AMERICA'S PROSPERITY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 60, 21 September 1907, Page 3

AMERICA'S PROSPERITY.

The Consular report on the trade of the United States for the year 1900 gives a remarkable account of the economic strides that country is making. It was a year in which the commerce of the United States had by far surpassed anything known before. In spite of the influx of over 1,000,000 immigrants, there was in certain industries a serious scarcity of labor, and the railroads were unable to deal satisfactorily with the immense amount of business offered to them. Though the year 1905 was also a record year, production in 1900 showed in some branches, like the iron and steel industry, an advance of between 10 and 20 per cent. In 1905 the number of employees was 33.0 per cent. greater, and their weekly earnings were 14 per cent, higher than during the ten years from 1898 to 1899. It has also been calculated that the wages paid to railwaymen and workers in manufacturing and industrial establishments in 1905 represented a gain of 57 per cent. since 1900. A good idea may be formed of the general prosperity of the country when it is taken into consideration that wages in 1906 were still higher; There are, however, as Mr Seymour Bell remarks, signs which cannot be ignored' that a reaction is likely to take place' iu the- not distant future. Another year of prosperity may be looked for, but it is generally conceded that the high-water mark has been reached. A severe panic is, of course, an impossibility owing to the diversity of American crops; but the railways are congested, money is dear, and prices of commodities are above normal, and still rising, labor is dearer than ever, and a general slowing-down is inevitable.