i IXANCIAL KEV1EW OF 1901. 



FINE ARTS IN 1901. 



.Ian. 1. 1002. Immediately after the an- 



.jjin-ment of the details of the organization of 

 i in- Northern Securities Company the Governor of 

 Minnesota expressed the opinion that the agree- 

 ment provided for the consolidation of the Great 

 Northern and the Northern Pacific, and that 

 these being competing roads, such consolidation 

 would be in violation of the State law. He also 

 called the attention of the Governors of North 

 Dakota. \Yashington, and Idaho, in which States 

 these roads were also operated, to this matter in 

 order that thev too might take action. The offi- 

 cers of the Northern Securities Company, how- 

 ever, claimed that consolidation of the roads was 

 not intended, the company being formed solely 

 for the purpose of holding the stocks of the roads. 

 Deposits of these stocks began soon after the com- 

 pletion of the organization of the Securities 

 Company, and by the end of November nearly all 

 of such 'shares liad been turned over to the new 

 corporation. 



Gross earnings of 206 railroads during the first 

 six months of the year showed an increase of 

 #08.181,730 compared with the corresponding peri- 

 od in the previous year. In July the gain by 113 

 roads was $12,019,349; in August 121 roads re 1 - 

 ported gains of $12,098,685; in September 102 

 roads gained $6,536,704 ; and in October the gains 

 by 105 roads were $8,232,194. For ten months 

 ending Oct. 31 100 roads reported earnings of 

 $624,640,241, an increase compared with the corre- 

 sponding period last year of $58,273,840. None 

 of the roads, excepting the Mexican, showed im- 

 portant decreases. 



Manufacturing Industries. Among the 

 most important consolidations of capital in manu- 

 facturing enterprises was that in the steel indus- 

 try in February, when, as elsewhere noted, the 

 United .States Steel Corporation was organized 

 with a capital of $1,100,000,000 to take over the 

 principal iron and steel producing plants of the 

 country. The chief object of this consolidation, 

 the regulation of the output and the mainte 

 nance of prices for the manufactured articles, ap- 

 peared to be attained, though the foreign de- 

 mand for these products was smaller than in the 

 previous year. The strike of steel workers, which 

 began in July and ended in September, seemed to 

 have little influence in checking production, and 

 in October there was a marked increase in the de- 

 mand for iron and steel which caused a sharp ad- 

 vance in the prices in the following month. It was 

 then estimated that the output of steel rails for the 

 year would be about 2,700,000 tons, and of pig-iron 

 16,650,000 tons. The yield of pig-iron was par- 

 tially restricted in November, owing to a de- 

 ficiency in the supply of coke. Another impor- 

 tant consolidation early in the year was that of 

 the Amalgamated Copper Company. This was 

 >wed by litigation with a view to prevent the 

 absorption of Montana mines and, concurrently 

 the statistical position of copper had a depress- 

 ing effect upon the domestic industry. Imports of 

 copper from Mexico, Australia, and Chili were 

 large in November, thus decreasing the foreign 



ible supply and greatly augmenting stocks in 

 manufacturers' hands. Hence the unsettled mar- 



i toward the end of the year. There was an 

 expansion in the tobacco-manufacturing industry 

 and an absorption by the American Company of 

 large plants in England and also in the United 

 In November there was active competi- 

 tion between the Consolidated and the Universal 

 companies for the control of the McAlpin plant 

 which resulted in its acquisition by the former 

 A corporation with a capital of $50.000,000 was 

 projected in November to control the zinc-smelt- 



ing companies, with a view to regulate production 

 and increase profits. There was no special fea- 

 ture in the cotton-manufacturing industry until 

 August, when the Fall River Selling Committee 

 was dissolved. This committee, it may be noted, 

 had been in existence since October, 1898, and it 

 was organized to regulate production and prices 

 of print-cloths. A movement developed after its 

 dissolution for a reduction in rates of wages, 

 manufacturing being somewhat unprofitable at 

 the then prevailing rates because of high prices 

 for the staple, but the proposed reduction was 

 abandoned. Then M. C. D. Borden came to the re- 

 lief of the market, as he had done on previous oc- 

 casions, and offered to take the whole supply of 

 print-cloths at an advance of one-sixteenth of a 

 cent per yard. This caused a temporary improve- 

 ment in the market. Early in October the situa- 

 tion became unsettled, owing to the refusal of 

 manufacturers to advance wages. Toward the 

 end of November there seemed to be some pros- 

 pect of an adjustment of wage differences through 

 a convention of textile operatives at which South- 

 ern mills would be represented. The woolen and 

 the silk manufacturing industries were active 

 during the greater part of the year, and trade con- 

 ditions were fairly prosperous. 



Incorporations of new industrial companies 

 during eleven months ending Nov. 30, 1901, indi- 

 cated a total capitalization of $2,805,605,000, 

 against $2,255,075,000 for the corresponding pe- 

 riod in 1900. 



Imports of unmanufactured material showed 

 only slightly increased values until October, 

 when there was a gain, partly due to the above- 

 noted importations of copper. The decreased ex- 

 ports of manufactures of this metal, however, 

 caused more or less of a reduction in the total of 

 the export movement of manufactured goods, and 

 at the end of November these exports for the 

 eleven months were $362,392,181 against $408,- 

 529,105 for the corresponding period last year. 



Commercial failures for eleven months ending 

 Nov. 30 were 9,594, involving $118,358,793 of lia- 

 bilities, against 8,833, involving $109,913,257 for 

 the same time in 1900. 



FINE ARTS IN 1901. Under this title are 

 treated the principal art events of the year ending 

 with December, 1901, including especially the 

 great exhibitions in Europe and the United States, 

 sales and acquisitions of works of art, and erec- 

 tion of public statues and monuments. 



Paris. The two Salons are now permanently 

 housed in the Grand Palais des Champs Elys6es, 

 constructed to serve the same purposes as the old 

 Palais de PIndustrie, which occupied very nearly 

 the same site, and in which the annual Salons had 

 been held since 1855. The new Palais, which is 

 the property of the state and is under the admin- 

 istration of the Beaux Arts, was occupied last 

 year by the Centennial Exhibition of Art. The 

 two Salons are lodged on the same floor, separated 

 from each other by only a thin partition, the 

 Artistes Frangais on the Avenue Nicolas II, the 

 Societe Nationale on the Avenue d'Antin. 



Paris: Salon of the Artistes Frangais. The 

 officers of the Societe des Artistes Frangais for 

 the year are : Honorary Presidents, Le"on Bonnat, 

 Edouard Detaille, Jean Paul Laurens; President, 

 William Bouguereau; Vice-Presidents, A. Bar- 

 tholdi, Louis Henri Georges Scellier de Gisors; 

 Secretaries, J. G. Vibert, G. Lemaire, J. L. Pascal, 

 A. Mongin; Corresponding Secretary, Albert Mai- 

 gnan; Secretary-Treasurer, E. A. Boisseau. 



The annual exhibition (May 1 to June 30) 

 comprised 4,812 numbers, classified as follow: 

 Paintings, 2,092; cartoons, water-colors, pastels, 



