The Irish standard., 1909-02-06
FIGURES GIVEN, With THEIR FULL S|GN|F|CAAc
For the Seventh Time Since the Deed of Advancement A.
of 1887 the Number of Business Failures Has
Exceeded Ten Thousand.

1t hardly needed tho convincing sta
t,stics just published by the British
Board Of Trade to demonstrate that
tho industrial crisis through whic!,
this country is passing has earned To-"
1908 the name Of "the year OF the great
slump" says a London dispatch to the
New York Sun, of Jan. 20.
The official figures furnish a. record
oc twelve months of almost unrelieved
commercial depressi on. British i'm
ports in 1908 amounted to $2,966,7G3,-
615, a decrease of mo-e than $268,000.-
0C0, as compared witt: 1907, and :fc
exports were $1,ss6C:6.s95, a los, nf
over $244.000.000, the leaviest decline
ever recorded in any inc year Of Brit
ish trade.
The full signihcan ,e Of these figures
can be better under.',ood when the
sl.rinkages in British imports and ex-
ports Of manufactured articles during
1908 are nbtedss. win unemployment
increasing in every branch Of trade.
British manufactured goods sold
abroad dropped to ths extent Of NEAR
ly $225,O00,OOO. while foreign made
goods purchased suffered a decline Of
about $59,OOO.O 900. AZ the same time
the United Kingdom fought $1S9.oo0.
OCO less raw material, which should
20 to feed British factories and work.
shops.
These figures to all but the most
hardened Cobdenitcs should prove that
other nations are capturing the Brit
ish skilled industries ara arc elbowjng
tfis country out Of he best business
in tho worlds markets. Cotton goods,
machinery. iron and steel manNfac-
lures, woo1en goods. elk. linen and
lutte all tell the Same tale, and the
subsidiary industries Fave suffered in
proportion.
All parties are at TIE tir Wits end to
explain this enormous decline in Rrit-
ish commerce. The government or
gnns, like the Westminster Gaze tie,
arc at great pains to point out that
1907 was year Of exceptional COM
n,ercjal activity and that the past
years shrinkage Is due to the inevit-
able reaction.
The prosperity Of 1907 accentuatss
tic present misery cf tte out Of works
for it created a fictitious demand for
labor which has enormously swollen
tile ranks OF the unemployed. For
some of the econom!c disasters Of tha
last year the leaders Of organized Ia
bor in England have only themselves
to blame. The shipping strike and the
strike in the cotton trade plainly SHOW
that the trade unions are more and
n.ore dominated by socialism.
The unrest in India, too, had a very
depressing influence in many quarters,
while the financial crisis in the Init
ed States. besides affecting British ex-
ports. threw the English money mar
ket out Of gear, which was bound to
react through the whole industrial fab-
ric. The immediate outlook is far
from hopeful.
Other annual statistics reflect the
commercial depression in the number
Of business failures registered in 1908.
For the seventh time since the deed Of
arrangement act in 1887, their num.
ber has exceeded 10000.
There have been 1 '36 bankruptcies
and $500 arrangements with creditors;
925 failures occurred in the financial,
wholesale and manufacturing branch
ec Of the trade, 633 amorg the protcs-
sional classes and s,63s in the various
retail trades and working classes,
while 2,27s. public companies. were
wound up, mostly voluntarily, the ma
jority being comm :rcial concerns
which were naturally most affect ID by
the unsatisfactory stare Of trade.
From the statements submitted to
their shareholders ~ most Of the
great English banking; houses y Il