Omaha daily bee., 1912-01-01
CONDITIONS SOUND AT BASE
Suspense Rather Than Actual Retro
gression Marks the Year.
BIG COMPANIES CONTROLLED
Dismemberment of Huge Corpora
tions Unprecedented Spectacle.
NEW VENTURES IN ABEYANCE
Present Needs of Country Sufficient
to Sustain Most Lines ON Fair
Basis Despite Lack of
Initiative.

NEW YORK, Dec. S1.-Relief, rather
than regret, is felt in Wall street at the
passing Of the year 1911. 1t has been a
year of decided unsettlement in both
finance and business. Activity In almost
every line has been repressed Trading
on the stock exchange dwindled. At no
time, however, were there threats of
widespread disaster. The condition was
one OF dun suspense rather than Of actual
retrogression. Business was sound, bat
the Characteristic American vim was
lacking.
The memorable feature Of the year,
from the Wall street viewpoint, was the
) crisis in the struggle for the readjust-
ment of big business" to the require
ments of law.
In the spring the United States supreme
court rendered its epoch-making decisions
in the Standard oil and American To-
bacco caiN5, enunciating the rule of rea-
SON.. The latter part of the year wit
messed the unprecedented spectacle of the
dismemberment of these huge corpora
tions The movement was carried fur
ther by the filing Of the suit for the dis
|. solution of the United States Steel cor
poration and by proceedings against sew
eral smaller combinations which the gov
ernment contended were operating in re-
straint Of trade.
BiE Business Controlled.
In other occurrences there were evil
dences of the tendency toward more rigid
control of large business interests by the
government. Early in the year the In
F, erstate Commerce commission rejected
" be plea of the railroads for a wholesale
tdvance of freight rates, a decision which
aused an unheaval on the stock ex-
hange and led to a feeling of uneasiness
a the part of some railroad managers
Dr. a time. Agitation of political ques-
ons having to do with the affairs of
Srporations was continued. With a pres
Ilential campaign in the coming year
lere appeared to be little prospect that
lie trust question would be allowed 10
, slip into the background.
The effect of this movement was felt
perhaps most keenly in Wall street Large
new business ventures were postponed
until the promoters and bankers should
be able to foresee with some degree Of
certainty what were to be the future
conditions under which business was to
be conducted. The passing needs Of the
lines of trade on a fairly active basis,
but there was little of initiative. In some
lines of business production reached new
high scords, but in almost every case it
was at the expense of profits, as prices
tended toward a lower level. Business
failures increased per cent over 1910.
Business Revival Degins.
In the closing months OF the year there
were signs of a business revival, al
though they were not sufficiently gen.
eral to indicate how far the Improvement
might be expected to extend.
The years crop record showed some
thing of the same irregularlty. Weather
conditions were mixed, and the early
promise of unprecedented cereal crops,
on which Wall street based high hopes,
was not borne out, owing to the drouth.
The cotton crop increased, and according
10 present indications the yield has far
overtopped all previous records.
There was a decrease of per cent in
. the value Of the six cereal crops.
A bright feature Of the year was the
growth of foreign trade Exports in
creased il per cent over the preceding
year, with especially heavy gains in steel
products Imports fell off per cent,
making the balance of trade in this coun-
try's favor correspondingly larger.
The effect of these conditions upon
trading in securities was decided. The
volume Of business on the stock exchange
fell off 20 per cent from that OF 1912.
Money rates were abnormalIy easy. The
year ended with call money at 4 per cent
and with no sign Of the customary year
end furry. This condition was largely
due to the restriction of business and the
consequent lack of demand for funds.