The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-07-02


 I mess operations, the totals in the great majority of lines having con- l tinuousiy increased, and having 1 reached at this time in most lines
 larger total than was reeeFded for l the same period last year Business l totals in fact from the first of Jan
 uary to the first of June have in the heavier lines of trade exceeded the same period of 1913 as well as of 1 1911.
 It would be just as well perhaps at
 this time to take Into consideralon tthat this continuous advance cannot
 be kept up indefinitely and that there I must be a IulL When this Iu11 comes
 and it is already in evidence in some
 parts Of the country and in some lines of trade, it need give business men I no u1aeasdness because what are l known as the War Order lines have l in go many plants already reached the 1 fullest 24 hour output and a further
 increase is hardly possible, It Is very
 rare for businesses to remain at a
 stationary volumes and when no ad- 1 vance Is being recorded there is usu- l ally a falling off even though the
 falling off may be very sligEat. A halt | or hesitation in Iron4 Steel. Copper, Tin Lead and Ztno activities should cause no concern as the full activity will be resumed at an early date and ] this lull will only be an evidence that heavier business is on the way. The l. activity ana pTOSpeT1Ly CI b4AS RVd&1
 Order lines is assured for the period Of the War tand for a considerable l time thereafter.
 1 During May bank cIearangs were
 nearly 5 billions of dollars coEnpar- Led with only 1S bSlltonS for the same month last year, the increase being
 more than 1 per cent Cteartngz out side of New York were not quite one per cent greater than . year ago so
 that a full 19 per cent increase was alton of the Federal Reserve Banks
 has tendency to decrease cieax4ngs through other banks from which these figures are taken, this gain is all the more noteworthy For the first five months of the year olear1ngS have
 with s1 billions for the same period last year.
 Business failures during May mum
 bered 1,57S with total liabilities Of not quite 20 million dollars compared
 with 1,021 failures in May of last year with nabfntaes of something over 20 n1lllon dollarN The assets of the failed concerns were 10 million dol- lars compared with assets of nine million dollars for the ouogacerns fatl- Ting In May of last year While the
 number of failures is large for May and large compared w1th past aver ages both the number and the 1a- | btlfttes show s decrease as compar- cd with previous months this year. the improvement having been steady that we are working toward ncrrnal
 conditions.
 Money in circulation on the flrst of June was S.BeY nElll1ona dollars compared with 3, 49S mfEloMs e Tnonth lsrevipWS and 8, ,430 naf1aa0nD a ayrAnE pre- vious This per capita ctrou1a&ion now Is $25,07 and the EedeRaE est1-
 naate of the population of the United
 States is 1o0,SsS thoGsand.
 Dur4ng April our Msrcantale Ina ports were nearIy 1So nailfion dollars compared with 174 ml1lions g. year ago while exports were z94 mHztons
 compared with 16S millions year ago, leaving lis fav0rable ha4anca Of trade for the month of nearly 1S4
 million dollars compared with an un- favorable balance a year ago of II
 million dollars Imports of gold ex- ceeded exports by more than 15 mill
 Hon dollars compared with excess Inn ports Of about three nailiion dollars for the same month lazt year.
 While gross earnings for steam railroads amounted to only 9SS mill lion dollars in April compared with i241 million year ago, operating ex- penses decreased nearly 12 milton dollars leaving net earnanzs of nearly 6S million dollars for the month com pared with 59 millions for the same
 month last year which was a gain Hof over eight million dollars or IA Der cent. Net earnings for April, 1914,
 however were low as compared with the previous April so that the gain in net this year is not quite as large as it would appear on the face of the figures The effort of the railroads to cut down operating expenses is surely meeting with great success but in some cases this saving is being effected at the expense of the service and in some cases at the expense of the eqeuipment which on 8. few roads
 has been allowed to decline materially in condition. The coming movement | of crops will augment the gross earn ings and if operating expenses can
 be held down the gain in net will
 serve to put the railroads in a more favorable position and make their future financing easier.
 On the first of the month the net
 surplus of idle cars was 295 thOus-
 and compared with 242 thousand 6. year ago 23 thousand more box are idle than a month ago but the mum
 Der of idle coal cars was reduced during the month by 14 thousand Railroad equipment orders for May showed decided Improvement. in-
 c1uding orders for 19 thousand cars, a larger number than had been or
 dered during the previous four comparing with orders for only Is thousand cars in June of last year which was the largest showing of any month in 1914 Locomotive orders numbered 119 compared with 421 in
 May a year ago and compared with
 orders totaling only PA for the first four months this year. June 1ocomo- tive orders are expected to be light as inquiries are practically all cared for.
 The steam railroads of the country are now employing less than 1,60O thousand persons compared with 1,700 thousand a year ago, 1900 thousand two years ago and 1.70o thousand three years ago, Their annual wage amounts to about 1900 million dollars compared with 1.S73 millions last year, 1874 millions in 1913 and 1,274
 millions in 1912. Wages take up more than 45 per cent of the gross