The Coconino sun., 1921-01-07

fly by the switchmen's strike of early April. By that time, however, public abstention from buying had become marked at retail, and early May saw a big outburst of advertising having for it's aim the moving of slow-selling stocks.
 Some Measures of Movement.
 By and large, the past year was one of liquidation in industrial securities and commodities, of attempted read justment of all values from a swollen war and postwar level. and slaugh- ter of prices of commodities at whole sale. The return of the expensively --and badly--run railways to their owners was signalized by moderate rise in railway as distinct from indus ial shares, the weakness of the latter and the growing recation in trade and industry, however, finally involv- kinds, in final end-of year depression. Not the least imposing feature of this liquidation, by the way, was it's con- tinuance, with rather feeble rallies, over the period from early November, 1919, to late December, 1920, a period of fourteen months. During the year the foreign exchange markets were greatly excited, and while early low record levels in British exchange were not quite reached later, rates of ex- change on other countries in most in- stances touched bottom twice at widely separated periods.
 Sales of stocks d& not greatly ex- pand with the liquidation, and aggre- gate sales were much below those of 1919 while slightly less than those of 1916. Bond sales broke all records, for which dealings in the war crop of Liberty and Victory bonds, that were I liquidated freely by business houses as a result of higher money rates and credit restriction, were responsible. Municipal bond sales were slightly be- low those of 1919. New incorpora- tions and new domestic capital issues were of record size. Federal revenues were increased heavily by taxes, and the national debt showed decrease despite what were regarded as extray- agant expenditures. Money in circula- tion increased in total volume and in per capita allowance. Foreign trade broke all records, alike in exports and in imports, though exports never in any month reached the food-swollen totals of June, 1919. Imports react ed from the high-record June, 1920 total. The excess of exports over i'm ports was pared down from earlier records. Exports and imports of gold exceeded those for the preceding two years, but silver exports were smaller despite the very high prices ruling early as result of Far Eastern buy. ing. The bank clearings of the coun- try in eleven months equaled the rec. ord-breaking annual record of 1919 but this excess was due largely to ear. ly months totals dwarfing the core spending periods the year before, be cause the totals in the last quarter oi 1919 were never thereafter equaled. Il was frequently said that, owing to oul possession and operation of the feder al reserve banking system, the ofter Ipredicted panic had failed to arrive we were at least spared this old-tim' American luxury-and this was tru' to the extent that bank runs wer' rare, except in the Ponzi troubles a Boston and the small agriculture bank suspensions in North Dakota ant other western states, but the volume of failure liabilities as whole prac tically equaled those of the pani, years 1907 and 1914, though the com mercial failures were comparativel! light, exceeding only those of 191! during the present century. As t, this, the fat profits of preceding year were reported sufficient to carry man! dealers through not very profitable calendar year, but the record addition to those in business in 1919-20 ma! contain some clements of future liqui dation.
 Retreat of Commodity Prices.
 | Ninenteerl hundred and twenty wa. an almost exact reverse of 1919 ii the movement of prices, although thi. does not show in the yearly averages which show striking hesitation in the first quarter of the year 1919, price. were generally moved upward unti so-called wtlr prices were dwalfed. IT 1920, after somewhat parallel hesi tancy in the same period, the trend though interfered with by the switch mems strike in April, which introduc ed actual famine to some cities, was pretty generally downward, declines at first, moderate expanding as the year advanced, until the record de cline of November, recorded in the in. dex number as of December (13 pei cent), involved a net drop from the peak of February 1 of 34.6 per cent the December 1 number being the low. est recorded since November 1, 1916 In other words, the general level o1 wholesale prices on December 1 was below that ruling in the months i'm. mediately preceding our break witf kGermany over the submarine warfare but although the December level was still 56 per cent above the price leve of August l, 1914, more than half (6( per cent to be exact) of the six-yea, war and postwar advance had beer