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EXTRACTS FROM BRADSTREET'S REVIEW OF THE BUSINESS YEAF High Costs Check All Buying?Ac tivity Early Gives Place to Depression. MinPtPAn liiindrer? ?nr? tfrwen-K* ttiaa " ' ? easily lay claim to having been on< of the biggest, though not one of th< best, years in trade, manufacture and industry. Some new high rec ords were set up in financial lines an< in industrial output, though it wil hardly be claimed that the year was as profitable in all lines as were som< others when outputs were smalle: and prices* were lower but when fina margins were larger. Closing, as i does, with wholesale trade stagnant retail trade below that of recen r years, manufacturing output restrict ed, unemployment, including reduce< working lime in industry, rarely, ij ever, equaled, collections backward and depression widespread, the stam] Hit of success as to the past is missing and the outlook as to the future fa: Jess favorable than prospects at it: outset led .the business world gener ally to expect. Indeed, the genera feeling is to regard it as a yea whose results might best be soon for gotten were it not for the useful les sons that . costly experience ha taught, not only to this country bu i to the entire world. . The .fact is that the year jus closed was tihe true heir of 1919, an< as such it reaped to the full the re P suits of the bad seed sown in 1919 this referring to the extravagance ii buying for which the latter year wa preeminently noted, the piling up o > - unreasonable <temands by labor, am ?he increasing of costs beyond th< ability of a people to pay who ha< Already been taxed to the apparen limit to carry on a confessedly sue MMfnl fcht. immensely expensive wai The waste of that and earlier years most of it unavoidable?because \via is and always has been wasteful o life and. property?finally deniande a recokning, and its payment bid fair to he a heritage for some years this respeet, wkiie thi3 country ha not had to pay the price in dead tha other countries nearer.the scen^ o active hostilities have had to should er, .tfoe effects of the conflict, th r\f linwid; canital involved, th lowering of moral tone that followe the exaltation of the war itself, th extravagance engendered, the heart burnings involyed, the straits t which the ordinary man and womar debarred from profiting by the con .were reduced, should act a guideposts for centuries to come an "<*?l ftf oiwiHifttinn's disar WiV ijvm wa v> t .. ? ^ , ' proval and "ondemnation on thos who would ligh^earte^ly talk of wa as a solverof problems, at who, -wit the ternbli' (^jtaDgples visile on ever hancjy oppose anyreasonabl means of rendering future co'nflid \ impossible. A Glance at the Past. Whatever the causes?whether fch *->??' J^ oni4 irnlnetr overurk?u*& -ut uat^c auu with excessivi costs?overproduetio certainly did not affect ail lines?th k exhaustion e?motyle supplies o money, as shown by the marking u; |?V of loans early in the year and thei J maintenance,until the late months, o the attenfl&iioihr of credit to a de gree wher*3a Jhatt had to be calle on the raising pf prices of commodi ties to a point1 where further bujqnj became impossible?the year 192; * willprobabfyr be memorable for wha is bow freely*termed the "buyers lLrH ^^afcrike" -or the "revolt of the buyer.3 it would be difficult to fix the da,t at which this "doing without" move ment nrst oecame noticeable as i - ' - ^ ^ m? t insr&Gt iscxor> ixctecsiij* uujmg vu ly was urgM. <|fcrly in our war year g? - as a national duty; later it becam* an apparent'necessity with a larg< part of the jmblfc. Lost sight of fo: a time in 1919 when the strain o: war was lifted, it was again actively preached by.'pttblic men when th< snowstorm of strikes struck the coun '* * " t _ i ?* n4- VTAQV try m tne laze-summer ux tnu't, Lf and was powerfully enhanced by th< countless exhibitions of extravagance to which easily extorted wage ad vances gave rise. Signs of public impatience wit! the steadily; mounting cost of livin< grew as the ,year 1919 waned, bu F were apparently lost sight of in th< holiday buying orgy at the close o: that year. The momentum acquire< in 1919'was sufficient to carry trad< ?-->-"11" of O vorv Jlifrh VOlum< ^CUCldii; u . wtJ ?-o~ ihroughout the first month of las year, but severe yreather, the tie-*u] of traffic and the acute congestion o: transportation noted earlier in th>i year, but culminating in the winte: and early spring of 1919-20, slowec down trade generally in the secont month and the index numbers of Feb rugfx 1 and March 1, making j % nearly flat line on published charts was a visible sign that wholesah prices were about at their peak Brighter weather in the spring month: i. and the approach and passing of Eas ter gave a temporary fillip to trade while prices were driven upwart temporarily by the switchmen'! H;" . i P ' I ; T strike of early April. By that time, t'howaver, public abstention from buy- ' j ing had bccome marked at retail, and 1 .'early May sSw a big outburst of ad- ' ? i vertismg naving ior ius aim ui<j moving of slow-selling stocks. 1 Some Measures of Movement. i j By and large, the past .var was ] ?! one of licfuidation in industrial se- 1 ;! curities and commodities, of attempt- i i | ed readjustmnt of all values from a " -f swollen war and post-war level, and ' 1 of a slaughter of prices of commo- i 1 diti'es at wholesale. The -return of 1 5 the expensively?and badly?run < ; | railways to their owners was signal- : 1 - * ? * - :i i , rjized Dy a moderate rise in lanwa) oajj 11 distinct from industrial shares, the j t weakness of the latter and the grow-1 , ing reaction in trade and industry, t! however, finally involving the former, - J as well as bonds of all kinds, in final < liend of year depression. Not the least < ? | imposing feature of this liquidation, ' I j by tfie way, was its continuance, with j-< ) j rather feeble rallies, over the period : II from early November, 1919, to late . rj December, 1920, a period of 14 i - I T^nr-in nr -(-Via vpnr t.hp fore iff n j ;iiUiibiXO. V?4W J W? 0 - J exchange markets were greatly ex- J < 1 j cited, and while early low-record lev-. r j e?ls in British exchange were notj< - quite reached later, rates of ex-) -! change on other countries .in most in-1 s stances touched bottom twice at j t widely separated periods. Sales of shocks did not greatly t expand with the liquidation, and agl gregate sales were much below those _ of 1919 while slightly less than those of 1916. Bond sales broke all rec-j 11 ords, for which dealings in the war j s j crop of Liberty and Victory bonds, j f j that were liquidated freely by busir^jness houses as a result of higher b money rates and credit restriction, j were responsible. Municipal bqnd t sales were slightly below those of j - 1919. New incorporations and new; . domestic capital issues were of rec-j i ord size. Federal revenues were in-' '? , r creased heavily by taxes, and the f national debt showed a decrease ded spite what were regarded as extravs agant expenditures. Money in cir j, j culation increased jn luuu V UlLUiiV i s j and in percapita allowance. For-1 t eign trade broke all records, alike in, f exports and in imports, though ex- J [_ ports never in any month reached e the food-swollen totals of June, 1919.' e Imports reached from the high rec3 ord June, 1920, total. The excess of e exports over imports was pared down y from earlier records. Exports and o imports of gold exceeded those for tf the preceding "two years, but silver oYnnr+s were smlhttNtanrite the very i- i v*?r " c high prices ruling early as a result of j & Par Eastern buying. The bank clear-/ ings of the country in 11 months, e equaled the record breaking annual r record of 1919,-but this excess was I h due* largely to early months',totals y-dwarfiftg the corres?<mding periods i? the'year;.before, because the totals 31 ' g the last quarter of 1919 were never thereafter equaled. It was frequent-! (Iy said that, owing to our possession, and operation of he federal reserve banking system, the often predicted ??fm'io/1 fn jirrive we werc^ UctlilC IldUr J.MUVU - _ n" . \ - i at least spared this old time Ameri... can luxury?and this was true' to the. 1 extent that bank runs were rare, exp c6pt in the Ponzi troubles at Boston and the small agricultural bank suspensions in North Dakota and other J western states, but the volume of failure liabilities as a whole practically equaled those of he panic years ^ 1907 and 1914, though the commercial failures were comparatively light, 1" ?1? 1Q1Q Hnrinp ! . e:-aceeaing omy wiuoc vx the present century. As to this, the fat profits of preceding years were " reported snfficient to cary many dealers through a not very profitable cal' endar year, but the record addition ; 'I to those in business in 1919-20 may > contain some elements of future liquidation. B v Retreat of Commodity Prices. J Nineteen hundred and twenty was ; an almost exact reverse of 1919 in j 1 the mowment of prices, although this i a 1 \ ' , 1 t a I White Cups and Saw I White Cups and Sauc j Figured Cups and Sa ; Gilt Cups and Sauce i I Flowered Cuds and J 11 . ii Bowls, $l.O0*now \\ Bowls, 75c, now ij Bowls, 50c, now Come while you can 1 iiiiemmhmii 1 mi tun na r% : Mayes do i ? - -?"?1 does not show in the yearly averages, which show striking similarities for three years past. After hesitation in the first quarter of the year 1919, prices very generally moved upward until socalled war prices were dwarfed. In 1920, after somewhat parallel hesitancy in the same period, the I'onn'l +Vinnrrh inforfprorl wit.Vl hv the UA VUUj WiVU^ii vv ^ switchmen's strike in April, which introduced actual famine to some cities, was pretty geenrally downward, declines at first, moderate expanding as the year advanced, until the record decline of November, recorded in the index number as of December 1 (13 per cent.), involved a net drop from the peak point of February 1 of 34.6 per cent., the December 1 number being the lowest recorded since November 1, 1916. In other words, the general level of wholesale prices on De "* ??~ Miilivtn* in cemDer x was uciuw tuao .*** j the months immediately preceding our break with "Germany over (the submarine warfare, but although the December 1 level was still 5G per cent, above the price levei of August 1,1914, more than half (60 per cent., to. be exact) of the six year war and post-war advance had been canceled. The Year's Crop. The drawback to the year's results * 11 - * v\>*t.AAc< lay in tne icjss sitLisiciuuui.^ <^nvco cured as a result of the great decline in prces from the high levels of the preceding crops. The department of agriculture puts the decrease in value at $4,039,000,000, or 35 per cent, from the high record of 1919. but this big cut seems rather over stated when the details are looked into. Of wheat, for instance, a big quantitywas exported at higher prices than in 1919; of corn, only about 20 per cent. 11 * A ? r*v?o in leaves me iarm m uie iUl ill vjx. . The money loss in wheat and corn is given as aggregating $2,334,000,000. The loss in cotton was coneededly 'large, as all that crop leaves the farm and did not leave it this year until the price was much below last year. The fact is that even accenting the very low crop value estimate of the department, the return to the farmer, December 1 prices used, was in ov/.oac nf nnvthinsr Drevious to .1917, and 1915 and 1916 were not poor years for the American fanner. However, in respect to prices, the farmer is merely' experiencing what the j wholesaler and> manufacturer in ' business has had to suffer. Despite ' the heavy loss suffered by the wheat j farmer, the agricultural department j places it at $672,000,000, the area! rJo-ntorl to that cereal this year is; estimated at 40,605,000 acres, a lossj of only 2.8 per cent, from a year ago J and of 20 per cent, from the war j acreage record of 1918, while _ the | Condition is given as 87*,9> compared with "85:2 -a year ago. . \ Looking /Forward. Divergent viewa'?are, held ^s to the admittedly clouded outlook. Those i inclined to take the cheerful side I point to the absence thus far of acute financial, especially banking, troubles, j the conceded easing of the strain onj credit from the peak point of midau-1 tuihn, the evidences of price revisions j having brought nearer the point J where conditions, those affecting; money included, relatively speaking, J mas'- be expected to be stabilized, the j great. ha'bic -.wealth of the; country, i really untouched by the events of the j year, and the demonstrated ability of j the. American to adapt himseilf to and 1 *- TVio iyHipt less' masxer . umicuiiuco. ~ favorable views advanced have to do with the spread of unemployment, the slowing down of industries, the injection of short time and wage reductions into the situation, this tending to hamper guying ability among large sections of country, and the asserted crippling of the farming interests, heralded .a3r meaning . r.dueed! purchasing power among producers,' and as threatening the very basas of ? _ j? ! trade and industry, the production, 01 j staple food and other crops.\ Only,' bhe very sanguine apparently look for j / / :ers, $1.20 set, now :ers, $2.00 set, now ucers, $2.00 set, now .... rs, $2.50 set, now saucers, $2.50 set, now save money on your, chi 1 y * I".-. i i i a swift reaction from what econom-l ists describe as the secondaiy phases, of crises and depressions, the slow,' painful and altogether unpalatable processes of- recovery from industrial disorganization and reduced production. Without attempting to make any hard and fast predictions, indeed with pvptv Hicnnci+irm trw Iraon ?* V f v* j VV VUV Vi. ; the ranks of the prophets?who are proverbially lacking in honor in their own country?it may be well to set down a few facts which have a bearing upon the working out of either of these forecasts. In the first place, it apparently needs to be again brought to the attention of the fainthearted that this country has so far come through lightly from the troubles which have I beset the world as the result of the overweening ambition of .the German militarists; that our present trade and industrial troubles, due in part to our own extragavanges, are the natural results of the antecedent causes, and that it is best that the reckoning came as early as it did. In other words, our condition might have been a whole lot worse?it is certainly a great deal better than is the lot of our European friends and allies. The industrial worker may be idle in unprecedented numbers and a fraction of his pay (25 per cent., perV> orva \ VmcM-Xiiari pnf hnt. Vip TmH an opportunity to prepare for the inevitable reaction, while the farmer, mourning the tfat returns of 1919, should not forget that his money and crop returns are'better than in 1914, 1915 or 1916, Which were not esteemed bad years at the time. For the great mass of people who did not directly gain by extravagant wages or prices, the return to saner price levels is a nearly unmixed good, and all three of the groups cited have the knowledge that, as a result of readjustments, a dollar'goes and will go further than it did in recent days of socalled boundless prosperity. The fact is that, for a while at least, business will need, tjie present quiet pe: riod to recastc.its ideas, form new plans and prepare to put in opera tion new and fcetter conceptions. As put by one obfeelrver, the old figures are blurred and^ new ones must be prepared. v It is hardly! Bo be hoped that the present readjustment will not go far enough to retrird a large number of those who in tHt^past year and in unprecedented numbers sought the profits of a bu^ness life with a modicum of busings?) equipment and a deficiency of ability to succeed. It " might be well i? we. were able to for get some of the_events of our recent m "silk hat era'^f extravagance were it not for the lessons conveyed that in the long ratability, education and. experience are .-also entitled "to their reward. Perhaps no better service could be done*;the Amrican business man, wage earner or farmer than to hoid up to bis^'eyes the example of battfletorn France, which in its patient rebuilding of its shattered for- . tunes, this ye&r* shows a gain in its export trade comparing favorably with all but the very largest gains in our own. With the experience of ? some past years of stress in mind, I one is inclined to look askance at J * efforts to "medicine men" of both parties to offer patent nostrums to the people in .the belief that acts of congress will arrest, delay or mitigate the working out of the great natural forces now in operation. The patient's fever seems to have broken, and there remains now the process of building up his strength, for which time and care are the main re- ^ quisites. C L?.? ci:_u a 1 l>rumpiun-ijiigu. ^ j On Wednesday afternoon, Decern--rj ber 29, Miss Mary Crumpton and Mr. i G. H. Sligh, both of Prosperity, were married at the St. Paul's parsonage, . . the Rev. S. P. Koon officiating. % f A $1.00 v $1.50 :T $1.50 $2.00 f< $2.00 J1 75c h 60c c' 35c f na. " iety Store - ' fcj - : Statemer The En of r> At close of hu i - j i (. \ Loans and investments Bonds owned Cash on hand and in I * l Capital Stock Surplus and undivided Deposits R ediscounts Bills payable Dividends unpaid I " I I II /' . It gives us great pie dial relations of the pa of their banking busine v Wishing all of our : kt \r / perous i^ew i ear. H. L. PARR, ] President. W. G. HOUSEAL, ( Vice Pres. / iji n v PREST-O-LI Last to ri ' ?' ; / X PHAT new storage 1 * bought at a bigjaj lie good old-dctys hav 'rest-O-Lite has done leav}' redaction in co ret quality has been i nd reserve power for Iways been famous, i L full powered batter raiting for you at the 1 your car will give y f your old battery stil andsome allowance i aving in addition to t jw price will give yoi Caroli it of the Condit ichange lewberry, S. ( siness Decemb< (Condensed) * RESOURCES. I, >anks.. ,rv 7 LIABILITIES. pro tits i >asure to express gratifi st, assuring our friends ss intrusted to us. friends and customers I i VI. L. SPEARMAN, 1 v; Vice President. S. B. CROMER, Attorney. I ? II - I tery Pri< TE batteries aise, first to , ? V * battery your car n ad substantial savin e really come back to restore the low < st of your new bat! iaiHIv maintained. -? J which the Prest-C is greater than eyer ? y of correct size for new price. A Pr IJ _? i OU a worm ui scuisj I il has some value, w n buying a new bat he substantial disco 1. na Aut< ion of I Bank ' c. it 31,1920 * . ?- t . " v .? i" '''. ' .r * . , - , $ 1,386,220.61 107,750.00 95,448.09 j $ 1,584,4IS. YU , m mUL 0| $ 100,000.00 80,083.47 H 965,763.88 H 70,169.35 ^ f>i*A AAA All V 1 jp*tjWv?vv h 4,402.00 ^ $ 1,584,418.70 " ? ;*.% > !;" . V, 1 cation over the cor' 1 . i' . " . *' of our appreciation . . '.{'/ ' ... . ' f . L " . - / ?.. m' n'i'. ! i,happy, ana, pros; ' v- ? j-V*-' mmmmmm?mim -j iV. B.WALLACE, Cashier. H. T.CANNON, Asst. Cashier.; i. ^ - l.-:1 ' - ' .? > .'"/ ^ f ? ?; 'i* .' ' , ' *. ? i' : i >;;; ; '.? >' . i' . .' V ? ' - (i .-t>U> ' <: > : .-i Vir i-war * ' w' ' ' ' -r . ' > i ,v;; ces for all cars t? / ' : . ' ' reduce ~,* s - . * . H". ' t' y ' > ? '/-* ' \ eeds can now be gTlbu will thintwhen you see what cost of motoring. ; *- f : Cr *" r ' " : * . '/> . tery. That unusual pep )-Lite battery has to-day. . . ..." j your car is ready, est-O-Lite battery :action. e will make you a tery, a still further unt that the new Jl .Co. I