The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-01-02

| vuision have been effaced, and the
country seems to have been placed
In stronger position than I,
ever before occupied. Great progress
is often made against great oh
stacles. and 1909 was not free from
unsettling and disturbing influences.
| While Its outset found the business
world cheerful to the point of opti-
| mlsm. there were some evidences of
uneasiness as to the reality OF all the
Improvement shown In the year follow
Ing the 1907 panic. Certainly the
tariff revision then impending, was
not at the outset regarded as a help
tul element. There was in fact, a
sood deal OF repression evident early
because of tariff, crop and trade nm
certainty, and reduced public purchas.
Ing power, and later the remarkable
advances OF securities and commodities
10 hitherto unexampled heights. fur
nished ground for conservatism, which
was no doubt beneficial in preventing
excuses apparently inseparable from
great forward steps in American trade
finance and industry.
Wlthai, however, there was evil
denced an almost inexhaustible ca
paclty for looking on the bright side
Of things Which made for fresh
triumphs and for virtual new berth
Of aggressiveness In pushing enter
prises forward toward successful
futures
The events OF the year tended to
confirm earlier 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 he
said OF the merits of the years tariff
revision, there is no denying that the
work was done with minimum of
unsettlement to trade. and with nm
certainty as to this removed in mid
year the optimism in the stock mar
kets. the ease OF money, the prepara-
tons for and good results from
abundant harvests, the steady monthly
reduction in business mortality and
failure damage, the expansion in lead
Ing Industries, the boom In that
readtest of all ready-money producing
trade--building- the preparations
made to I'LL the void in the consuming
markets made by two years OF re-
preston In buying. all combined to
cause a great onward surge in all
lines of trade, which, despite the stead
lly increased cost of all that enters
INTO human consumption, resulted In
total trade turnover which will COM
pare very fayorably with the best
that was witnessed in previous years
OF abundant prosperity.
That great backlog OF all of the
country's interests--ag observation-disclosures
pered as never before. not so much in
me matter OF quantity, because bum
per crops We're few, but In the mat
Ter OF financial returns. which, indeed,
paced the farmers OF the country in
: CLASS by themselves. 1t is true that
me price advances bore hardly on the
consuming classes. and there was
SHOWN IN the utterances OF public men
and journals disposition to question |
the reality of all the apparent dement's |
that flowed from high prices,
Some Results of the Year In Trade.
the crops of tho year. taken as |
whole, We're abundant, though few OF
them broke the best records OF the
past. Yields of foodstuffs were large.
wheat and corn showing next to record
and yields OF oats. rice.
sugar. potatoes and tobacco broke all
records. while cotton and hay fell Off
from the high-level yields OF the
preceding year. The high prices rul-
ng, however. placed the aggregate re-
turns to the farmer at points never
before reached, While ease OF money
no doubt helped toward encouraging
speculation in commodities, the high
records OF prices at time OF heaviest
showed demand waiting
closely on supply, If indeed not ac-
.ually surprising IT, and this, too. in
) year when, owing to high prices OF