The morning journal-courier., 1907-12-31
MUCH FINANCIAL
 HISTORY MADE Review of 1907 Shows Year Closes With Conditions Stronger Than When
 it Opened.
TRANSACTIONS FALL OFF
Signs of the Exhaustion of Capital Are Emphasized by Com- parison of Colossal
 Figures.


 New York, Dec. 8o.-The year 1907 has been one in which there has been much making of financial history. It will go dow'l with 1857 1873 and 1893 as one of the panic years in American finance, but despite the remarkable strain to which the financial structure has been sub1e'ted, the year closes ithiconditions stronger and safer than they were when the year began
 Opening of Year.
 The year opened with the feeling in conservative quarters that speculation had already been carried to an unwar- ranted height and that prudence was imposed by conditions upon bankers and capitalists. That this feeling oper- .ated to some extent through the year. and that there was scarcity of capi- tai for absorbing new securities, was indicated by the diminished transac- tiens in stocks aud bonds on the New York Stock exchange. While the num- Der of shares of stock dealt in Up to Christmas of 1907 did not fall below that of normal years prior to 1905 it was very much less than for that year and for 1906
 Decline in Shares Dealt In.
 The banner year rrior to 1906 was 1901, when the number of shares dealt in was 265,577 354 There was a decline to 16o,74S,S6S shares in the depression of 1903, and aYrecovery to 268, ,040, ,993 in 1905 and 2SS, S,424 ,2S4 in 1906. The num- Der of shares dealt in in 1907 fell to 195,196,192. The field of bonds in 1901 showed sales amounting to $999, ,4O4, 92O, which fell in 1908 to S6S4, 200, $50 The maximum was attained in 1904, when. sales were $l,03O, S1O, 560, but was not greatly reduced in 1905, when sales stood at S1,01S59O,4 42O Signs of the ex- haustion of capital were already ar forded in 1906 by the decline of such sales to s670,Sl7.3Ss, and finally to $5s1, 651, 800 h 1907.
 Source of Pressure on Market,
 The source of the pressure upon the money market is indicated by the large Issue of securities which took place during several years prior to the crisis. The statistics compiled by leading financial journal in Brussels showed that the total issues throughout the world averaged for the five years end ling with 1906, about sS,40O,0OO, 900 an- nually. A considerable proportion or these issues in 1902 and 1903 were re- | funding operations, but in the next three years-1904 1905 1906 total issues were about S11,599, ,o0O0O0, of which $2,- 678, 000000 for conversions, or refunding operations, and $S,921, ,OOO, ,OOO represent | ed near demands for capital. In the | United States issues of stock for the first eleven months of 1907 were s757- 359,500 and for bonds and notes S1079,- 990, o00-nlaking up a total of $1,S31 ,349,- 300 In the United Kingdom the capi- tai of joint stock companies in actual operation increased from ST ,S96 5S4, 402 on March S1, 1900, to $951O,7S1, ,667 for the corresponding date of 1905. Securl- ties cf all kinds issued in the United l Kingdom for five years ending with 1904 have been estimated by experts at $S,454, ,97s,O0O, and for ten years ending with 1904 at $6852, 557 000
 Extent of Strain Revealed.
 The extent to which capital re- sources had been strained was not re- vealed in a striking manner to the general public until "The Silent Pan l ic" of March 14-now almost over shadowed by later events, but at the time one of the most serious and re- markable breaks which the market has ever suffered, occurred. The loss of g points in Amal lgamated Copper in a single day, 21 points in American Smelling, 22 in Reading and 25 in Union Pacific, added to considerable previous declines at a slower rate, wiped out margins, compelled the call ing of loans and wrecked the fortunes of many speculators. The market re- covered only slowly during the spring and early summer, to suffer new re- actions in August; but 1t was not un- til mid October that the storm broke in all it's force with the collaspe of the corner in United Copper the ap- peal of the Morse -Ieinse banks to the clearing house for help and the re- fusal to extent such help until the old control was eliminated.
 Events Moved Fast.
 Events moved fast on the heels of these revelations The Knickerbocker Trust company was closed October 22, after paying out about $8,000.o00 in cash; and runs began upon the Trust Company of America, which called for disbursement of $34, 100000, and upon the Lincoln Trust company, which suffered nearly proportionate loss ot deposits. The suspension of cash pay ments by practically all the banks and the decision on Saturday, October 26 to issue clearing house certificates on the following Monday, marked the cuminating stages of the crisis. Sec retary Cortelyou hurried to New York and deposited about $3O,OOO,O00 oi public money in the national banks of the city. Foreign exchange, whict had been adverse, fell to the gold i'm. port point and by November 10 en. agreements of gold for import haC reached $5O,O0O.000, and before the close of December about $160, ,000, GOO
 ESTATE WORTH s7,5o1
 The late Harriet Van Steenbergh, O Orange, left an estate of $7.591.50, ac