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Show NEW RECORDS OF EXF0RTS AND IMPORTS ESTABLISHED European Buying of Food, Munitions and General Gen-eral Lines Reaches Unprecedented Heights; Industry Is Active. k j 1XE T E E X H U X D K V. D A X D S I X - TEEX was a wonderful year, but that characterization does only part ial justice to this latest and greatest twelve months in t h1 country 's history. 1 1 was said of 1915 that adjertives v.-ere lacking fitly to portray that year's progress., So it may be said of 1916, in turn, that comparatives com-paratives fail to de.-cribe the repeated examples of high records tet up in uear-! uear-! ly all lines of "trade and industry, only to be displaced in turn and relegated to the rear bv new and hitherto unheard-of totals' of industrial production and trade volume, of bank clearings and building expenditures, of transportation earnings on laud and on. water, of export ex-port and import trade in merchandise, in gold and in silver, of mineral output and ship const miction, of prices of all commodities, and of high levels of wages paid in most industries and ot dividends paid by enterprises of all kinds. It would be far easier, in fact, to single out the lines that did not break records than to attempt to enumerate enu-merate the multitude of directions in which trade expanded, i ndustry set up new milestones of progress, and finance sought wider fields of exploitation. liquidation Feared. In 1915 the bogy of troublesome liquidation liqui-dation of on own" stocks and bonds held abroad was finally laid, and we began to offer a market here for foreign securities; se-curities; but in 1916 we definitely secured se-cured title to our position as a creditor credi-tor nation, loaned freely to the entire world, and, despite hitherto unequaied purchases by us of belligerent secu ri-ties, ri-ties, became possessed of gold imports in a volume such as was never before ! seen. To the spur of foreign war de- j mand, represented by unheard-of quan- ! titles of food, munitions and general j merchandise sold abroad, was added u new and record-breaking volume of im- j ports, largely of raw materials to feed; our industrial machinery, while at the same time purely domestic trade grew j beyond the most sanguine dreams of our merchants and manufacturers. A quiet-' ing down in midyear, with attendant free predictions of the termination of war demand, merely acted as a breathing breath-ing speli before new and still larger de-mauds de-mauds were again met in the autumn and early winter. ' ' X'ot enough cars, labor or goods'' was a common descrip"-tion descrip"-tion of trade ami industry throughout many months. Buying Is Active. Even toward the close of the year, when nearly all lines were booked for nine months ahead, and some iron and steel lines were sold well into 19 IS, when prices of commodities, after rising to new heights, had broken badly, due Jargelv to peace talk being injected into the situation, there were but few signs of a letup in active buying, or indications indica-tions that the conservatism so long preached was really acting as a brake upon extraordinary purchasing. How much of this late quieting down was 1 due to the usual year-end seasonal dullness dull-ness it would be hard to sav. Some of it, as, for instance, the quiet anil easing in some cotton goods, was undoubtedly due to a 4-cent break in raw cotton. All this activity had occurred, too, despite de-spite the fact that it was a presidential year, one also of disturbed foreign relations rela-tions and a period of disappointing crop outturn, which was made more manifet by large foreign buying of obtainable supplies," and evidences of speculation having taken advantage of natural conditions con-ditions to push prices of food to record I heights. This latter resulted in a popu-1 iar outburst against high ling costs j and the usual frenzied efforts of public, men, legislators and others to find evi-1 deuces of monopolist ic ' combinations affecting af-fecting the prices of the "people's! food. ' ' Exports Are Increased. j Exports of merchandise totaled $5.-! 46O.tiiM'i.in;!0 in value, excelling those for the previous calendar year by 55 per cent, and those for the year 1914 by 157 per cent, i m ports a ggregated $-.36' onO.OOii, exceeding 1915 and 1914 by MJ per cent. Guld imports totaled sOoi),-oiiO.Oi.m, sOoi),-oiiO.Oi.m, surpassing exports by $50o.uhi.i,. 0iO, Our gross imports of gold during the war have aggregated $Cl0n.ui.)i.t,iii)ii, and the net imports $S3S.U0U,000, while our sales of merchandise for the like period were considerably over double our purchases. Uence the estimates that we bought back $2,000,000. 0il0 of American securities, and, in addition, beca me creditors for an additional fli.OuO.Onniiiu of foreign bonds or notes. As our export trade has grown since the war besan. its character bas gradually eiianneo. and the early larse shipments of foodstuffs liavp'becume dwarfed, partly because of crop shortages, by later enormous enor-mous exports ot" manufactured Roods not all of these, by the way, munitions though it must be said that our ship-men ship-men " s to entente cOunl ries have far exceed ex-ceed ed those to the res', of the world. ,Our irainsj-in trade with the part of the wor'd at peace have hardly expanded tis much as might have been hoped, though it is hard to see how our faciory pro-Uic'lioii. pro-Uic'lioii. strained as it was to the break -ins: point, could have been further increased. in-creased. Credits Have Expanded. Credits, based on the new and Vast supplies of securities and gold, have expanded, ex-panded, and the country's banking position posi-tion has become one of unparalleled deposits de-posits and resources. Bank clearings for llipi testified lo the enormous volume of the bankinic movement in a total of , $i'i'"i.n'm.0''',j.i,!i0. a sum never before i equaled, and a sain of 40 per cent over j the ll'l-'i hiph rc-urd and of lift per cent ; over lit i j . if tiie normal excess of bank transactions over clearings at leadin? I cities, 212 to 1, be regarded as a pruide, the country's total hankins: business in P'lfi was easily $;."0.n0i"i,0"0.0no. Stock ppec-! ppec-! ulaiion was more active than for a decade, j total sales at the Xew York exchange I ay resa tins: UC.D'iO.OOn shares, a pain of per cent on IS'lTi, five times what it was in the "closed" year li14. and only IS per ' cent less than in the- record hisrh v-ear of lOi'fi. Bond pales aggregated Si. ltiO.orm.Ofin, sa total showins" a gain of '2 per cent over 1!M.", and second only to H'hS, compared with which year transactions fell off 1 per cent. Government bond sales, retlect-Ins retlect-Ins larie foreign flotations, were eighteen times as active as in Kilo. .Money was jcrv until lowaid the Hose of the year, land collections were good, with many old j accounts liquidated, especially in the south. Failures for the year, reflecting ithe final closing out of old, crippled concerns con-cerns a nd of new vent ures insufficiently provided with experience, capita! or other requisites, were larire in number, second only, in fai. to li'L.j, from which they decreased 1" per cent: but the rarity of impoitant suspensions is shown in the volume of babi lines .being the smallest with one exception since 190?. per cent below 1?1.",. and less than half those of KUI. Movements of Prices. As pointed out elsewhere, the crop outturn out-turn was not in keeping with other developments, devel-opments, and to tins cause as much as to active foreign demands were due the new and dizzy heights reached by many commodities com-modities included in Bradsfreet's Index Number, which latter rose steadily early in the year, faltorc-d in the late spring and s-mimer. and then took a new flight to jstii! hi-ber ground as crop shortages be-i be-i came certainties, active industry swelled j pav, rolls, and a snowstorm of wage advances ad-vances in the latter months by a process j of an endless chain character still fur-I fur-I ther advanced all price quotations. This ; process, .resulting in a reduction of the (dollar's buying ability of per cent, as compared with the year's opening, was j ultimately responsible for a sort of popular popu-lar revolt against high food prices, petitions peti-tions for embargoes against food shipments, ship-ments, and widespread national, state and municipal John Doe hunts for the causes of advancing prices. That some of j the price advaivs were hred of speculation, specula-tion, made possible by Hieap and abun-1 abun-1 da nt money, seems certain: that some Were what may be called phycholosical or auto suggestive may he conceded, but that suur: yields and unexampled demand were the main causes hardlv requires nror.f. The fact that Bradstreet's Index Number for the entire vear inir -was ''0 per cent a hove K'l.". :::: per cent above 1!'14. :2 per cent above KU0 the last vear of food price revolts and meat hnvcoit and just double that of the low-wafr v-ar 1 , is a visible statistical exem-phlfat'.on exem-phlfat'.on of what have been called the "penalties of prosperity-." Forecast Is Made. The war abroad still sets the measure of prosperity at home, and the irregularity- of our stoH. wheat an. cotton markets mar-kets in the last few weeks show s how sen si live we are lo anv prospect of a basic change, in the present struggle Too many fine predictions of so-called authorities author-ities have gone by the hoard in the past two and a half years to encourage anv hard and fast torc-asts. but a few general renin rks may. however, he haza rded l'resent high prices of all produces, the scarcity of ships, the severity of the submarine sub-marine campaign, the decision of the western allied g (vrrnment s not to place largo quaniHie-s of short-time notes hre and the ability of the allies -lo produce much war material at homo, would sf-em to indicate that our exports have about re;"-hr,l their zenith. Then, too. the war. while profitable to many, has bioughl home lo this country as a whole. Ihjou-h the medium of famine pri.-es. I he fad thai we are om selvs pa vine: no I n nnsidera hir part of the financial fi-nancial cost of the stntLrt-fe. How mu.-h further domestic consumption can go lie-foiv lie-foiv past, p !.: it a:.i prospective liiuh tuiccs will "-':itnn:Mtical!v i-ce-k consnmn-tive consnmn-tive huing, if it does, indeed, do this, is a delmtable que-tion. T!;e crop failures of tin- past year on!ii in norma times iiave given trade a he;iy- setb.ick. it was easy to pivai-li. but ha id to iirwM-e i .q.-:cry a - lism in the past year 'of his-li costs of fond, materials anil operation, as w, N as jot" deficient storks ab.ke of mann I'ad nred : " ci -Is and of raw materials ff pea.-e sliould I a : ive within a r. a sop a hie time, it will fm.i a good pa i r cf t i-e onimg ea r's ; be thai was p'a-cd at r resent pri--.-. leHs'! 1 am) wirh sn ks nf eo--ds cru-edediv small ! hi f!I p"s:tions. ft sems certain, b "iwcvr ; I hat peace will come mu-h more gradually ; did host i l: ( i e- two and a half year's i aco, -snd in t'u's case demauds fi'oni' i:,,. : rove for materia's for rebuddin- and re-j re-j pair will hHn to lake ,:p the shtck of re-1 re-1 duced ordeis in otV-r lines. One Doubtful Feature. ! .rother and mu' h mot-- dubifnl fr-.-Mn-e 1 is tho qutsth-v- of :be e-xtcnt to which i Rm-opiM-i fountrie- wld.-ji have pr-i'-Ticed tee contro' r.oi o;d- of industry and tiade. out even of public n: p.-M:es ard food supplies, sup-plies, as rr.ih.'arv tin. asi i res. imjy sc--k to apply th--so methods to i he strug-rle with us !"o- c'.-j or new ri;a : kc-f s. To pii'antnase t i- rnet. i' I . i s s:v-int'd of 1 , f. e I hat a'i.ro-id. at b-fst. nhc;- r.a:io".-l '-.inlr, : :, i : :-i ' 's y it i'-uc 1 and lb. si.tc is i'o y ! . i i e 1 1. i 1 1 A ii:e ri a n 1 c:s -nos:: iniu, ! shackled by evidently outworn laws, based I on theories of unrestricted competition. . arc prepare.- to meet this possible Ku-i Ku-i i'opn combination of state and private 'ompeti'Jon, if. as seems probable, it eventua le, is per ha ps . tiie most crucial unes'.'.on in the entire situation. New and 'strange economic forces arc evidently to i he met with afier t lie war; bm it at j least mav be said that American husinnss men's eyes are open to the difficulties confronting them, and the country faces I the problem--5 f l'1" with costs of np-; np-; (--ration at a high level, it is true, hut with a wen i th o'" cap! ra 1 neve r before pos-, pos-, sessArj. with a population not decimated ; ov crippled bv dea t h or wounds, with a. i new and rapidlv growing merchant ma-I ma-I rine. with ;t folidh established shipbuilding shipbuild-ing indusiry. ami with clearer ideas of what constitutes financial, commercial arc! mil! dry preparedness than it ever i.i.l before. It is verv evidently no time i'-r playing yarish politics, so far as gov-ennnenta! gov-ennnenta! interference with or hamstringing ham-stringing of business industry and transportation trans-portation is concerned. Certain-., if we fail in this fniure. apparently irrepressible, conflict, it will not be for lack of adequate a ruing. |
