Rock Island Argus., 1907-01-02
After Chances at the Past Year.

After Chances AT the fast ear.
| Bradstreet's review of the business
year has just been completed and is
a reliable and comprehensive page OF
commercial and Industrial facts.
Concisely stated, 1906 saw very ia
vorable crop yields; a record output of
lcereals; close to the highest yields and
record values of other farm products;
Unprecedented activity in all kinds OF
mining except coal; enormous outputs
of precious metals; land speculation
Iassumed enormous proportions, build
ling activity SURPRISING the wonderful
record of 1905; unprecedented totals OF
foreign trade; an unparalleled lmml-
grafton; surprising totals of clearings
and railway earnings; employment ac-
tive and labor scarce as never before;
| record volume of the circulating me-
-money-proving altogether in
adequate for business purposes, and, fl
nally, and what is, perhaps. the most
remarkable development of all, the
reaching, in a time of profound worlds
peace. of a wartime level of prices of
commodities without the slightest ap-
parent effect upon demand, which,
throughout the year, pressed hotly
upon supply and caused from the be-
ginning of the year to its close general
complaints of the background deliver
les of goods. After even a cursory re-
view of the results, indeed, one is i'm
pressed with the inadequacy of adjec-
tives to give full expression to the
wonderful development of the year
now closed.
Prosperity beyond precedent in 1906
and the high standards thereby eStab-
lished makes prediction as 10 1907
peculiarly difficult. 1t may be said,
however, that the outlook for next year
is very favorable Probably never be-
fore was the volume of future business
booked so large From three to nine
months orders ahead are reported by
manufacturers, and wholesalers and
jobbers have been active as never be-
fore on spring business. Perhaps the
heaviest future business done in any
line has been that booked in iron and
steel in all its forms. And what is
true of this generally regarded baro-
meter of trade is also largely the case
in cotton goods of all kinds. In addi-
ton, wooden dress goods, hosiery and
knit fabrics, linens, to a smaller extent
silks, and copper. hardware, rubber |
goods, lumber. farm machinery, and Il |
long list of other products are in ex-
cellent demand. Far from affecting |
future trade, the high level of all |
prices seems to stimulate operations, !
and close analogy to past experiences |
in stock markets is afforded in the act |
i've buying at advancing prices now |
All sections of the con. |
munity seem to be prosperous AMI |
spending more freely than ever before |
Three features with a bearing upon |
the future are labor, prices and money.
Scarcity of the first. thereby favoring
further insistent demands, and the
higher tendency of the second. may
push matters to point where produc-
ton and consumption alike might be
checked.
The strain in money-a Worldwide
perhaps, but one felt here
most, because prosperity has been so
pronounced-seems to have so far only
brought small measure of conserva-
tivism. In the absence of now unfor-
seen happenings, very large, if not
years business seems within
reach, modified as it may be by the eff
fects of the forces above named and
the crop developments of 1907.