The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1913-12-31
~ ,Gnies = O.. 1907 n. MAI. -

Following Is the review of business
and forecast for January, 1914. of the
American National Bank, OF Richmond.
compiled December 10. 1913:
As Indicated in our report at the
close of November. the volume of
business has experienced consid-
cradle shrinkage in almost all basic
lines. This has perhaps been more
definitely noticeable in the heavy
metals lines as iron and steil.
The volume of retail business Is
quite generally up to the same dates OF
last year and considerably above the
Ave or ten year average, even II fig
ured on per capita OF population.
The holiday business has been quite
satisfactory and cash business has
been somewhat larger. People gem
orally are hesitating on the mourning
of obligations for the future except
when absolutely necessary
II Ia expected that the currency
bill will pass the senate today or to-
morrow and that 1t will be signed by
the president before Christmas. While
II is certain that the readiustment of
the entire banking business, as made
n ec eSsary by this m asure, VIII take
some years and cause much confu-
sion. 1t Ia hardly possible to forecast
what the real and ultimate effect OF
the new system will be upon busin ess.
The recession In business which Is
now taking place Is not really large
in its proportions. although II ts al
together likely that It will continue
for "A considerable period. The falling
off Is most marked IN the steel busi-
ness, and la freely commented upon,
J.. largely because Il is easy to get def
mite information on that business. AT
present the steel and iron interests
are holding their own, and, after a
probable shutdown of week or two
| around the holidays, a resumption
of activity Is expected. January ship
ments should be considerably heavier
| than December. and the same may be
| true of bookings. complete return
to average business in this line can
| not be expected for several weeks
although there Is every promise of q
change for the better about February.
| Is Not Serious.
The decline in business should not
be taken too seriously, and Will not
discourage those concerns which are
doing business on a sound basis. The
increasing number of idle men must
shortly affect the retail business,
which has suffered little up to this
time. Should the principal railroads
he allowed to make some freight rate
increases. the new activity In rail-
road buying. which has been in evil
dence for few days, will increase
tremendously This would bring
| about a unemployment Of the idle
labor in railroad and heavy manu-
featuring lines Any considerable in
crease In the number of idle men will
naturally bring about wage reductions.
which, while temporarily beneficial
to certain employers, Is surely not
TO be desired in the interests of the
prosperity of the whole people.
During last month the clearings Of
banks were nearly two billion dollars
less than the previous month. and one
and one-naR billions less than the
corresponding month of 1912. The
decline applied almost equally to New
York city and the country outside
New York.
| Business failures, while not so nu-
merous in November as IN October,
were still greatly in excess Of Novem-
| Der, 1912. Failures number 1904
for the month with total la
| bilities OF twentythree million
dollars compared with 1.14l fall
ures In November. 1912, with llabili-
ties OF fifteen million dollars. The
liabilities OF all failures for the first
eleven months of this year we're near
ly forty per cent greater than for the
same portion of last year, but nine
per cent less than in 1908. Failures
since December first have been nu-
merous. and some large failures have
been recorded. One of the largest
failed concerns, Chicago bond house,
found It necessary to ask for an ex-
tension of time on It's paper, as long az
three years ago. and since that time
has been trying TO weather the storm.
h,,f financial conditions have
made 1t advisable to liquidate the
business. One of the leading indie
pendent cool interests In the Pitts
burg district has had financial diff
I culties. and a receiver has been APP
pointed although II Is claimed that
the actual assets will exceed the liza
hiiities by ten or fifteen million dol
lars.
Railroad Earnings.
| SO FAR as reported the gross earn
lings of the railroads for November
are a shade above the earnings for the
same month last year. Figures on net
earnings for November are not yet
available. 1t liz safe to assume that
when all reports are in. gross earn
lngs will show a fairly good increase
over last year, while net earnings will
be les than last year. This Is the
state OF affairs which has frequently
| been referred 10 IN tneSe reports.
Few people know that practically
every package sent by parcel post as
a Christmas present to a friend must
be hauled by the railroad absolutely
without compensation Of any kind.
The mails are weighed and averaged
for a period of years. The principal
weighings took place shortly before
the parcel post law arrived. and no
arrangement has as yet been made
for compensating the railroads for
hauling the additional tonnage. which
I is tremendous. While there is little
doubt that this matter will shortly be
adjusted, the railroads in the mean
! time are the losers directly, and the
/ hnlAara IL thnir saCiiritiea &hef la q