The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-07-16
BUSINESS HANGS ON CROP OUTLOOK Cotton Was Never in Better
 Shape GOOD FOR RAILROADS Whole Country Will Soon Feel I'm patus of the Bright Prospects in All Parts of the
 Country
 
By PRESTON c ADAMS

factories and poverty and discontent. That's the formula and will be for many years.
 I Just now the crop outlook is good on the whole. Cotton, the greatest of our money crops, was never in better shape. A largely increased acreage, condition qs the crops away above the average, the experts look for crop of not less than l 14,000OOO and the best of it is that by reason of the short crops Of the past few years the world wants every bale oft and is willing to pay good price for it. IL is likely that this years crop will bring to the cotton states more than. a billion dollars.
 | The grain crops also are in good shape. and the other crops are in satisfactory condition.
 It is probable that the total of $9 GOO, 101, = l 000 estimated as the value of American crops by Commissioner Williams last year, will be beaten this year.
 1 This means busy railroads with in creased earnings steady demand for all 1 classes of manufactures, active, prosper ous merchants and a happy working coun- | try
 Already we are beginning to feel the | impetus.
 l The industrial outlook, based upon statements made by the leading manufac- turers, Is brighter at the moment than l 1t has been at any time since January. Producers are now confident that unless there is a material deterioration in the country's crops, the last six months of the year will be a period of progress, and that output as well as earnings will in- crease. This in turn means, of course, a resumption of idle mills and factories and more employment for labor.
 | There was a spurt of activity in the first quarter of the year, but it was not | lasting. The steel mills of the country | in March at one time were operating on an average of 90 per cent of capacity. Then new business began to fall off, with the result that operations dropped to about 55 per cent of capacity
 | Within the last month the United States Steel Corporation has increased it's opera
 tions to 6S per cent of capacity. Including the independent companies, the average operations of the steel mills of the coun- try must be close to 70 per cent at pres
 ent. So far the improvement has been due largely to orders for immediate de- livery. There has been~ an absence of | contracts calling for delivery in the fu-
 ture. This class of buying, however, Is expected to develop before the close of the |
 books for orders for delivery in 1912.
 The railroads have not placed large or ders for equipment as yet the companies producing locomotives and cars reporting | operations of about B per cent of capac- l ity. The belief Is general, however, that | when crops are assured there will be more liberal buying of equipment With 1 few surplus cars for this time of the year and indications that crops will be large, the railroads, according to manu- | lecturers, will not hesitate to buy equip ment If it is needed. The Erie Railroad, for example, has signfied its intention of l spending s6,000,000 for equipment, which will include 4000 cars.
 l One disturbing feature that has been eliminated is the large surplus copper stocks which have been carried for the
 past year or more. This surplus has shown a heavy shrinkage within the past
 six weeks. And so 1t goes all along the | line.
 l Collector Loeb has given cut a statemen.
 of imports and exports al the port Of
 New York for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1911. The figures show a decrease of | s4S, ,232, ,75O in the imports of merchandise, l compared with last year, and an increase of $121, ,6o3, ,046 in the exports. Gold and silver imports were approximately S19,000- loco larger compared with 19o9-10. while the exports of the precious metal declined about $69,000,000.
 The miscellaneous receipts, which in- tclude fines, head tax, tonnage tax, etc., 1amounted to s6,566.249, being $970,S04 great.
 CT than 'She receipts of the previous year. Duties collected on merchandise totalled | S2O4, SOP 7g9 compared wfeh $21S.669,S17 for I the fiscal year ending June 80, 1910. With ldrawals from bonded warehouses were
 about $1O,0OO,0o0 less than the previous year.
 The national banks of the United States did we'll during the three months between March and June. It is true that their loans expanded $52, 600, but indi-
 vidual deposits rose more than s175,O0O,0oc, while specie increased upwards of s2o,00O,- lOO0 legal tenders $13,OO0.00O and surplus and profit fully $l5,0000O0, or as much as the addition to the loan account. The latest statistics also compare very favor ably with those of June 30 year ago. An addition of $1SO.O0OOoO to loans and dis counts has been accompanied by gain
 of nearly $11T,OO0,000 in specie, while in- dividual deposits are $19l,OO0O GOO greater. pr
 course decrease rather than increase in loans would have excited more optimistic lcomment from those who go to the roots of things inasmuch as business was very luuet dufing the three months preceding Hume :. Not taking the returns as whose they are quite satisfactory.
 Tn the first six months of the current year 123 American mining companies paid out $41. .2S0.31S in dividends, which com pares. with 12 companies which paid $Si- 2lS, 1O2 during the, same period in 1911 and lS6 companies and BPS, 443,139 In 1909. These lf1gures are compiled by. the Mining an't Engineering World, and while they do
 not fully represent the returns made by all companies. yet the companies report ling are sufficient in number to give . fairly good representation of the profits realized as a sane-and-safe method of loperpting mines and works
 | In view of the fact that there are hum dreds of mines being worked at a profit sufficient to pay dividends but from which no reports are obtainabe, the half year just completed will stand out as I probably the most profitable in point ot dividends paid in the history of the iss- dustry. tSSs
 Adding the $7,722,524 dishursed by eight securities-holdipg corporat!cns,Rn amount T derived from. the holding of %hares Of other corporations, makes total of $49, l002, ,s42, which has gone into the hands of holders of stocks of American mines and works during the half year just ended.
 Almost $1,250.0 1000 new securities have