Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1915-12-03
Friday, December 8. 1915.
Our New Industrial Activity.


In Thursday mornings mail we re-
ceived an envelope containing a clip
ping from the New York Commercial
carrying an editorial on The Freight
Blockade" Our anonymous friend had
pencled on the margin: For FAIR
Consideration"
We have read the editorial and we
have considered it fairly" we believe
We should like to reproduce it here for
the benefit of cur readers, but it is too
lengthy. In it we fail to find the in
spiration for the implication of the I'M
derscored Fair" None disputes the
volume Of business in the United
States at the present time. The Ken
nebec Journal rejoices in the marvel
Gus improvement in conditions from
those existing Il few months ago when
we were calamity bowling" and the
Democratic press was furiously deny
ing that any trade or industrial de-
preston could be found in the land
The Introduction to the aboye-referred-
to editorial reads:
Railroad earnings depend on busine IS
transacted. For this reason railroad
earnings do not pick up as fast as bust
ness revives. Factories receive orders
and run at full capacity which means a
revival of business that is quickly dis
counted to some extent, but the railroads
cannot discount it or derive any benefit
from it until the goods begin to move, eX-
cept in so far as they carry coal and
raw materials to the mill gates. This
years experience shows how railroad
earnings follow but never lead general
trade. In 1907 railroad earnings were well
maintained for two or three months aft
er the panic came because they moved
goods already made and sold though the
mills were receiving very few new orders,
which is the reverse of what is happen
ing now.
Spectators who were not students OF
economic conditions We're surprised last
spring and summer when they found that
railroad earnings did not reflect the re-
NiVal OF industry on which the boom in
war stocks and industrials was based
Some thought that the revival was moth
ing but talk because railroad earnings did
not reflect it, while others believed in
ndustrials but thought that the railroads
were in a bad way and could not come
back" Neither view was correct. The
railroads simply had to wait until the
merchandise was ready fer shipment and
the crops were harvested. AS the harvest
and the subsequent crop movement were
DELAYED by wet weather the revival Of
railroad traffic was later than usual, but
when il came il was the greatest this
country has ever known and it is not yet
at high tide.
If our anonymous friend draws from
his favorite trade paper that the clip
ping IN any way refutes the reflections
Of TIE Journal, he has not read it
Alright. Let him for his further consid-
GRAFTON read the following from the
Review Of Reviews for December:
Stimulated by amazingly bountiful
harvests, by n plentiful supply of
money, and by Europe's enormous de-
mand for our food products and NUM-
lions. the United States has rushed
into q new period of industrial activi-
ty. Following the excellent crops of
last year. the 1915 yield of wheat is es-
timated in the latest report at over
loco 100000 bushels. very much the
largest in the history of the country.
The five-year average is only 5000. 900
bushels One billion bushels means
that the United States has produced
this year one fourth of the entire
innate of the yield of corn is 5000 600. =
000 bushels, and at current prices it is
the most valuable corn crop eve,
grown. The crop of oats also made a
record both in quantity and value. In
spite of the demand for moving these
great farm crops, in spite also of the
activity and great volume of trading
in securities or the exchanges Of the
country, the money supplies of the
banks are most ample, and loans pay
able on call have continued through all
the summer and autumn months to be
quoted at interest rates more often be-
low per cent. per annum than above
it.-A PHENOMENON GENERALLY
SEEN ONLY IN PERIODS OF DEAD
LY DULL TRADE DEPRESSION.
The third principal factor in bring
ing so suddenly n whirl OF industrial
activity, where for two years or more
there was depression and stagnation
is the abnormal demand of the warrin!
countries Of Europe for the wheat
packinghouse products, clothing,
chemicals, horses. and war-munitions
that are being shipped across the At
lantic from America. In the last fisca
about that our exports exceeded i'm
ports by over $1,000. 100000 The cur
rent movements of export and import
trade makes it probab BILE that this years
excess Of exports over imports will re-
suit in a favorable trade balance for
this country Of $1,000 900, 900. So few
erish is the activity in this export bust.
ness and so greatly in excess of facili-
ties is the bulk of goods offered for
shipment to Europe. that serious con-
eestion is now seen at the eastern
ports of the United States. One i'm
portant railroad has been forced to de-
clare an embargo on export goods for
two weeks in order to catch up with
it's operating obligations. There is a
notable scarcity of ships to carry the
merchandise and animals which our
manufacturers and farmers have sold
abroad.