The age-herald., 1899-12-30
RINANCIAL RAY5EY

week year ago.
 
 FINANCIAL REVIEW
 New York, December 29.-Bradstreets re- view of the year in business tomorrow will say:
 Rarely have sanguine commercial and financial hopes on predictions found such adequate realizations as they did during 1899. Certainly nothing like the widespread and general upward movement of values, alike of staples and of securities such as occurred during this year, could have been foreseen Linked with an immense busi- ness and record breaking production in all lines of business and industry, except perhaps in some products of the agricultu- ral interest, there was with 1t z ance of staple values, either of which alone would have made the year notable, and combined, they have served to establish the year as record-soreaker and set up new standards The volume of domestic and of foreign trade alike was the largest ever recorded and the hank clearings, re- fiecting immense business expansion, ac- tive speculation in stocks, and immense new industrial floatings, far surpassed all previous records. Prices, as result pri- marily of the stimulation proceeding from supply and demand conditions, record prob ably the greatest advance in any single year and brought the general leveleof sta pie values to rhe highest point reached for more than eight years past. Failure statistics point to the smallest number re- ported for seventeen years past. These results have come to pass in the face of a considerably lessened production of wheat and an immense falling of in the yield of cotton.
 With the exception of marked specula- tive activity in the latter during the early months of the present season speculation on the leading exchanges has been mostly confined to stocks and securities. Indus trial affairs for the year has been one of enormous expansion. Certainly nothing
 like the general advance in wages of in- dustrial employees has been witnessed for many years and been accompanied with a
 minimum of friction entftling the year to special mention of this, if on no other ac- count The close of the year finds order
 books filled to from three to six months ahead in nearly all lines. Distributive trade was naturally of immense volume through out the year though mild weather at the close tended to modify the satisfaction with which retail in winter fabrics was re- garded.
 Imports have naturally shown a marked revival and if the gain for the eleven
 months is maintained for the month of De- cember a total little below S00,000 900 may be expected, which would guarantee to- tai foreign trade well in excess of 5000 ,0OO.- OO0 an amount it might be remarked, nev- CT before equaled As to exports, it is to
 be noted that nearly -one-third of all are of manufactured products, proportion
 never before reached; and to imports, the
 heavy increase in raw products intended for manufacture bear testimony to the ac-
 tiyity 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 transportation interests are de- termined to share to a large extent in the unexamp,ed volume of tonnage offering is proved by the general advance in rates scheduled for January l, 1900. Railway building though mostly of branches and feeders was the heaviest reported since 1ss0 was double the average of the preced-
 ing four years and 50 per cent. larger than 1898.
 The record of embarassments has been of a steadily diminishing sca!o as regards
 number, and even in liabilities tte year. S record is an exceptional one, and were it 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 ap- pellation of phenomenal. Though the years record is not as yet complete and the re- turns as to assets and liabilities are still more or less vague, 1t may be stated that the stotal number of failures based upon complete returns for eleven months and partial returns for December will be in the neighborhood of 9,950, certainly little in excess of that number, a total smaller than in the preceding year by r per cent, 26 per cent. fewer than in 1897; 36 per cent lower than in 1896. 26 per cent. smaller than in 1895 or 1894 and 40 per cent. less
 than in 1893, the year of panic memory. 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 1882, seventeen
 years ago. As regards liabilities. while the showing is not so good as Expected, there is a reasonable hope of the aggre- gate not being much in excess of $12O, ,OOO- 900, which would be 15 per cent. less than