The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1921-01-02
= The Business Year-Past, Present And Future

British exchange werp not quite
reached later, rates of exchange on
other countries in most instances
touched bottom twice at widely sepa-
ra.cd periods.
Salcs of stocks did not greatly ex-
land with the liquidation. and aggre-
gate sales were much below those
of 1919 while slightly less than those
OF 1916. Bonds sales broke all rec
ords for which dealings in the war
crop Of liberty and victory bonds, that
were itquidIted freely by business
housss as u result Of higher none.
rates and credit restriction, were
responS3lc. : ,.nicipal bond sales wre
slightly btlcU those of 1919 y ~
lncorporauoi.s and new domest'c ,api-
N issues were Of record size. Federal
| revenues were increased heavily By
taxes. and the national debt showed
q decrease despite what were re-
garded as extravagant expenditures
Money in circulation increased in total
volume and in per capita allowance.
FCre'gn rade broke all records, alike
| in exports and in imports, though
exports never in any month reached
the food-swollen totals Of June, 1919,
lr rorts reacted from the high rec
ord June, 1920, total. The excess o.
exports over imports was pared down
from earlier records. Exports and i'm
ports of gold exceeded those for The
preceding two years, bat silver exports
were smaller despite the very hign
prices ruling early as result of Far
Eastern buying. The bank clearings
OF the country In eleven months elu4l-
ed the record-brealSing annual record
OF 1919, but this excess was due
largely to early months to.als dwarf
Ing the corresponding periods the year
before, because the totals in the Inst
quarter of 1919 were never there.
after equaled 1t was frequently said
that, owing to our possession and
opera. ion of the Federal Reserve
banking system, the often predicted
panic had failed to arriye--we were at
least spared this old-time American
tuSury-and this was true 10 the ex-
tent That bank runs were rare, ey.
cept in the POnZi troubles at Boston
und the small agricultural bank sus-
pensions in North Dakota and other
western states, hut Die volume %
taslure liabilities as q whole prac-
| tically eqUaled those Of the panic
years 1907 ana 1914, though the COM
mercial failures wero compaI~ sly
!ielr, exceeding only those 1913.
during the present cer' .y. As 10
this. the fat profits c' ,,rcced rg years
We're reported suf' 4ent to carry rnany
dealers throu~. not very profitable
calendar y AZ. but the record addition
20 th@ : is business in 1920 may
CO. din some clements Of future liqui-
dation.
Retreat OF Commodity Prices
Nineteen hundred and twenty wac
an almost exact reverse of 1919 in
the movement Of prices, although this
does not show in the yearly averages
which show striking similarities for
three years past. After hesitation
in the first quarter Of the year 1918
prices very generally moved upwart
until so-called war prices were
dwarfed. In 1920, after somewhat
parallel hesitancy in the same period
the trend. though interfered with by
the switchmen's strike in April, which
introduced actual famine to sornt
cities, wos pretty generally down.
ward, declines at first, moderate OK.
panding as the year advanced, until
the record decline OF November, re-
corded In the index number as oil
December / tl3 per cent? involved q
net drop from the peak point of Feb.
rrary ! OF 3+.6 per cent. the December
number being the lowest recorded
since November /, 1916. In Other
words. the general level OF wholesale
prices on December l was below that
ruling In the months Immediately pre-.
ceding our break with Germany over
the submarine warfare, but although
the December !, level was still 5G
per cent above the price level of Aug.
ust /, 1914. more than half (s0 pc,
cent. to be exact) of the six-yeal
war and postwar advance had beer
Cancelled.
The Years Crop
The drawback TO the years results
lay in the less satisfactory prices
secured rs a result Of tho great de-
cline In prices from the high Levels
OF the preceding crops. The depart.
mont OF agriculture puts the ,dccreas.
in value at si,9S9, 600 900. or % per
cent from the high record OF 1919, but
this big cut seems rather overstated
when the details are looked into. Oi
wheat for Instance, u big quantity was
exported at higher prices than in
1919; of corn, only about 20 per cent
leaves the farm in the form OF grain
The money loss in wheat and corn Is
given IA aggregating s2,334 600, 600
Tho loss in cotton was concededly
large, al all that crop leaves the
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