result. primarily of the stimu
( latlon proceeding from supply and demand
conditions, scored probably the greatest
advance in any single year and brought
the general level OF staple values to the
! highest point reached for more than eight
/ years past. Failure statistics point to the
smallest number reported for seventeen
years past These results have come to
pass in the face OF considerably lessened
! production Of wheat and an immense fall
! ing off In the yield Of cotton.
tive activity in the latter during the early
months OF the present season. speculation
on the leading exchanges has been most
| largely confined to stocks and securities.
! In industrial affairs, the year has been
one Of enormous expansion Certainty
nothing like the general advance in wages
OF industrial employees has been Witnessed
for many years and been accomplished
/ with minimum of friction emitting the
I year 10 special mention on this, If on no
other account The close of the year
/ finds order books filed to from three to
six months ahead In nearly all lines. Dis
trhutive trade was naturally of immense
| volume throughout the year. though mild
| weather AT the close tended to modify
the satisfaction with which retail trace
! In winter fabrics was regarded. This was.
| however, partly compensated for by n
holiday business surprising all previous
records
Notwithstanding smaller exports of
! agricultural products during the calen-
dar year, breadstuffs shipments being IL
per cent smaller. cattle and hog exports
! II per cent less and cotton shipments, ow-
| ing to the short crop, at least Is per cent
| less, there WINS such an expansion in our
manufactured exports that the entire ex-
| port trade OF the year will considerably
exceed that of the last calendar year
| which was the heaviest recorded aud make
the year no less notable in the line of for
| eign than In domestic trade, with II total
OF exports little less than $1,2S0:000,0O0,
an aggregate which, IL reached, will mark
a gain OF per cent over the record total
| of 1898. Imports have naturally shown a
marked revival and II the cain for the
eleven months is maintained for the
month OF December, Sotai little below
| $500 600 600 mayj be expected. which would
| guarantee a total foreign trade well in ex-
cess OF $4,000, oDo 900, nm amount, II might
! be remarked. never before equalled AS
TO exports, IL Is to be noted that nearly
| onethird OF all are Of manufactured prod
/ ucts, a proportion never before reached;
| and as to imports, the heavy increase In
raw products intended for manufacture
/ bear testimony to the activity of domestic
| Industry. The apparent trade balance in
our favor, though not as heavy as in 1898,
will still aggregate an enormous sum.
That the advance in the price OF staples
has not been a fictitious one or based upon
arbitrary actions of combinations Is evil
denced by tho fact that n similar price
l movement has been witnessed abroad
the general level OF prices in England, for
Instance. being higher December /, this
year, han for more than eight years past,
The course OF values. too. has been in
accordance with expectations OF econo-
mists, in that the greatest relative rise has
been in manufactured goods or in pro-
ducts OF industry not exclusively agri-
cultural. Breadstuffs alone of all the
classes OF staples are actually lower now
than they were n year ago, tho decline
being about 6 per cent. On the other
hand the manufactured or partly manufac-
turcd products. snoh as metals. raw AMI
manufactured textiles, building materials.
coal and naval stores have scored a re-
markable gain, Metals, as a whole, are so
per cent higher than year ago due
largely. OF course. TO the upward rush OF
iron ana steel prices. which have all prac-
tcally doubled In value within the year.
Raw cotton and wool have made espe-
cla'ly noteworthy advances ANA being
among the most depressed Of industries
tho textile manufacturing trades have he
come among The busiest there is record OF.
Other textiles have shared in This advance
, and tho result is that textiles as a class
are one-third higher than a year ago
Coal and coke have shared In the Won
dcrful industrial development Of the year.
with rise equal to that in textiles and
building materials. too. have made equal
GAINS. owing mainly to the marked adj
vance In lumber Naval stores have shown
q gain OF nearly onc-thlrd in price; hides
and leather are one-fourth higher, live
stock dried fruits and oils are one eighth
higher and provisions chemicals and mis-.
ceilaneous products have all advanced
Takiry bulk clearings as an index, the
outlook at present favors a total at the
country's clearing house, making comnarl.
sons with previous years OF fully 500 300 :
600 600. an increase OF SO per cen, over a
year ago, OF "A per cent over 1883, aud OF
81 per cent over 1899. while, az compared
with 1894. the volume OF cleafings has
practically doubled Active stock snecula-
ton and immense Industrial hoaiinss. but
ab0vn all. enormous trade sni Industrial
actiylty naturally swelled the yo'ume OF
clearings in the Middle States. but the
gains In the New England group including
Boston, where copper share sne Nlat D.
VAS extensive and the great manu- artuf.
Ing centers were also considerable The
largest monthly clearings ZIP to December
were reported In March, while outiide OF
J tho metropolis the heavies, totals were
shown as late rs October
The Hurry IN money late In December
! swelled the weekly bank clearings 10 an
4 unprecedented sum- making possible an
exceptionally heavy decrease aggregate.
Decreases from 1898 at individual cities
/ were few and due mainly to changes In
! methods unconnected with the generally
large business doing. AS compared with
\ 1894 every city In the country naturally
reports large clearings. but Il Is worth
I noting that thirteen cities IN all show de-
cresses from the year 1892 which still re-
main at those cities year OF uneaualcd
trade.
] The railroads Of the country have done