The public have been startled by the announcement that during the
year 1889 there were 11,719 business failures in the United
States, against 10,587 in 1888 and 9,740 in 1887. The estimated
liabilities of last year's insolvents were $140,359,000 and the
assets were $70,599,000, against $120,242,000 liabilities and
$61,999,000 assets for the failures of the previous year. Thus the
failures in 1889 were more in number and far greater in
liabilities than for 1888, and the proportion of assets to the
obligations shows that the total insolvency was more disastrous.
Why in a season of profound peace, with no blighting frosts or
withering droughts, and the most abundant yield from the field,
forest, and mine so many in business have gone to the wall, no one
seems able to answer. Many have tried their hand at a solution of
the problem, and not one, as far as we can discover, has satisfied
even himself with the result of his investigations.