The age-herald., 1901-12-28
Annual Review of American
 Trade Shows Great Progress
EVERY BUSINESS INCREASES
Wonderful Record Is Even More Nota- ble Because 1t Suffered From Events That Would Ordin-
 arlly Cause Disaster.

New York. December 27.-The annual review of American trade, finance and industry prepared by Bradstreets, de- clares 1901 to be "a record breaker among the five succeeding years of commercial expansion enjoyed by the United States It's preeminence, the review stated, was all the more notable because 1t suffered from a combination of happenings that in a normal year would have proved de- pressing if not disastrous Enumerated In the latter were the machinists and steel strikes, the stock panic of May, the failure of several imprudent managed combinations, the efforts of some combi- nations including that In copper to fix prices, the shortage in cotton, corn and oats, and the assassination of President Mckinley. Summarizing the general sit uation the review says:
 Briefly summarized the year has seen transacted an aggregate of general busi- ness as reflected in bank clearings far in excess of any of old-tirne brokers, curtail- ed by one of the sharpest stock panics in history, and yet, with remarkable minimum of disturbance of general finan- cial operations. has watched general in- dustry and production grow steadily un- til new and larger figures were needed to express the outputs of coal and ore and iron and steel and leather and lumber and a multitude of other branches; has seen the freight transportation facilities of the country strained to the breaking point prove insufficient to handle the vol ume of business offered; and finally has witnessed a large volume of holiday bus mess passing all previous bounds both in the quantity and quality and the vastly increased purchasing power of the public in late years.
 Clearings Record.
 From the standpoint of the present es- timates the clearings this year will ex- ceed the highest records of preceding years by one-fourth. Gross railway earn ings have increased F per cent, and net returns have gained Is per cent over the best preceding year. Pig iron production will be not far from one-seventh larger than the heaviest ever before recorded. Shoe production and shipments show al- most as large gain. Iron ore production and shipments were never before equalled. Anthracite coal production was fully 10 per cent larger than last year and per cent larger than the record. The bitumin- ous production promises as heavy a gain over past records. Woolen manufacturing has been helped by low cost of material and good demand for clothing. All the returns are not so favorable. There has been less money in cotton for the south this year and the margin of profit in .a4 .l--A there and in old and new England. The agricultural interest has been favored by heavy advances In farm products which have done much to counterbalance re- auctions in yield. Export trade has shown signs of hesitation after years of steady advance, and imports have increased, but mainly in materials int tended for domestic manufacture and the margin in favor of exports is still enormously heavy.
 The bank clearings are estimated at SIS, 000 100000. a gain of & per cent over last year and "A per cent over the record of 1899. The failures for the year were placed at 10,775 with aggregate liabili- ties of s130.00O,000 and assets of s60,3O0, 900. As to ths showing, the Reviewer said:
 This is a gain of S6 per cent in num- Der oyer 1900 and of nearly 12 per cent over 1899, but back of that year compari- sons favor the current one. Liabilities have not gained relatively. as shown by the fact that they are only 24 per cent larger this year than last and 8.6 per cent larger than in 1899. A continuing unfavor- able feature is the small percentage of assets to liabilities. It Is only AGA per cent this year as against 37.2 per cent a year ago and 52 per cent in 1899 and 1898.
 Prices of Products.
 As to prices the review says.
 Wheat has reached the highest point since 1898; corn and oats are higher than for almost a decade and other products has sympathized.
 Food products ,as a whole, are high CT than in the general price boom of 1900 while manufacturies are lower notably in this respect being leather, textiles, coal and naval stores, building materials, chemicals and drugs and miscellaneous products.
 Prices, as whole, are per cent lower than February, 1900, and December 1899. If other products follow the lead of food products, as is not unusual a further advance of the former Is not un- likely. Iron and steel prices seem to lead in this latter day advance, but the other metals have broken away from them and copper, lead and tin are weakening, the result of failures of injudicious at- lCihPto dt OohNiOiihB PiOodttioH- uOOU products, largely imported like coffee and sugar, have reached low-water mark prices on large production
 In summarizing the foreign trade, the review declares there has been a fall ing off in the demand abroad for Amer lean iron, steel and copper, a loss in profits in cotton exports owing to the decline in prices, a reduction in the exports of corn and oats. phenomenal wheat shipments and large shipments of animals and provisions.
 Exports were estimated at q, 436, O0.000 or per cent less than the record of last year. This calculation treated Porto Rico and Hawaii as American territory. As to imports the review declares:
 Imports have gained slightly-they will aggregate at least 1875. 900, 600. a gain of 5.5 per cent over 1900. leaving the bal ance of domestic exports over imports not far from s56ooOo,ooO or the third larg- est excess in the countrys history"