The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1908-12-31
Bradstreet's Review of Bust
ness Year Emphasizes Ra-
pidity of Country's Recov-
cry from Depression.
LATTER PART OF YEAR
SHOWED A RECOVERY
Buying Became More Conf
dent anG Crops Sold at
Good Prices, Swelling the
Collections.

New York. Dec 31.-Bradstreets re-
view of the business year emphasizes
the rapidity with which the country
recovered from the financial depression
of 1907. The industrial outlook for
1909 is declared favorable. although
a boom is not predicted. The great
yield in agriculture was big factor in
the general revival.
Nineteen hundred and eight par
took of most of the phenoment of an
after-panic year. with its full quota
of early weakness. doubt. and uncer-
forces and ultimate results were to-
ward recuperation and repair. This,
at first slow. later fastened to a point
where conservative optimism ruled
general business. Its early months
witnessed a heavy volume of insolven-
cies. the aftermath of the financial
storm of 1907: saw business sharply
reduced in volume. an immense
amount of transportation facilities of
the country unused, public buying abil-
ity greatly reduced, low levels touched
for most securities, and a vast number
of idle operatives in all lines.
Later, particularly in the last half
of the year. marked recovery Of
strength developed, confidence was
borrow, industrial wheels revolved
I'll no.
buying became more confident. larger
crops sold at good prices helped to
swell connections, employment was
more plentiful, wage reductions and
ruinous strikes were largely avoided
labor proved more efficient, and alto
gether the contrast between the early
and late months of the year was strik-
ing.
Agriculture Not Affected.
Explanatory of this. the early dag
nosis of the 1907 trouble needs to be
borne in mind. To all appearances
the cause of the collapse was largely
financial, though perhaps partly polit-
ical, in that hostile legislation and le-
gal proceedings against corporations
were additionally disturbing factors.
Industry at the beginning of the pam
ic was not widely involved. but be-
came unsettled through the dislocation
of financial affairs. Stocks of COM
modities were not large. and fortu-
nately the trouble affected the agricul-
tural interests of the country only in
a remote degree.
Most of the damage was visited
upon, first, the financial community,
and secondly, and later, the manufac-
turing and commercial elements Of the
country. Through it all the great food
producing interests, aided by good do
nestle and foreign demand and ex-
tremely remunerative prices. felt the
effects only indirectly, and here, with
restored confidence in financial lines,
were furnished firm foundations for
the later revival the recuperation, and
the renewed upbuilding so notable in
the second half of the year.
1.-The American farmer, with flatter-
ing profits in 1907, found large and in
sistent demand for his surplus prod
ucts at good prices in 1908. Agricul-
tural values as a whole were the larg-
est ever known.
Strength of Securities Helps.
"Unquestionably the strength mani
tested by securities from the middle of
February onward was an important
element in bringing about the revival
later shown in trade and industry, and
the expression the ticker tells the
story found frequent employment
among that large class of sanguine
people who believed, as it turned out
justly. that the growing strength in
American securities foreshadowed a
considerable amount of recuperation
and repair. This same ease of money.
! too. made it possible for the railroads
to borrow funds at less exorbitant
| rates. thus facilitating improvements
| and repairs, and investors proved more
willing to take municipal and other
able in 1907.
Perhaps the most notable features
| brought out in the statistical exhibits
in 1908 were the slightly increased
yields of most leading crops. which
| commanded higher prices at times OF
heavy marketing than in the preceding
year of shorter yields. Exceptions to
this were found in cotton and hay,
| where lower prices offset enlarged
yields. Cereal prices were aided by
exhaustion of old supplies. European
| war talk. and a strong speculative
| movement. Farm values as a whole
| were the largest ever recorded.
The strength of cereals and food
| products generally was notable and
| brought increased strain on poorly EN-.
ployed or paid labor Cotton was an
exception to the strength of most prod
| ucts, dropping cents from the high
price at the opening of the year
| Strikes were comparatively few. one
| large coSl dispute going far to swell
totals. Immigration fell OF sharply
but later began again to increase
Railway building was small. but. on
the other hand. bankruptcies were