The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1910-01-01

Continued from page one.
stock markets. the ease OF money, tn
/ preparations for and good results fror
abundant harvests, the steady month";
reduction in business mortality AM
failure damage, the expansion in lead
ing industries. the boom in that readi
est OF all read-money producing trade
-ouilding-and the preparations mad
to fll the void In the consuming mar
kets made by two years OF repression
IN buying, all combined to cause
great onward surge in all lines o
trade. which, desuite the steadily in
reased cost of all that enters into h,l.
man consumption, resulted in a tota
trade turnover which will compar,
very favorablly with the best thai
was witnessed In previous years Of
abundant prosperity. That great back.
log OF all Of the country's interests
asriculture-prospered as never before
not so much in the matter of quantity
because bumper crops were few. but in
the matter OF financial returns, which
indeed, placed the farmers of the coun-
try In a class by themselves. 1t is
true that the price advances bore hard
ly on the consuming classes. and there
was shown in the utterances Of public
men and journals disposition to cues
ton the reality OF all apparent benefits
that flow frmo high prices.
Some Results Of the Year.
The crops Of the year. taken as a
whole, were abundant, though few of
them broke the best records Of the
past. Yields Of foodstuffs wers large
and wheat and corn showing next-
to-record production, and yields of
oats, rice, sugar, potaotoes and tobac-
co broke al records, while cotton and
nay fell of from the high level Yields
OF the preceding year. The high
prices ruling, however, placed the ag
greagate returns to the farmer at
points never before reached. While ease
ubtof money no doubt helped toward
encouraging speculation in commod-
tiles, the high records of prices at time
or heaviest movement showed demand
waiting closely on supply, IL indeed
not actually SURPRISING ii, and this
TOO In a year when, owing to high
prices OF our foodstuffs, foreign de-
mand was consp1cuously small and ex-
ports fell below those of the three
preceding years. Large imports pre-
vious to tariff revision were partly, no
1oubt, due to the desire to anticipate
his legislation, but the record-b break
ng arrivals Of foreign goods, not all
u themraw materials for manufac-
ture, in the late fall, swelling the
,ountry's import trade to unprece-
tented totals, indicated an expansion
II consumptive demand surprising all |
In the leading indus
ries the story was one of large. in
ONE cases record, expansion. IRON
re and copper production broke all |
ecords, while that OF pig iron equal
d the best, and building expenditures
howed a phenomenal gain over 1908
ven surprising 1906. Business fall
res decreased 1871 per cent. from 1908,
hough exceeding 1907 by Is per cent.
Ind liabilities were less than half /
I those OF 1908 and about 40 per cent
those OF 1907, while II per cent in
xcess OF 1905. Bank clearings testi-
ed to the expansion in all lines in a
ain of rs per cent over 1908 and Ii
er cent over. 1907, and even exceeded
ne record year 1905 by over s per
emit. The tide Of immigration, which
lrned in 1908, flowed strongly toward
his country.
Mention has already been made of
10 uprush Of prices OF commodities,
ut this record would be Incomplete