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Show REVIEW OF 1 BUSINESS Henry Clews Sees Great: Change in Business Morals Henry Clews. In h. review of bu? inesB for 1912. says. The year Just rlosing has been crowded with significant etperiences It has been a year of striking social and political unrest The whole world is in the melting pot as never oefore. nnd tho l'nited States Is doing do-ing Its part In the process of separating separat-ing I dross from the finer products ,it Civilization. On social lines tho unrest is vividly seen In the desire for better living, both materially and moral I) Our material progress has been phenomenal Wealth has grown enormously, and the way Is helim slowly and somewhat painfully paved 'or its Ultimate!) more equitable ells-trlbiition. ells-trlbiition. Our moral progress is am-pl am-pl proved by the siRiial awakening of the public conscience, and by the energetic efforts to eliminate or at least curtail the evils to glarlnc '.u "iir business and so lal life Never before was vice of all forms so re lent loss! exposed, and never before was there such a determination to restrain or repress It If there Is anything about such movements to vp.rrant hope and confidence In Amer dan Institutions, it is this development develop-ment of a distinct upward movement in public s'andards of conduct This may be observed In all departments of business and public life, and it is apparent to nil familiar with the control con-trol of sffnlrs 'hat many things readily read-ily permitted a decade sgO would on no account be tolerated teday. sm;i ply becaupe of nu aroused public opinion opin-ion and the establishment of higher standards of conduct There Is no doubl that more has been accomplished In this direction by appeals to public opinion than bj legislaiion. The same is true of our political Pf The proces.i of purification purifi-cation has been Roing steadily on. and one of the most encouraging features in this connection !s the noticeable hrtnKinc, into office of men of e. higher high-er type than formerly. run- bol on1' Of ability but of distinctly higher Ideals aud greater Integrity Such acts are worthy of note, because the era of muckraking and gov-'rnnient gov-'rnnient investigations. ns well as an apparent outbreak of vice In our great cities, have been so exploited ex-ploited in the public press as to poison the public mind and creat.-- an ab normal and unwholesome state of pes. (Simism. For many It Is difficult to 6ce under the surface. Tho average man is befoeged by the sensationalism sensational-ism of the day. and falls Into the er-I er-I roneous Impression that we are de-I de-I gfenerating. Happily the forces of betterment have been quietly but un-orrlngly un-orrlngly at work, as Is shown by the , Innumerable discussions and move. 1 mcnta m oui great clt'os torranis social so-cial justice and po.'ltlcal purity. Of course no sane person supposes that ihe millennium is near at hand; yet Bs the vear closes t is worth while to stop and take stock and see where wo stand in regard to those great movements, social and political, which can either make or ruin this great republic. YVbctever tends to build a better and safer America w ill also tend to strengthen and advance 011-bu-lneys Institutions; and In this respect re-spect there is much room for encouragement encour-agement as well as progress It is no exaggeration to say that the outlook for America was never more brl)!!:,nt I There are great problems ahead that will puzzlo our ablost thinkers, and ! setbacks must he expected; but few spirit of progress is in the r-lr which is placing quite much emphasis upon tne mental and moral forces as upon the material. With such Ideals before us, the future of this republic is safe, provided they are strenuous-1; strenuous-1; maintained and raised still higher when opportunity offers. Unusual Business Features. The striking features In business hav bi-en a magnificent harvest hm ord-breaklng foreign trade, unprecedented unprece-dented activity tn the Iron trade and a further coni inuat Ion of teal estate aetlvltv The value of our crops this yea 1 was 81 timafed at Sft.iino.fMO.OOO, compared v. itii $S, Ifii'.Onu.C vear ago. Comparisons In values should always be accepted with reservation. it urilHis heini; a much -afer standard stan-dard of measurement. Nevertheless, (all of our principal crops show-ed a lal increase except cotton and rattle. rat-tle. Our meat s.ipplv is still insuf-! I (lclent, exports having entlrclv reas-1 reas-1 ed Our cotton crop, though smaller' ! than last year, was still very large ! In both cattle and cotton the '.cur's product in money values was much greater than s rear ago Our foreign for-eign trade surpassed all records. Imports Im-ports approximating $1,800,000,000, or about f2OOjf0O,OOf) in excess of last vear while sports are estimated at S-M' OOjOOO, or about 1800,000,000 in BXCe I of las! vear The excesc Of ex-ports ex-ports over Imports for 1 J J will be about $Cu' 300.000, compared w-jth 1636,0002000 in 1908 and 8649.000,000 '0 1900, t;.e preiioiH high record years. The lucrease In tnports was largely In raw materials, while in exports Ihe expansion 'va.; mainlv In cotton, grain mA manufactures. Activity In I the Iron t-ade has been simply mar- Iveloiis. our plan' - having been oper.it I e(i during a considerable portion of 1 the year at fn'l 95 per cent of their capacity. Qui- total pig iron outpit 1 rea hed 2p.00il.00fl tons compared . w ith 22.Q00.OOO tons a year ago We aro produrlnr more pig iron 'lian fireat Britain and Germany combined their total output rhis year boirg m-tlmsteri m-tlmsteri at about 27.OO0.00O inns The; world's output 1m estimated at 7.0CMi - : f' tons, so tl sr we haie now turned turn-ed out more thn one-third r(f the " or Id's product T hlle the rsllroad" were heavv hu'-T. the demand from ether soures was also unusually heavr. rjur eTpor trade showed as-torlrhing as-torlrhing developments, being valued 1 1 t about 1280.000,000 for the past twelve month?, a r ord never before ! approached. The boom in real estate Is still npchecked, and is illustrated by the fac th.n j.i eleven months the! aegregre of nw building ill 'he l'nited l'nit-ed States was estimated at over 5U7.-"10.000. 5U7.-"10.000. compared with I803.000.u00 tor twelve monihs of 1909, the previ-o previ-o is heaviest year on record A good Indication of the year's business ac-itivitv ac-itivitv n shown in bank clearings. I which for thG eleven months of this lyear totalled $159,000,000,008, as - against 14C,000, ,000 for eleven months of laBt year As for railrotul earnings, the gross thus far report eu 1 : .11111,000, an Increase of MR.mi'i. 1 over the s i me period last year. Dur--ing the sarins eleven months the net earnings urn- $108,000,1 an increase in-crease of over 14,O00,000 compared with last vcar. This ery gratifying i;aln was, of cours- due to the s'ini ulus of a magnlilcent harvest and was mainly observed in the last two or thre? months. It Is hardly probable prob-able that this rate of expansion will be continued throughout the year. Tariff, Trust6 and Currency. The new vcnr promises to open with 3 distinct Improvement in political conditions. con-ditions. In the I nlted States we have had a peaceful revolution following an era of very disturbing radicalism. While tho lattei is still much alive, there are sign of lis moderation. The people expressed their desire lor a change at the polls Inst November by again bringing the opposition party par-ty into pofHr, led bv a man of progressive pro-gressive yel moderate tendencies. All good citizens will await tho outcome patiently. Ah a whole the chief issues is-sues are still the tadff, trust and currency, cur-rency, fortunately we have selected lor president a map of ability, integrity integ-rity and courage, u man of rationnl progressive tendeni IM and strictly lemperate in action It is lo be hoped that buHineBs will not receive uny ae vere shocks from Mr. Uilson Ab to what may be expertod from the na lionnl legislature. It is not vet safe to predict. There is altogetbei too strong D tendency to use the probe bj un Tklllful hands and for questionable purposes We are suffering from too much hasty nnd Ill-considered legists tion It iiiav be that now Uie am palgn Is over, congress will moderate its persecution of big business and confine itself to some constructive work calculated to rectify real evils already congress shows s disposition ro handle the tariff Jndlclouslj and lo enforce such a reduction In the sched ules as will produce as little barm as possible It may be six months be fore 11 new bill will be passed, nn.i this uncertainty must inev Itably be regarded re-garded as .i deterrenl upon buslnesM I activity, especially In the textile In I dustry ; bu the Democratic party, I which now Incmdes a coi.st 1 rab'e ' protective element. Is not likely o ruin Its political fntu;- at the outsi by smashing the tariff Revenue ne I cesslties will piso prevent un; ser Otis lowering of schedules On the trust question ther.T is at j present little dermnd for legislation The monopolistic movement reaches r? -zenith In 1910 at the time of the Oil nnd Tobacco decisions. Those d clslons not only brought about tllssn lutlon of two of tho largest so-called monopolies In the eouutry. but whal was of more lniortanro they prevent ed the consummation of many ne-v combinations than merely dreams ' the minds of ambitious men. The Btipremc court has almr- then banded down other important decisions, no' ab1... the 1 nlon-Southern faclflc mer 1 gcr. supporiing the antt trust law Is; do quite ertaln 1 bai 1 be trei towards undue raonoKly has been B merely checked Time will be reqult ed for the restoration of competition on reasonable llas; Just as time wps 1. lived to create many of the greal combinations The Important thin to remember In connection with tht Sherman ant! trust law is That s vef) menacing political danger has been re tra ned. for it is quite reriain thai had ihe monopolj moverncnt gou. mm b further tii- country would h:- 1 had to face 0 grr.ve political upheaval, ending either m much more obje tionable government control than is 11 prospeel today, or in sn immediatt blroductlon to nbsolute Socialism Is not to bo supposed that th countr; can do without blc corporal ions, or that future consolidations may no' b lustified; but the elimination of com pel It Ion outside of nrtionnl monopo j lies and palents w ill now be a mm b mor.' difficult matter, and the chancesj' of success In new enterprises ar vastly better todsy than In man years Meanwhile there must remain considerable uncertainty for our bigl corporations until the Sherman law becomes more clearly Interpreted by the supreme court This Is one -f the most disturbing elements of the dav |