The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1910-01-05

HssscOuro8h1A8 oNu xnc OuIy BCles
Inont OF Doubt Springs From The
Exceedingly High Prices of Food
Stufrs.
The following extracts from the
annual trade review which appeared
In Bradstredts January 1st will be
found extremely interesting.
Nineteen hundred and nine may be
said In many respects to have equal
ed and In some directions surpassed
tho most sanguine expectations en-
tertained at its outset. In fact, il
Will take rank az q remarkable year
In q decade which has seen great
changes and wonderful progress
For one thing. It witnessed progress
20 Of recuperation and repair, ini-
ttatsd In the second half of 1908,
carried to . triumphantly successful
conclusion. Also. while II will prob
ably not be classed q boom year,
It saw many records Of financial and
industrial achievement exceeded. and
at Its close. two years after world
wide financial panic. the progress
made has been 90 great that many Of
the scars made by that convulsion
have been effaced. and the country
seerns to have been placed In
stronger position than 1t ever before
occupied. Great progress is often
made against great obstacles, and
1909 was not free from unsettling
and disturbing Influences. While it's
outset found the business world
cheerful to the point Of optimism,
there were some evidences Of uneasi-
ness as to the reality Of all the i'm
provement shown in the year follow
Ing the 1907 panic. Certainly the
tariff revision. then impending. was
not at the outset regarded as
helpful element. There was, in fact,
good deal Of repression evident
ssriy pecsuse of tariff. crop and;
trade uncertainty. and reduced pub.
lie purchasing power. and later the
remarkable advances Of securities
commodities to hitherto unexampled
heights. furnished ground for con-
servatism, which was no doubt bene-
ficial In preventing excess apparent
ly inseparable from great forward,
steps In American trade, finance and
industry. Withal. however, there
was evidenced an almost inexhaust.
able capacity for looking on the
bright side Of things which made for
fresh triumphs and for virtual
new birth of aggressiveness in push
ing enterprises forward toward sue
cessful futures.
The events Of the year tended to
confirm early impressions that the
great collapse Of 1907 was a purely
financial affair. not involving any
great weakness In the business and
Industrial structure. Whatever may
be said Of the merits of the yar's
tariff revision. there is no denying
that the work was skillful,y done
with a minimum Of unsettlement TO
trade, and with uncertainty as to this
removed In mid-year, the optimism
In the stock markets. the ease OF
money, the preparation for and good
results from abundant harvesrs, the
steady monthly reduction In business
mortality and failure damage, the
expansion in leading Industries, the
boom In that readiest Of all ready
money producing trades-building-
and the preparations made 20 MI the
void In the &C cnsuming markets mace
by two years Of repression In buy
Ing, all combined to cause great
onward surge ia all lines OF trade,
which. despite the steadily inc :e ,srd
cost OF all the enters into hImon
cCnsumpt'Da. resulted in a total trade
turnover which will compare ever
favorably with the best that was wit
messed In previous years Of abundant
prosperity. That great backlog of
all of the country's interest-agri-
culture--prospered as never before,
not so much in the market of guam
tity. becase bumper crops were few,
but In the matter of financial returns,
which. indeed. placed the farmers
of the country in a class by them
selves. 1t Is true that the price adj
vances bore hardly on the
consuming classes. and there was
shown I'm the utterances Of public
men and journals disposition To
question the reality of all the APP