The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1914-01-05
Extracts From Bradstreet's Review
of the Business Year With Forecast

Nineteen hundred and thirteen was
a year OF disquiet n disappointment
alike in foreign and domestic finance,
trade n industry. The disquiet was
wide. though until the latter
part OF this year not so much in evil
dence at home as abroad. ,Disappoint-
ment was keen with those who, with
knowledge of the many politico-eco-
nomic problems pressing for solution,
were hopeful that the exceptionally
strong position of this country's pro-
ductng and consuming interests would
render us partially Independent of, if
not entirely immune to, the play Of
the large financial forces dominating
the world in the year just closed and
making for depression in finance and
trade. Review Of last years events
would prove incomplete if sight were
lost or the many r~egemblances it bore
to 1902 and 1903, just ten years ago,
when the so-called rich mans" or
silent panic occurred. Then con-
gestion in the securities markets was
in evidence, the phrase financial in
digestion was coined, the results of
much injudicious capitalization Of in
dustries were manifest-first in col
lapsing stock market prices and later
In depressed trade and Industrial con-
dltlons-numerous strikes and bank
suspensions occurred, and all the US
ual aftermath was presented of an
exleIldI d. or credit situation
being readjusted.
1t has been frequently and with JUS
tice said that the Balkan wal and it's
attendant evils did not cause, but
rather precipitated and revealed the
worldwide financial strain Of 1913. It
must with equal justice be held that
most observers failed to adequately
measure and forecast the effects, di-
rect n indirect, of the war which,
| az a rfi ~ q IN npfNhAu 1910 I~A~11NAI Al
Balkans and European Turkey in
blood, converted eastern Europe into
an armed amp caused boarding Of
gold in Austria, France and Germany,
put a practical period to the European
financial and commercial boom, and
in steadily widening circles reached
into and affected the finances and
trade of countries thousands of miles
away from and apparently uncon
nected with the hostilities. No coun-
try proved immune, and all felt the
strain of an already greatly overeX-
tended credit situation, inability to
borrow new loans INT difficulty in
getting old issues refunded. Brazil
and India, Germany and Austria,
France and England, Canada and Mex
leo, as well as the United States, were
affected, this country, perhaps least Of
all, because OF our wonderful export
trade balance, cushioning the impact
upon us Of the outer worlds forces.
Once again our membership in the
family of nations brought home to us
the real interdependence Of the
tries, and when we confidently expect
ed relief for our own financial needs
from our m export balance, in
stead Of gold supplies paid us in set
Element Of these balances, We received
back our own securities, which as in
other years of general strain sold most
readily in Thea worlds markets. In
deed, as the RESULT of ~three-cornered
exchange operations, we found our
selves paying other nations balances
in markets where trade interests
required payments to instead OF dis
bursements by us, of the worlds chief
circulating medium.
The worlds financial difficulties
bulked large in our list Of problems,
but there was no lack Of Items OF
domestic concern. In a. session OF
congress remarkable for it's length,
two much agitated and frequently
fought-over questions We're forced to
a conclusion. The tariff was revised,
Ebut it's enactment. by the way, was
coincident with a shrinkage instead, Of
the predicted enlargement in our i'm
port trade, and CONFIDENTLY, al income