The Topeka state journal., 1899-12-30
STORY OF PROSPERITY.
Bradstreet's Summary of the Closing
Year In Trade.


New York, Dec. 30.-Bradstreet's re-
view of the year in business" says:
Rarely have sanguine commercial
and financial hopes or predictions found
such adequate realization as they did
during 1899. Certainly nothing like the
widespread and general upward move
ment of values, alike OF staples and of
securities, such as occurred during this
year, could have been fOreSeen. Linked
with an immense business and a record
breaking production in nearly all lines
of business and industry. except per-
hapS in some products of the agricul-
tural interest there was with it an
advance of staple values either of which
alone would have made the year notable
and com bined, they have served to
establish the year as a record breaker
and set up new standards. The volume
of domestic and of foreign trade alike
was the largest ever recorded, and the
bank clearings, rejecting immense bus
mess of expansion, active speculation
in stocks and immense new industrial
hOatings, far surpassed all previous
records. Prices, as a result, primarily,
of the stimulation, 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 a considerably
lessened production of wheat, and an
>
ton.
In Industrial affairs, the year has
been one of enormous expansion. Ger
tainly nothing like the general advance
been witnessed for many years and this
has been accomplished with a minimum
of friction.
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
H. vrrT- a
weather at the close tended to modify
the satisfaction with which retail trade
in winter fabrics was regarded. This
was, however, partly compensated for
by a holiday business surprising all
previous records.
Notwithstanding smaller exports of
agricultural products during the calen-
dar year, breadStuffS shipments being
IS per cent smaller, cattle and hogs eX-
ports II per cent less and cotton ship
ments, owing to the short crop at least
15 per cent less, there was such an eX-
pansion in our manufactured exports
that the entire export trade of the year
will considerably exceed that of the
last calendar year, which was the heav-
lest recorded and will make the year
no less notable in the line of foreign
tfan in domestic trade, with a total of
exports little less than 81 280, coo, 600 an
aggregate which. if reached, will mark
a gain of per cent over the recorded
total of 1898. Imports have naturally
shown a marked revival, and if the
ed for the month of December a total
little below $500 900. 600 may be ex-
pected which would guarantee a total
foreign trade well in excess of $1,000
600, 600. amount it might be remark
ed, never before equalled. AS TO ex-
ports, it is to be noted that nearly one
third of all are of manufactured pro-
ducts, a proportion never before reach
ed; and as to imports the heavy in
crease in raw products intended for
manufacture bears testimony to the ac-
tivity of domestic industry. The ap-
parent 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 combfn-
atiOns is evidenced by the fact that a
similar price movement has been wit
messed abroad, the general level of
prices in England for instance being
higher on December I this year than
for more than eight years past The
course of values too, has been In ac-
cordance with expectations OF econom-
lists, in that the greatest relative rise
has been in manufactured goods or in
products OF industry not exclusively