Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1909-01-06
FINANCIAL PHASE
Of THE OLD YEAR
a GLANCE BACK OVER THE
COMPLETED STORY
OF 1908.
STRIKING ANALOGY AND STRlk.
ING CONTRAST IN AFTER
PANIC YEARS.

history a very curious financial year,
concerning whose true relation, both
to the years which preceded 1T and
and to those that will follow it, no
body can at the moment speak with
assurance The. year has witnessed
substantial recovery; it is not wholly
easy, however, to determine whether
that recovery has or has not been
more rapid than is usual in the
twelvemonth following a panic. There
is, for instance, the familiar test of
iron production Rise in the weekly
output from 232,65 tons, at the open
ing of last January-the low level of
reaction-to 3S1, 102 at the beginning
of the present month, shows how We
regained lost ground last year. But
from the 1885 weekly output which,
on October 1, 1898, marked the nadir
of that trade reaction, production had
got back by the last month of 1894
to 16S,762. That was a much larger
ratio of recovery than this years; yet
1894 is classed in financial history
as a period of slow recovery. At the
cent. of the previous years best re-
cord. But the above-stated weekly
output at the beginning of the pres
ent month is only 70 per cent. of the
52S,170 tons which the. foundries
turned out weekly in July, 1907
Very interesting Parallel.
In all comparisons between the
ba
which Immediately followed the two
great panics prior to 1907, it must
be remembered that volume of trade
had been slowly diminishing for some
considerable time before the panic
of 1898. On the other hand, the panic
of 1878 witnessed sudden plunge of
industry, directly from the pinnacle of
unparalleled activity and high prices
In this respect, 1907 resembles 1873
one might expect, however, to find the
analogy between those two after
panic periods more exact. And, in
fact, there have been many close an.
alogies. To which OF the two years,
1874 or 1907, would the reader sup
pose the following description to ap-
ply?
Having pa sed through the extra
ordinary crisis, there was a general
rebound from the previous depression,
and an expectation of renewed buoy
'ancy in business affairs, which was
not really warranted by the facts of
the case. This general anticipation
of a rapid and wonderful recupera-
ton from the effects of the panic is
not without significance, as it has
formed to a great extent, the stand
ard by which the actual results of
the year have been measured.
The effects of good crops in
the principal articles of agricultural
produce were undoubtedly beneficial.
Rigid economy was prac
ticed alike by ALL from the largest
corporation to the humblest individ
ual.
Railroad earnings showed in most
cases a material falling off as com
pared with previous years, so far as
their gross receipts were concerned,
but a great economy in working eX-
penses. which made net earnings of
d number of prominent lines equal to,
or greater than. tho e of the preced-
ing year Prices of dividend,
paying stocks were well maintained
particularly in the last half of the
year"
This citation, which SO closely de.
scribes the events of 1908, is taken
from the Financial Chronicle of jan
.uary 8, 1876, in its review of the year
just ended. 1t certainly suggests a
bit of reflection, as to whether, after
ALL the history of 1908 has differed so
widely from the history of a normal
after-panic year
Where Precedent Is at Fault
There occur in the same review,
however, one or two passagel5 which
do not at all describe 1908. Money
was relatively quite as easy then as
jim the present year, and surplus bank
reserves as large But we are told,
the stock market was less agitated
by violent fluctuations, than for many
previous years, and as a conse-
.quence. the cour5e of prices was
thus left to be governed by natural
causes, and by the actual values of
the ceveral stocks" Here is con-
trast which may well make the read
er pause; it is possibly a key to the
characteristic events of 1908.
Are we better off at the close of
the year or are we worse off, because
of the wild speculation for the rise
which from January to December, has
yioted on the stock exchange? If
that speculation were to be consid-
cred in itself, all right minded people
would answer Very much worse off.
40 good can come from such whole
sale dissemination of delusion. false
hood, and mistaken judgment of an
indu trial and economic situation, as
has marked every outbreak of the