Show YEAR ONE OF GREAT prosperity all records broken by the harvests manufactures and commerce of the united states it has been a year ot glistening na prosperity and its brightness la reflected into the year that Is to come nowhere on the horizon Is thare visible a cloud of doubt that next year will be as generous handed as has the year whose bell has just tolled all records of prosperity for this and for any other country have been brol en by the harvests manufacturers and the commerce of the united states of america tor the twelve months which now have slipped finally into the past the north has had a prosperity in which the west has shared and the south simply Is tat with plenty no principal crop in the united states has failed for the bushel sown the earth has returned its twenty told it Is not necessary to give the figures in order that the great fact iray be grasped in all the staples of life the bear has broken the record of beld it Is possible that in the case of cot ton an exception should be made but of the southern staple there has been a production as large as the people of the cotton growing sections could have wished the prices are high everyone had some cotton and every one has a share of the selling price the secretary of agriculture has said that the well being of the ameri can farmer Is a matter of the pro soundest foun dest interest to the entire coun try he might have gone farther and have said that the well being of the entire country depends upon the well being of the american farmer it has been a year of unsurpassed to tho agriculturists of the country production has been unequaled and as the wealth and the of all depend upon that which springs from tha ground we go back to the basis and the proper place for the prophecy of happiness when we stand upon the farm by the time that the new year has run halt its course it Is probable that there will be a fuller and better un der standing between the sister coun tries of north and south america the third conference of the pan american states is to be held in ura til and there the secretary of state of the greatest of the american coun ries will meet with the officials of the smaller republics and out of their inferences and discussions it be lieveld will come plans which when put to the working test will make secure upon a firm foundation the peace of two continents it Is probable that before the first session of the fifty ninth congress sees the day of adjournment that a national quarantine law will be passed which will reduce to a the danger of yellow fever epidemics in the south it Is probable that before the new year becomes an old year two stars will be added to the flag of the united states arizona and new mexico join ed to become one state and okia homa and indian territory joined to become the other when this end Is accomplished there will be no terri tories left in the union ad the year 1906 will go down in history as the year which saw the fulfillment of the dream of the fathers to go again into the immediate past it may be said for the last of the old ears that it saw the making of a rec ord tor american commerce in both matters of exports and of imports the year 1904 produced the first bil lion dollar record tor imports the year 1905 saw a material increase and during each one of its twelve months the value of the imports amounted to practically against an average of less than halt that amount only a score of years ago the exports of the united states as an official puts it never touched the billion dollar mark until the yeat 1895 and have never in any calendar year been as much as a billion and a halt dollars in value but this year they have considerably exceeded that figure and will approximate a value of 1 none of the of who make a study of trade con to any thing in the future which should pre vent a like marvelous growth of the commerce 0 the united states dur ing the coming year the manufactures of the country in creased their share during the last year in both imports and exports ol 01 the united states the increase in the importation of manufacturers ma serials in the ten months ending nov 1 1905 amounted to an increase of 21 per cent over the cor responding period of last year while the increase in all other imports amounted to but 54 an in crease of 12 per cent over the corre spending months of 1904 in the matter of exports of manu futures the value of increase during jsn months of 1805 was an increase of 14 per cent while the gain of all other exports was about 50 an increase of 7 per cent over the same months of last ear the washington officials who deal in the statistics of manufacturers hold that there Is every apparent indica alon that the prosperous showing ol 01 the last year Is to be more than du in the year that Is to come it is a fairly well established fact that coming unhappy events cast long shadows before the students of the look not only at the matter immediately in hand but they 1001 at all the conditions of al ite the state of the country s finances the e chood of tariff changes the possibilities of commercial wars and in fact at all other things upon which government agents make reports they look at all these things before they attempt anything of prophecy and when they do consent to prophecy they do not rut it in black and white because there Is glaays a chance ol 01 the arising of something hitherto un known but they do consent to give an expression of their belief in the future founded upon the best knowl edge which is given to them from all available sources it Is only the crop expert who in abe winter the time of the death of vegetation refuses to say one word as to the future tor the time of long distance weather tore casts has not et arrived the view of the coming ear as it touches exports and imports and the manufacturers of the country is to be expressed only by the much used and apparently well liked word rosy should there be those who look only to the purse as the standard of a peoples happiness it may be said that there Is more money in ciraula alon among the inhabitants of the united states today than ever there has been lefore despite lea here and there the financial ansti tut lonal solidity and prosperity ot the country seems to have a foundation ot rock which cannot readily be worn away the light anines ahead |