The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1902-01-03
BRADsTREET,s ANNUAL REPORT
OF the business of the United states
for the Year Just Closing.

New York. December 27.-The annual
revew of trade, finance and industry
prepared by Bradstreets. and given
publicity today. declares 1901 to be a
"record-breaker" among the five sue
ceeding years Of commercial expansion
enjoyed in the United states. Its pre-
eminence. the review states, was all the
more notable, because il suffered from
? combination Of happenings that in d
"ormal year would have proved re-
~essing, If not disastrous. Enumerat-
in the latter were the machinists'
and steel strikes. the stock panic OF
May, the failure o: several i~mprudcnt-
y managed combinations. the efforts Of
some combinations, including that in
Upper. TO FIX prices. the shortage in
corn. cotton and oats, and the assassi-
nation OF President Mckinley.
Summarizing the general situation
the review says: Briefly summarized
the year has seen transacted Il aggre-
gate OF business IS shown in bank
| clearings. far in excess Of any proceed
ing period, has Witnessed stock spec
u~latiOn. rampan beyond the dreams o!
OIi-time brokers. checked and c~urtalled
BY one Of the sharpest stock paniCs in
history and yet. with q remarkable
minimum Of disturbance OF general
fnaucia operations has watched gen
eraI 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 Il multitude OF other
branches, has seen the freight trans
pOTtaJiOn facilities Of the country,
strained TO the breaking point, prove
insufficient TO handle the volume OF
business offered and finally has wit
messed q volume OF holiday business
passing all previous bounds both OF
quantity and quality, all OF which are
evidences OF the vastly increased pur-
chasing power of the general public OF
late years.
From the standpoint of present es-
Inmates. cIearings this year will exceed
the highest records OF preceding years
by o~ne-fourth. Gross railway earnings
have increased u per cent. and net re-
turns have gained 10 per cent. over the
best preceding year. Pig iron pTodUc-
ton Will not be far from one-SeVenth
larger thar the heaviest ever before
recorded. Shoe production and ship
ments and therefore presumably leather
production, show almost as large q
gain. Iron ore production and snip
mentS were never before equalled, GER
tainly lake shipments were never so
large. Anthracite coal production VIII
be FULLY 10 per cent. larger than last
year and , per cent. heavier than the
record. The bituminous production
promises as heavy as past records.
Wooden manufacturing has been helped
by low cost of material and good de-
mand for clothing. All the returns ale
not so favorable. There has been less
money in cotton for the south this
year, and the margin of profit in man
u%faCture has ocCaSioned complaint
there and in New and Old England
The agricultural interest has been Ia
Yored by heavy advances in farm pro-
ducts. which have done much to count
| ter-balance the yield. Foreign trade
has shown signs of hesitation after
years OF steady advance and imports
have increased, but mainly in materials
intended for domestic manufacture,
and the margin in favor or exports Is
still enormously heavy.
The bank c~learings were Sis, 900. 00O,-
900. a gain of 80 per cent over last year
and 70 per cent over the record year
of 1899. The middle states showed the
greatest increases in clearlnSS. The
failures for the year are placed at IT,
775. with aggregate liabilities OF $l5O,-
600. Coo and assets of $50. zoo. 900. As &c
this showing the review said: This Is
a gain of Sc per cent in number over
1900 and Of nearly l. per cent over 1897,
nut back of hat year comparisons ia
vOr the current one. Liabilities nave
not gained relatively SO heavily as
shown by the fact hat they are only
"a per cent larger this year than last
and Sc per cent larger than 1899. In
only three of the past Is years, IN fact.
were liabilities more h a they were
lis yeaI. \ 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
furnishes a basis for the recording OF
numerous unsuccessful ventures. There
are now l12.O0O more people In business
than there were a decade ago. an in
crease of 10 per cent. but failures have
only increased > per cent in number
during that period and liabilities are
only 20 per cent larger. \ continuing
unfavOrable feature is the small per-
centage of assets to liabilities. 1t - only
46.4 per cent his year. as against AZ
per cent a year ago and 90 per cent in
1899 and 1898.
AS to prices the review says: Wheat
has reached the highest pU.ht since
1898: corn n oats are higher than for
almost n decade and other produce 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 a whole are S per cent lower
than February. 1901, and December,
1899. but are higher h in any year
from 1892 until the third quarter of
1899.
In summarizing the foreign trad the
review declares that there had been a
falling off in the demand for the Amer
lean 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 ship
ments and larger shipments of lin
and provisions. Exports were estimat-
ed at 81. 255. 0OO. 600 or l per cent less tina
the record last year. This calculation
treated Porto Rico and Hawaii as
American territory.
AS to imports the review declares:
imports have gained slightly-they will
nnnronnt Z O.. laast so-S nnn nnn n gain nf