OCR Text |
Show IB! WHY THE DEMOCRATS CANNOT H HURT BUSINESS. IB IB Tho year 1912 Is closing with tho B country in a prosperous condition. JH contrary to the oxpcclaliou of those 'JH ' who had feared that the olectlon of a wL Democratic President would bring on vWi a period of depression even before the HH inaugural day ceremonies. fH There might have been a percept- N ible slowing down had not the mer- E chantR and manufacturers reduced i HI their stocks to smallest possible pro- SI portions following tho 1907 panic. Dur- II big 1908 and even Up to the first of this lH year, business houses have not fl stocked up, but havo kept within H the demand for goods, with the re- ' WM suit that there is no such thing as '- mm cutting down of surplus stocks await- M ing the outcome of a revision of the I wL tariff Tho mills are forced to go Wk on turning out goods in response to In in urgent demand and this condition 1 1 will continue regardless of what is I done In "Washington after March 4 I next. I That the business condition of the I :ountry Is sound and tho outlook ! I promising, is borne out by the trade "" reviews for the week by Bradstreet's Imd Dunn's, in which these state-' state-' tnents are made: "What is described In most sections of the country as a record holiday trade has crowned a year which has had few equals and fewer superiors in nearly every line- of human endeavor. en-deavor. This, of course, refers directly di-rectly to volume of product or value of output rather than to margins of profit which are conceded to have been cut in many lines. "Best reports as to holiday and retail re-tail trade came from the west, northwest, north-west, most parts of the southwest anl tho Pacific coast. In the eastern east-ern states trade has been good and there are many large centers reporting report-ing tho year-end trade as breaking all records. Less buoyant advices came from the southeast of the Mississippi, Mis-sissippi, but here shorter yields are held mainly responsible. In wholesale whole-sale trade and industry there has been quieter tone. -p--. "As tho year closes the feeling is 9 one of cheerful conservatism, but not of Pessim'sra. because of the fact that fill three to seven months orders are in jjjl hand. nil "The end of the year finds the la- jjjll r situation quiet as a whole after Bplli a year notable for some big strikes B wi ancl for manv and widespread wage H Mb advances. if "Holiday dullness prevails in New HIV. , York stock market, the renewed firm- B1J hess of money due to end-of-the-year Hfl requirements also checking specula- Bb t'vo activity. A somewhat improved H sentiment is displayed, however. 1 eek of 1911. HjH "Business failures for the week H ending December 26 were 253, against H' 322 last week and 304 in the like Bj "The notable development at tho H close of the year is the tremendous WA expansion in exports which are break- H; Ing previous records, the movement B from the port of Newx York for the B latest week amounting to $20,376,000 H $4,136,000 larger than in 1911. There B Is some slowing down of domestic op- B' erations in the closing weeks of the B year, as is usual, yet the current sta- B tlstics of business continue almost as H noteworthy as those of foreign coni- B mercer- B "Bank clearings (about the best B measure of activity available) in- B creased, this week 11.9 per cent as B compared with 1911, and railroad B gross earnings for the first half of B December gained 3.8 per cent. B "Retail holiday trade was of im- posing proportions, and this had a favorable effect on wholesale trade and on industrial lines. "In tho iron and steel trade the chief featuro is the continued heavy purchases by the railroads. There are shorter holiday suspensions of work this year than is usual, owing to tho insistence of demand." Our opinion is that tho country is going ahead in the face of tariff changes. It is fortunate that the panic of 1907 brought the "industries of the country down to the actual necessities ne-cessities of trade "and wiped out all surplus stocks, and, furthermore, that it caused a period of liquidation after seven or eight years of inflation. Today To-day trade is on a very sound basis, while tho banko are well supplied, although al-though in Wall Street there is a scarcity of funds for gamblln- purposes pur-poses with the approach of the year-end year-end settlements and dividends. Another year of good crops, and the country can indifferently view tho legislative p-ogvam of the new administration. n |