Arizona republican., 1902-01-03

pessimistic predictions. and yet, look ing back upon the records since made. the conviction must grow that the fall in prices in 1900. the shrinkage in clear ings and a number of other signs of recession were merely evidences that the prosperity movement had paused to take breath and digest some of the results of expansion preliminary to the further advance which has occurred since.
 And yet this expansion has not been aided by general events, but has rather succeeded in spite of them. Several great industrial conflicts have occur red during the year, notably those of the machinists and of the steel work CTS: the great May stock panic did much to unsettle public confidence in values and in the far-famed commun- ity-of-interest agreements; several inn prudently organized or managed industrial combination have broken down, as have the efforts of still other combination to arbitrarily fix quota tions of great natural productions. such as copper; the typical American crop, corn, has been greatly shortened by long continued drouth; serious short ages in cotton and oats are indicated. and there Is a decline, though slight.
 
 last, but by no means least. the coun- try has seen it's executive stricken by the bullet of an anarchist. To make. in spite of all these drawbakcs. the showing it does of gains in nearly all lines of industrial production, Is, in- deed, proof that the old order changes | and that new sign posts have been set | up in the road of progress by which future travellers must guide them selves.
 Briefly summarized, the year has seen transacted an aggregate of gem eral bushes. as reflected in bank clear ings, far in excess of any preceding period; has witnessed stock speculation | rampant beyond the dreams of old time brokers, checked and curtailed by one of the sharpest stock panics In hls- tory, and yet, with a remarkable mini mum of disturbance of general financial operations, has watched general industry and production grow steadily until new and larger figures were needed to express the outputs of coal and ore and iron and steel and leather and lumber and multitude of | other branches: has seen the freight ! transportation facilities of the country. i strained to the breaking point. prove | insufficient to handle the volume of | business offered and finally has wit messed a volume of holiday business passing all previous bounds both of quantity and quality. all Of which are evidences of the vastly increasing pur- chasing power of the general public of late years.
 From the standpoint of present esti- mates (final returns are yet to be com piled) clearings this year will exceed | the highest records of preceding years by one-foureh. Gross railway earnings | have increased 12 per cent, and net re- l turns have gained 16 per cent. over the best preceding year. Pig-iron produc- | tion will be not far from one-seventh larger than the heaviest ever before recorded. Shoe production and ship | ments. and. therefore, presumab bly leather production. show almost as large gain. Iron-ore production and shipments were never before equaled; certainly lake shipments were never so large: anthracite coal production will | be fully 10 per cent. larger than last year and per cent. heavier than the record, and bituminous 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 re- l turns are, of course, not so favorable. | There has been less money in cotton
  | gin of profit in manufacture has occa- stoned complaint there, and in New and | Old England. This complaint also | comes from other lines of manufacture | but it is no more marked than in | earlier years. The agricultural inter est has, of course. been favored by | heavy advances in farm products,
 which have done much to counter
 balance reductions in yield. Prices as a rule, after a decline of a year and a
 half, show a steadier tendency. in sympathy with food products. Export
 trade has shown signs of hesitation after years of steady advance, and i'm
 ports have increased. but mainly in materials intended for domestic man
 ufacture. and the margin in favor of
 exports is still enormously heavy.