The Business Outlook

Accortiing to th9 semi-annual circular of E. Q. Bun & Co. 's mercantile ageney, the failures for the first six months of the present year show an enormous inerease. The public mind has in 8ome measure become prepared for this rcvelation by the frequency with which these misfortunes have been chronicled by the press, but it remains for tho agency to put into shape the final resulta of fho poriod under review, and to draw from the compilation such inferenccs as appear to be warranted by the facts presented. This has been done in the usual exhoastive manner, and we condense the following from the elabórate document bef ore us. For the purposo of comparison we group togethc-r the following statement, which will illustrate at a glance tho signiftcanco of tho figures for the past six months: A'o. of Amount Failof Average ■ ríít. MabüitUê, Liabüitn'H. lst 0 montba in '7H 8,653 { 76,814,261'. fll.567 lst 6 moctlis in 76 ,600 108,416.43a 22,568 Istfimontln in '77 4,749 i 99.606,170 20.974 Is1 fi months iu '78 R.825 ' i30,832,7G' 2?,41O The failures for the halt year just closed are thus shown to be in number over 25 per cent. greater than in 1877, while the liabilities indícate a percentage of inórense still greater. These figures are of very grave import, if taken as an indication of the state of irado, for, according to the agency, never before in an eqnal period, in the history of the country, have business misfortunes been so nunaerous or aggregatiug an amount of loss by bad debts so great. Bnt, before accepting these statistics as a trae test of the present condition of business, the circular beforo us urges some considerations in mitigación of the uufavorable conclusión Tvhieh would otherwise be inevitable. These considerations are briefly synopsised as consisting of an unusually open winter, retarding sales, deliveries of produce and eollections; the discussions in and out of CoEgress of flnancial measures, and the necessary condition of uncertainty that resulted; the possibility of important chaDges in the tariff; the postponement of the date of the repeal of the Bunkrupt law, and flnally, the stcady decline in prices of merchandise and the general shrinkage of values, whinh, it is said, have been more apparent in the past sil months than ever before, espeeially whenever it became recessary to realize. In relation to these points, which are set out at length, the circular says: " We hnve thns briefly endeavored to enumérate fivo leadinj considerations, which, combined with others always existing, have had a prevailing influence in the past sis months toward increasing the figures of failures given above. When it is considered that therearenow over 700,000 persons and firms reported in active business by this agency, and of this vast army only a iimited number possess a surplus snfficient to withstand such a lengthened pc-riod of depression, disappointment and loss as it has been the fate of the country to undergo, it need not be considered as a measure of great disasfrr tliat additional circumstancf s so unfavorablo shoukl swell the failure lists to the extent recorded. That these circumstances wera only temporary in their duration, and that certain of them roay have a tendeney to lessen the number of failnres hereafter, are points in favor of the future; aud, therefore, however discouraging the figures above presented may at first appear, i would be unfair to regard them as an index to the real or permanent condition of the country."