Jasper County Democrat, Volume 10, Number 40, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 January 1908 — WEATHERS THE GALE [ARTICLE]

WEATHERS THE GALE

Financial Structure of ths try Comas Through tha Storm Vary Wall. HIHDBIGHT AT TBB BIG PANIC Causes of It Traced Back to the Open* ing of the Year. Two Preliminary Flurries Before the Blizzard of October. Which Had Been Preparing for Several Months.

New York, Dec. 31.—The year 1907 has been one In which there has been much making of financial history. It will go down with 1857, 1873 and 1893 as one of the panic years in United States finance, but despite the remarkable stress and strain to which tht financial structure has been subjected the year closes with conditions stronger and safer than they were when the year began. The year opened witt the feeling In conservative quarters that speculation had already been carried to an unwarranted height, and that prudence was Imposed by conditions upon bankers and capitalists. Caused a Scarcity of Capital. That this feeling operated to some extent throughout the year, and that there was a scarcity of capital for absorbing new- securities, was indicated by the diminished transactions tu stocks and bonds on the New York Stock Exchange. While the numbei of shares of stock dealt in up to Christmas of 1907 did not fall below that of normal years prior to 1905 it was very much less than for that year and for 1906. The banner year prior to 1902 was 1901, when the number of shares dealt in was 265,577,354. Decline in Share Transactions. There was a decline to 160,748,368 shares in the depression of 1903, and a recovery to 263.010,993 In 1905 and 288,424,234 in 1906. The number of shares dealt in in 1907 fell to 195,169,192. Tlie field of bonds In 1901 showed sales amounting to $999,404,920, which fell in 1903 to $684,200,850. The maximum was attained In 1904, when sales were $1,030,810,560, but was not great ly reduced in 1905, when sales stood at $1,018,590,420. Signs of the exhaustion of capital were already as forded in 1906 by the decline of such sales to $670,817,333, and finally to $561,651,500 in 1907.