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Show THE YEAR 1912 The year 1912 una n most iiitcr-sotln one, fuil of kaleidoscopic changes. At Its opening, opinion as lo tho future outlook wns very much mixed Indeed. In-deed. For about two years business had been transacted tran-sacted from day to .day only, because mediocre crops, high prices, small volume ot business and slow collections, coupled with tho constant political politi-cal turmoil, had reduced the averago business man to a state of absolute uncertainty and trepidation regarding tho future. There wob a heavy. demand for funds from Europe which, as events havo since showed, wero to finance the most active year European Eu-ropean commerce ever saw, an activity that persisted per-sisted and grow in the face ot sovere labor troubles trou-bles and two wars. Ours Is a largo and growing country with a population increasing at tho rate of about 1,700,000 per annum. Our normal requirements therefore incrcnso something like 6 per cent each year and Inasmuch as business had practically stood still for many months, it follows that thero had accumulated accum-ulated n largo amount of deferred business to be taken caro of when real activity did finally commence. com-mence. Not only among tho purchasers of steal but of almost all manufactured uroductR. lmvl.iu had been cut to tho bono In tho effort to economize and by way of marking tlmo until tho business world could decldo whether It dared to put much faith In the future. A notnblo instance of tho degree to which business busi-ness had been deferred wns tho railroad equipment situation. The railroads had been paring their maintenance accounts unmercifully and had spent very llttlo on new rolling stock, so that they were practically a year behind In the ordering of freight cars and locomotives, nnd, in order to cscapo being be-ing overwhelmed by oven tho normal business which fall upon thorn, they began, In February and March to order equipment In greater volume. The movo-ment movo-ment gathered headway and all the equipment manufactories are now crowded with business. Tho Daldwin locomotlvo factory, for Instance is employing employ-ing moro men than ever beforo In Its history, and has business on its books for months ahead. Similar Sim-ilar statements could bo made of other kindred lines, Tho forward movement was accelerated to somo extent by tho fact that for somo months prior to 1912, and In tho first part of that year, prices in Europo had risen faster than thoso here, thus making ma-king America a favorable market place for tho reit of tho world, and conseqently Increasing our 11M2 exports to n point unprecedented. Domestic buying orders of all kinds and from all parts ot tho caiiu;, try began to multiply, and now building picked up nt a rato ontlrely unwarranted by tho mere fact of tho coming of spring. As tho prospect for record rec-ord breaking crops becamo moro and mora a certainty, cer-tainty, tho volumo of business grow until hv tho end of summer It had reached a point higher than' had been touched beforo for a long tlmo. In Oo tober tho rnltroads' gross earnings mado tho great! est gain over tho corresponding month of tho year beforo that Is known In tho history of American railroading, and their aggregato revenues were larger by many millions than any previously, on". record. ' ' Tho electrical world was kconly nctlve. U Js-estimated Js-estimated that over two billions of dollars were spent In tho United States for now construction and machinery and for servlco, nbout 12 per cent moro thnn in 1911. With tho largo ItemB of now censtructlon now going forward and In view of tho rapidly increasing patronage of electrical servlco companies tho present year can scarcely fall to bo oven moro nctlvo than tho past ono along this lino, nnd tho copper producers can tnko much comfort com-fort In tho outlook. Tho manufacturing industries of tho country seem to havo mado their highest record In volume during tho pnst year, measuring by tho movement of Iron oro on tho Qrent Lakes and tho movement ot other domestic products toward tho factories. If spaco permitted, thoro could bo Instanced tho volumo of forolgn trade, of lumber sales, nnd other favorablo Horns. However, tho past year has not been ontlrely rosy, nnd two dangerous factors aro visible, 1. c., the steady rlso ot prices of most things, and the commercial over oxtenslon visible- all over the. world. Fearing a gcnoral war, Europeans arc hoarding gold to tho amount ot several hundred millions, and cash reserves aro not nt a point where they can properly assist in a great industrial expansion tn addition to absorbing tho year's war losses, amount' lng to porhaps a billion dollars. The high cost of living is not 'less a problem In China and Japan than In Europo and America. Corporate borrowings borrow-ings everywhere have reached huge totals, and the simple fact Is that tho world Is over 'naned. It Is no secret that the railroads, except whon tho wheels aro turning tho fastest, aro having somo dltllculty In maintaining their not earnings In the face of stationary rates and rising charges. The partial mooting ot this situation by some of the mountain roads through elecrlflcatlon Is, in Its potentialities po-tentialities for tho future, perhaps the most important impor-tant thing dono during tho year. Tho Chicago Milwaukee & Pugot Sound Hallway is now busily engaged In tho electrification of a 450 mile stretch of Its lino across Montana. The D, & It. G. has semi ofllclally announced a similar Intention as to Its lino across tho mountains from Helper, Utah to Salt I.ako City and it Is rumored that others will follow suit. Tho lmportanco ot tbo move In this region ot plentiful hydroelectric power may ba guessed from the estimate ot tho Mllwaukeo engl ncors that train operating coBts will bo cut practically practi-cally in half under electrification and that tho whole cost of tho improvement will be pnld from the savings of tho first flvo years. Those savings will come from several sources which wo havo not space to detail, but ono of them Is worth especial note, I. e., the rather astonishing fact that with steam powor the intermountnln roads nro compelled to utilize a third ot their rolling stock, which under un-der electrification could bo used for tho handling ot ordinary freight, in hauling coal to themselves. Wo who havo been watching these things hnp-pen hnp-pen beforo our eyes should lose no opportunity to emphasize them In our letters to frlonds living In tho many less favored localities. After all, that is tho kind of advertising that helps tho statu most. It is truthful, and it roaches the mark. Nitlonal Coppor Dank. |