Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1911-01-01
BRADSTREETS REVIEW or The
BUSINESS YEAR, WITH
FORECAST


| Nineteen hundred and ten was. on
| the whole, disturbed and rather
disappointing period in American trade,
| finance and industry. 1t was year OF
| tico-economc problems. of declines III
quotations of securities, Of initiation and,
later, of unsettlement and finally of
weakness in many commodity prices, of
! industrial unrest and curtailment, of
repression in consumptivc demand, of
numerous strikes, of political overturn
approaching the proportions of land
slide. and Of changes in long estab
lished channels of domestic and foreign
trade. Witl,al, and in spite of many
drawbacks. but probably because of
the momentum acquired in the previous
year of tremendous activity, of upbuld-
ing and of recuperation, it was a period
of immense agricultural effort, crowned
with notable success, in some instances,
as regards quantity. and of record out
puts in many lines OF manufacture. 1t
witnessed the floating of large new is
sues of securities. while at the same
,i:.::> it saw a volume Of financial llqul-
dation which in other years might have
caused convulsion. 1t witnessed vast
iexpansion of banking transactions. rec
ord totals of loans and deposits and
lclose to record bank clearings, and yet
fewer failures than in either Of the two
preceding years, although the volume OF
failure damage was above the normal,
being exceeded only in years OF vital
stress.
In assigning causes for the disturbed
conditions which pervaded the body
polite and economic throughout the
year, first place will probably have to be
accorded to prevailing high levels of all
prices, whether of securities or of COM
! moditics. The first invited attack be-
cause Of extravagant manipulation be-
fore the year began. while the height
TO which commodity prices rose i'll the
opening months of the year constituted
a burden which gave rise to bitter agi
tation and resulted ultimately in far
reaching effects. primarily upon con-
sumption. thence upon output and final
! " upon profits In the latter respcc;
there will probably be little dissent from
the statement that an immense business
was done at a small. in some instances
disappearing. margin. OF this the gen
orally conceded small net results report
ed obtained by business men and by
manufacturers and the lessened net
earnings announced by the railways are
striking present examples.
| Declining prices of securities, high
prices of food, meat boycot,s, demands
for higher wages by railway and indus
trial employees, talk of corporation prose
cutons. this in tur, unsettling conf
! dence and preventing the floating of
new security issues for improvements.
all made the earlier months Of the year
a vcri,able winter of discomfort" FIX,
ccssively large expenditures for food
naturally lcsscncd margins OF earnings
available for purchases of other neces-
sites and increased the pressure upon
public officials to embark upon prescott
ton, to which the term frustrating be-
came applies Spring brought some re-
lief in the matter Of lowered prices, but
weather and crop uncertainties and
manufacturing cur,ailments forced by
| high raw material costs, caused conserv-
atism III business. Continued govern
mcntal activity against certain corpora
tions and threats of injunction suits
against the railways, which were seek
| ing to rcco,,p themselves for increased
costs ri operations. due to granting OF
higher wages. by increasing rates, found
the stock markc, vulnerable. while low
| crop conditions at the turn of the year
| favored bcarisl, movements and induced
| iiqudatcn. With larger agricultural
yields more certain OF attainment in the
! late summer and early autumn. d more
| riccrt,, outlook prevailed. but the po-
! ,itical overturn in the fall. with the
| respects of d reopcnng of the tariff
urcs,ion, made for slightly less Opt
mistc views. Repression and conser-
| vatism and small and frequent. rather
| than large or confident. buvinp kept
trade and industry, within rather mar
row channels. considering the country's
vastly enlarged producing capacity. and
apparently good holiday trade did not
DISGUISE the fact that the advant of an
| early winter lad reduced outdoor ac'
tiv,ics and 1e-."ncd demand. while in.
| dustrial idlcncSs was greater than for
some years past.
| Large Outputs Despite Short Time in
Industry.
Industry was irregularly active, pc
| RODS of record production alternating
with curtailnent and short time, sucl,
a, have not been witnessed since 1903
o4. The excess of pig-ron production,
resulting in record output as whole,
was largely in the earlier months Of the
year, while the summer and fall showed
many furnaces banked. decreases in Or
dcrs on hand, and mill operations scaled
down onc-third to one-half. Production
of pig-iron is ~ per cent larger than
the record total of 1909, and iron-orc
shipments are ~ per cent larger. An
thracite coal shipments run IA per
cent better than 1909. but are 80 per
cent below the 1907 record Lake COM
nerce shows a ~ per cent gain i'll ton
mage but competition has greatly re-
luced profits here as elsewhere. High
prices of raw material and inability to
get costs back out of raw cotton caused
mill curtailment. i'll the spring and sum-
mer. of 80 to ~ per cent. but more
abundant Supplies in the fall helped re-
sumption to practically full time. north
and south. Later. talk OF renewed cur
tailment was heard Much WOODEN and