New Iberia enterprise and independent observer. (New Iberia, La.) 1902-1944, 1915-03-13
FAILURES AND THEIR
CAUSES.

While the great war natural.
bulked largest among the unset
thing events Of that very unset
tied year 1914, and this countr,
as a matter of course shared il
and suffered from the results O.
the worldwide dislocation of In
dustry, Of trade, Of finance ano
Of credit which followed in the
wake of that great catastrophe
we had enough immediate trou
bles Of our own to have made that
year a notable one in failure an
mails. With the rest of the world
We, Of course, have shared in the
continuance of the restriction of
new enterprises that became visi-
BILE shortly after the Balkan war
began, direct result Of the over
extension of credit revealed by
the latter outbreak, but we had
In addition much new and unt1ied
Legislation to assimilate, as well
as to contemplate the further
grinding of the Legislative mills
with their burden Of regulative or
restrictive laws. Then, too, the
new currency system was put into
operation, and whwile an after
view of that particular piece of
legislation suggests only favor
able comments, the preparations
for it's Inauguration induced not
able restriction Of any but the
most nee essary work Of financing.
Buying the year through was of
a hand-to-mouth character, and
there was much restriction of in
dustry, resulting in reduced pro-
duction and complaints of unem-
ployment in manufacturing, for
which favorable agricultural
yields only partly compensated.
While some favorable effects of
the war we're quick to show after
the first collapse, and while ex-
port trade expanded greatly, the
strain and sacrifice Of values that
the south was put to move it's cot
ton crop was, and is even yet, a
distinctly unfavorable influence
upon commercial solvency in a
large area of the country. In
fact, the year had all the ear
marks of a panic period without
perhaps, its most acute phases of {
dangerous strain or currency
scarcity.
That the failure record Of the {
year was an unfavorable one goes l
without saying. The largest num- $
Der Of failures in the country's G
history; liabilities only exceeded t
twice before, and then in panic !
years like 1893 and 1907; the n
largest SINGLE mercantile suspen- I
non of which there is record, and G
! volume of failures Of large and
mprotant concerns rarely ex- y
'eeded since failure reporting be- r
'ame clearly defined feature of d
business journalism, were some e
# the salient features of the d
ears events. On the other or "
avoraIble side of the picture a.
night be mentioned the fact that a
modern methods of dealing with p
risises obviated some of the p
vorst effects Of the years trou- vi
les; enlightened handling of re
ONE Of the largest embarrass- IL
tents has made their rehabilita- 81
'on possible; there has been much tt
seless slaughter Of good assets pr
voided; and while the large ad- la
itions to the numbers of the br
nsiness community of late years te
Is no doubt included MANY IN ia
dequatelv provided enterprises, of
le commercial death rate was til
1ly a shade higher than in the va
orst yeyars since 1898, and con- IN
derably below the rate ruling in ne
der years, when conservation of tn
sets was not so clearly under no