Evening journal., 1913-01-04
BANK SEES
ACTIVITY In
BUSINESS
present Conditions Highly
Satisfactory Says Ma
tiOnal Bank Of Delaware
244 MILLIONS In
DIVIDENDS AND INTEREST

That tho year Of 1913 will witness
great business activity is the prophecy
made in the general letter on trade
conditions and business forecast of
the National Bank Of Delaware Tor
January, which has just been issued
The letter in part says
"A careful comparison Of the Dusi-
ness situation at the beginning Of the
new year 1913 with the beginning of
any previous year. say five. ten or
twenty years ago, will show that, all
things considered. present conditions
are highly satisfactory.
"A considerable reduction in che
cost Of foodstuns together with some
very material wage increases has inn
proved the condition Of the people
generally and increased business ac-
tiyity has made it possible for some
of the large interests to again make
wage advances. A wage increase is
just reported by the United States
Steel Corporation, affecting more than
%. 900 employees. Some hundreds OF
thousands OF employees have enjoyed
increases I'm wages during the year
1912 and the cost of living today Is
lower than year ago Average CONF
modify prices are higher but the aver
age price of those things consumed
by the individual, such as foodstufs, is
nOticeably lower The tremendous
crops produced this year have made
this possible.
"The olearings of banks for the
month OF November totaled 10 IL bil-
lion dollars compared with IA billions
for the same month of the previous
year. Clearings exclusive of New
York. We're more than 6 l-2 billions
compared with billions for the same
month of 1911 Bank clearings for
the country as whole and for the
country exclusive of New York City
were larger than those of any prev
ious November. Clearings for the
first three weeks in December were
per cent higher than for the same
period a year ago and 6 per cent
higher than for the same period IN
1910
"The number Of business failures
in November was 1,l75 with total lia
biiities of over 10 IL million dollars
while in November 1871 there were
only 1105 failures with Liabilities OF
10 Ia million dollars. Only p of
the November failures this year show
ed liabilities OF more than 100000,
while in November 1911, 20 concerns
failed for more than $4,000 The
number of failures among smaller
manufacturers showed considerable
increase over previous years. The
number of small failures during the
month was the largest of any month
in recent years. Failures increased
among clothing and millinery manu-
facturers and with machinery and tool
people. while the failures Of milling
and banking companies doubled.
Grocery and meat failures were fewer
and general store failures greater.
Our expores for the month of No
vember totaled 27S million dollars
compared with 202 millions in No
vember 1911 and 207 millions in the
same month of 1910. Our imports
totaled 153 million dollars for No
yember compared with 126 millions in
November 1911 and 100 millions in
the same month of 1910. The balance
of trade in our favor for the month OF
November totaled 124 3-4 million dol
lars which is by far the largest favor
able trade balance ever recorded by
this country for any month. The
omnth of November 1912 set a new
record for exports, for imports and
for favorable Balance of Trade, maxi
ing Europe our debtor for merchan-
disc shipments for the month to the
amount Of almost 125 million dollars
The peryious high mark was favor
able trade balance of 121 million dol
lars in January, 1908.
For the month of November, build
ing operations in principal cities
totaled nearly 6S million dollars COM
pared with Ga million dollars FOR the
same month last year
"The total gross earnings OF all rail-
roads for the month of October were
nearly 294 million dollars, a gain Of
80 millions, or IA per cent, over the
earnings for the same month of last
year Net earnings for the same
roads were 10S million dollars, a gain
of Is millions or 16 per cent over the
same month of the previous year. The
figures given for both gross and net
are record figures for the month of
November Never before has so large
"A gam III kItcn hNtu Aidut ONci a
corresponding month and only once,
i'm October, 1909, has 50 large a gain
in net been recorded.
"The total of all rail orders placed
for this year will reach 5 million
tons, or within about per cent of
the capacity OF the mills. These fig
ures include orders for 1913 delivery.
and rails actually rolled this year will
be less than 4 million tons, but Will
not be far short of our record produc-
ton. Mills are booked up TO next
fall and the production for 1913 will
exceed all previous records
"The total number of freight cars
ordered during the last half of 1912
will be from 140 TO 150 thousand cars.
The normal annual capacity of the
factories is about 175 thousand cars.
lt takes l45 thousand cars per year
10 replace those Worn out and discard
ed. From these figures it is reason
able TO assume that the output of
cars during 1913 will set a new record
Dividends and interest disburse-
menls for January will total 244 mill
lion dollars. This will be the record
total for the month of January. which
marks The year-cnd distribution. The
gain in dividends over the last year
end payments Mill be over 8 million
dollars, and interest payments over .
million dollars
Present conditions would indicate
that the coming year VIII witness
great business activity Allow the
bank through its officers and directors