The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-02-01

shape than 1t has ever been before, and. unless there is an absolute failure m crops in the year 1905, I am or the opinion that the close of the year lSOb will show a high-water' mark in the business of this country"
 PIlImg Up National Wealth.
 The rapid development of our mate" rial resources and the increase In our population are the facts on which MT. Richard Fl. Edmonds, editor of The Baltimore Manufacturers Record, rests his belief in the ultimate material greatness and prosperity of the United states; '.F'
 .Tn 1890 the value of the agricultural products of the United States, In round numbers. was at the rate of &Ssooo, ,00O,- 900 a year, and of our mineral and manufactured products $IO.oo0,00O,0OO' or a total of sl8,000. 100000. Now our farms are yielding over $6,oo0,O0o, ,O0O' and our mines and factories about S1b," O0O, ,O0O, 900, a total of S20.OO0, 100000 year. Thus the output of our farms, mines and mills is annually exceeding by about $7.0O0.0 100000 their output fourteen years ago.
 'Tn the volume of railroad trafflc and in general business activities the same
 
 population, which averages nearly 20 per cent a decade, would in itself count for a very great increase in business development, but the volume of trade and the value of our animal agricuItu- hal and manufactured products stead fly increase more rapidly than popula- tion.
 '"rhe growth of population is In itself somewhat staggering to contemplate. Estimating the total population of the United States at present at sO,O00,0OO, and counting an increase of 26 per cent in the next ten years would give us in 1915 1OO 100000 people. and in 1895 125, ,0OO, 900. Even these figures are probably not so impressive to the aver age mind as to say that the increase Of population every ten years is almost equal to the entire population of the South as the present time. In other words, in number of people and the vol" ume of business created thereby, we are adding an entire South to the united States every ten years.
 with a population of SO,O00, 900 in the census year 1s70-S0. the total out put of bItuminous coal was 42,00O,00O tons, or about four-irths of ton per capita, and at present our bituminous coal output Is 25O,000,00 tons, or over three tons per capita. Even should the accelerating rate of growth not con- tinue quite so great, it Is reasonable to expect that they 1915 our output of bituminous coal will aggregate 4bO,O0O,- 900 to 800. 900, 900 tons R year.
 we have almost doubled the pig iron production of the country in every decade for the last half century. It might seem rash to forecast the possi- biIIty of the 100000 or 1S.000,000 tons which We are now making being increased by 1915 to 35. .000,0O or 36,- O00,0 ,0OO tons. and yet this seems not more unreasonable than 1t would have been in 1894 to predict that the s.657.- l GOO tons of that year wosld b inereaesd to lS,O00, 900 tons in 1903"
 Mir. F. D. Bright. president and gem eraI manager of the Railway World" does not believe that there has been any serious interruption of the period of prosperity which began in 1898:
 Occasionally instances have been encountered during the past two years where individual industries were tenn porarily and locally depressed. tn par ticular the iron and steel industry. The railroads have also suffered some reduc- tion in earnings and traffic, although the falling in net earnings has been slight, due almost wholly to higher prices for material and higher wages of labor. While some obstacles were experienced in almost every line of trade and industry, the country at large has never been seriously depEess- ed. The revival in the iron and steel industry furnishes the best indication of a continuance of general prosperity.
 Railway earnings are becoming more satisfactory and railway mana gers are optimistic over the outlook. The financial situation is entirely sound, as is evidenced by the small number of bankruptcies in spite of the stock market disturbances of the last two years Securities are firmly held, an dthe advancing tendency is visible. Factors of special interest are the strong tone of the bond market, large crops. firmly maintained prices, more friendly relations between employers and employees. and general confidence in the Roosevelt administration.
 "Th financial, commercial and indus trial situations are, in my judgment en- tlrely favorable, and see no reason to apprehend any serious check in the prosperity of the United States for some years to come. While this optimistic outlook is Justified by a sur vey of the probable operation of pre- sent tendencies, it is not to be forgot ten that adverse influences are always at work, with more or less strength and in consequence with varying effect upon general conditions. Of these ad- verse influences, the most important is the uncertainty over tariff revision and the probable attitude of Congress toward legislation affecting the railj- roads.
 RailFOad Omeers Optlmnstic.
 Tn answer to our question. will prosperity continue2 Mir Ray Morris, the managing editor of the Railroad Gazette Eaia:
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