The French Broad hustler. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1896-1912, 1907-06-20
and TRADE CONDITIONS
The Country is Doing Very Well
Thank You.
a Survey of the Situation in the Jni-
ted States DiscIoses No Cause
For Discouragement.

h
New York City.-With the issue of
the June Government estimates on
the wheat crop the worst is known
concerning the effects of the back
ward season upon agricultural pros
poets.
Like the similar report issued a
week before on the growing cotton it
was not SO bad asthe public had been
led to expect, and the speculative
markets for the staple and the cereal
declined. The recent phenomenal
advance in both may be regarded as
sufficient to discount" the worst
conditions, and a period of warm
weather now would substantially i'm
prove the outlook.
The Government estimate on wheat
acreage and condition ON June 1 indi-
Gates a production of 625, 200, 900
bushels, a yield which had never been
reached until ten years ago, and
which falls only about 5000 900
bushels short of the ten years aver
age. Considering the large amount
carried over from last years crop we
should have a very comfortable sur
plus for export in the event of a Eu-
ropean shortage creating a sharp de-
mand.
In recent years, however, we have
raised comparatively little more
wheat than was needed for home con-
sumption, and with no future i'm
provement in conditions the yield in
dicated by the June report will more
than suffice for that. Our annual
wheat crop in value ranks below hay
and cotton and is only half that of
corn.
Trade, like the crops, has been
chilled and held back by the unsea-
sonably cold spring, but it neverthe-
less seems healthful and ready to ex-
pand in response to the arrival of a
little genial warmth, and meanwhile
there seems to be no check in indus
trial activity. The usual criteria of
railway earnings, bank clearings and
commercial statistics are favorable.
Many railways report largely in
creased traffic receipts.
Bank exchanges outside of New
York-where they are reduced by
the dullness in Wall Street - are
larger and commercial failures for
the month of May were smaller in
number and in the amount of liabiIi-
ties as compared with the correspond
ing period of last year.
The comparative s~tringency of
money, which had a retarding effect
on trade, has had a good effect in
checking -Venturesome speculative en-
terprise in many directions. Credit
for all legitimate demands is in good
supply, and discount rates have not
been affected by the outflow of some
ten millions gold to Europe.
This ef1ux, in fact, is mainly due
to-~the comparative ease of money
here as compared with the rates pre-
vailing abroad, in consequence of
which bankers have been unwilling
to draw bills against foreign bal
ances, and therefore the specie was
RENTED. The reserves of the city
banks are low, but If seasonable pre-
cedent holds there should be an in
1ux of five to ten millions from the
interior to this centre during the next
two weeks.
While the protracted and world
wide depression in the markets for
securities has been caused to some
extent by the higher rates for money,
the main cause appears to have been
fear of legislation adverse to vested
interests. When investors are afraid
to buy securities selling far below
their value as measured by the return
for money in the worlds markets
speculative spirit is paralyzed. This
cloud now seems to be lifting
A survey of the situation in the
| United States discloses no cause for
encouragement. If the dispensers Of
weather will only now give us two or
| three months of a sunshine 1T
will stimulate everything. Condi-
tions are sound, and while there is
| still a chill in the air, the country Is
| doing very well, thank you.