The excess exports in the last ten months therefore amounted to the remarkable total of $523,000,000 which is greater than the entire amount of exports a generation ago.

It is generally the case that more attention is paid to foreign trade by our manufacturers and merchants during periods when the domestic trade seems depressed. While much of this great gain in exports is due to the exertions of our own business men, much credit is also due to the assistance rendered by the State Department at Washington, which through its various trade bureaus and other modernized equipment, as well as through an improved diplomatic and consular service, has accomplished much in aiding our merchants by valuable information and otherwise, to get a larger share of the foreign markets for which the leading industrial countries of the world are such eager competitors. In this connection it should be noted that during the year the Chamber took action first, in favor of the legislation for further consular reform; and, second, protesting against any reduction in the annual appropriation for the State Department such as would cripple the effectiveness of its service in behalf of the export trade of the United States.

TRADE.

Further progress has been made in the material THE DOMESTIC prosperity of the country. Our national development may be retarded in its rate of progress by political and economic changes, but it cannot be stopped. Throughout the world there are signs of social unrest, and business in its various branches has been more or less affected thereby. In the United States big problems are in the course of solution in the melting pot of public opinion, and business men have been, and still are, deeply concerned and anxious as to the outcome.

But the population of the United States is growing rapidly, the intelligence of its people is advancing, and with this increase in population and intelligence, new wants are developed. New demands are thereby created, and this, in spite of the depressing influence of disturbing agitation, is tending to bring consumption closer to productive capacity. This is the substance of the situation of domestic trade as this review is written.

During the first months of 1912 there has been an unmistakable increase in industrial activity. This has been most conspicuous in the iron and steel trade, while in the dry goods trades there has been a complete reversal of the conditions of severe industrial depression which prevailed in 1911. Business confidence has been strengthened, and with large supplies of money, depleted stocks of merchandise, a wholesome conservatism coupled with a renewal of hopeful enterprise, the business situation has, on the whole, made a gratifying advance. The following table showing bank clearings in New York by months during the six months ending in April in the past five years, reveals the changes in business activity since the panic of 1907-1908:

CLEARINGS.

1907-1908.

November....

$5,500,742,000

December..

January..

February...

March.

April........

$7,814,304,086

$8,073,875,714

8,024,804,888

8,111,811,068

8,530,248,570

8,835,581,539

7.296.165.447

7.312.648,364

1908-1909. 1909-1910. 1910-1911. 1911-1912. $8.191,022,801 $9.063,576,652 5,349,926,000 9.266,286,519 9,906,738,804 6,750,274,000 8.884,299,694 11,249,075,980 4,896.030,000 6,887,705,324 8.151,140,061 5,501,040,000 7,486.838,119 9.046,183,612 7,621,600.905 8,416,954,222 5,487,574,000 8.614.728,677 8.341.662.171 6.969,812,493 8,830,155,518 $33,485,586,000 $49,330,081,134 $55,758.377,280 $46.256,936,389 $49,581,026,425

In the six months ending April 30, 1907, (preceding the panic) the total clearings in New York amounted to $52,034,865,000. In the corresponding six months, 1097-1908, there was a big falling off to $33,485,586,000. In 1908-1909, there was a recovery to $49,330,081,134 which was increased to $55,758,377,280 in the corresponding six months 1909-1910. Then came another recession in the following year to $46,256,936,389 succeeded by an expansion to $49,581,026,425 in the last six months ending April 30, 1912. During the first four months of this year bank clearings in New York increased 9.8 per cent. but the gain outside of this financial and commercial center was almost as great, being 9.4 per cent. Every part of the country participated in the improvement. The total clearings in the United States in the four months January, February, March and April were $57,707,435,060 against $52,638,375,326 in 1911.

The following table gives the total clearings of the New York Clearing House for the calendar years ending December 31, 1911, 1910, 1909, 1908, 1907 and 1906:

Inasmuch as the improvement in business activity did not begin to show itself until near the end of the year this table is a record rather of the past than of the current conditions.

An examination of the consolidated statements of the national and state banks and trust companies of New York on various near dates, during the past five years, confirms these observations. The table printed on page xxxvii gives the statements of these banking institutions on identical dates in November 1908, 1909 and 1910, to which is added a statement of close dates in December, 1911, and February, 1912. From this table it appears that the year's deposits of the banks and trust companies declined from $2,992,946,400 in November, 1908; to $2,908,309,900 in November, 1909, and to $2,794,821,700 in November, 1910; advancing to $2,927,821,800 in December, 1911; while in February-March, 1912, they totalled $3,225,875,900 the highest point reached in these years. In November, 1907, the total deposits were $2,547,189,000 and in August, 1909, $2,374,414,800.

A five year's comparison of banking conditions in New York makes an interesting exhibit. Comparing the statements of February 1912, with November, 1906, a period of five years, including a statement a year before the panic of 1907, and a statement four years after that convulsion, we find the following percentages of increase :

*National Banks reporting December 5th. State Institutions reporting December 21st. +National Banks reporting February 20th. State Institutions

reporting March 21st.

The great increases in deposits and cash holdings are the notable features of this exhibit.

The holdings of cash of these institutions on given dates, together with the percentages of cash to gross deposits, are as follows:

One of the notable features of the economic situation has been the world wide uplift of prices. While there is dispute as to the cause of this uplift, some attributing it to the big gold production, and many others to the natural operation of the law of supply and demand, there is no dispute as to the fact of the advance in the general price level. This is clearly disclosed by the record of index price numbers supplied by BRADSTREET'S.

During the past year the Chamber, on report from the Committee on Finance and Currency, took action favoring the establishment on the initiative of the United States Government, of an international commission to study and report upon the cost of living. President TAFT in a message to Congress advocated such a commission.

The record of sales on the New York Stock Exchange revields the depression existing in the securities market during 1911. The total