The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1901-12-28

shipments were never before equalled;
certainly lake shipments were never so
large. Anthracite coal production will be
fully ten per cent larger than last year
and per cent heavier than the record.
The bituminous production promises as
heavy gain over the past records Wool
en- manufacturing has been helped by low
cost of material and good demand for
clothing All the returns are not SO fa-
vorable, There has been less money in
cotton for the South this year, and the
margin Of profit in manufacture has oc-
casioned complaint there and in new and
old England. The agricultural interest
has been favored by heavy advances in
farm products, which have done much to
counterbalance reductions in yield. Ex-
port trade has shown signs of hesitation
after years of steady advance, and i'm
ports have increased, but mainly in ma
terials intended for domestic manufac-
ture, and the margin in favor of exports is
still enormously heavy"
The bank clearings were estimated at
S11S billion, gain Of 3S per cent over
last year and 26 per cent over the record
year of 1899.
The Middle States showed the greatest
increases in. clearings. The failures for
the year were placed at 0,775 with aggre-
gate liabilities of $3.50, 900, 900 and assets
of $50, ,200,0 900. AS to this showing the
review said:
This is a gain of Sc per cent in num-
Der over 1900 and of nearly 12 per cent
over 1892 but back of that year COMPARE
sons favor the current one. Liabilities
hou Ot croi alaf w ox,;l,
shown by the fact that they are only
"a per cent larger this year than last
and SO per cent larger than in 1S99.f In
only three of the past 13 years, in fact
were liabilities smaller than they were
this year. A point often lost sight of is
that there is a constant accession of new
individuals, firms and corporations in
business each year, and this alone fur
nishes a basis for the recording of nu-
merous unsuccessful ventures. There are
now 172.000 more people in business than
there were a decade ago, an increase Of
16 per cent, but failures have only in
creased per cent in number during that
period and liabilities are only twenty per
cent larger. continuing unfavorable
feature is the small percentage of as
sets to liabilities, 1t is only asa per
cent this year. as against 47.2 per cent,
a year ago and SO per cent in 1899 and
1885,
AS to prices the review says:
Wheat has reached the highest point
since 1898; corn and oats are higher
than for almost decade, and other pro-
duce has sympathized. Food products as
a whole are higher than in the general
price boom of 1900 while manufactures
are lower, notable in this respect being
leather, textiles, coal and coke, naval
stores, building materials, chemicals, and
drugs and miscellaneous products. Prices
as whole are eight per cent lower
than February, 1900, and December, 1899,
but are higher than in any year from
1893 until the third quarter Of 1899"
In summarizing the foreign trade the
review declared that there has been a
falling off in the demand abroad for
American iron, steel, and copper, a loss
in profits in cotton exports owing to the
decline in prices, reduction in the eX-
ports of corn and oats, phenomenal wheat
shipments, and larger shipments of ami
mails and provisions. Exports were esti-
mated at ABS, 900 or l per cent less
than the record of last year. This cal
culation treated Porto Rico and Hawaii
as American territory. AS to imports
the review declared
Imports have gained slightly-they
will aggregate at least $S75, ,000, 900, a gain
of 90 per cent over 1900, leaving the bal
ance of domestic exports over imports not
far from $3.50, 100000, or the third largest
excess in the country's history"