IN I~ESPECT to general co~nm,:rcial and industrial activity, the year that has just passed into history has been the most prosperous that the United States has ever known. Tbehopefutsigns of industrial revival, which were visible towa.rd the close of tSg 5, and which were fully established throughout the year )886, appea) t(, h}/ve ve~ched their culminating" point in ~887, in which industrial operations were expanded to hitherto unequalled proportions. As is invariably the case; in tl~e recurring period.~ of prosperity, with which we have become ~,o familiar, the favoring conditions exhibit themselves most clearly in the various branches of the iron trade. The year 1886, as I had occasion to note in my summnry of progress tbr that year, was characterized at its close as the most prosperous year ever known in the history of the iron industries in the {Tnited :qtates, in which, likewise, production in all branches exceeded that of an~ previous years. The year 1887 was a no less prospe'lous one for the iron trade and was one of even greater activity. I have the high authority of Mr. James M. Swank, of the American Iron and Steel Association, fl:,r the following data respecting the Az:e,"fi'a:e iron/rag/g, for I887, which are abstracted from his annu'al review. From this it appears that production in all leading branches of the manufacttire of iron and steel was the largest in our history--larger than i~ the remarkable year 1886, when all previou~ achievement~ were left far behind. He estimates our production of pig iron in 1887 at 6,417,148 gross tons, or about 8oo,ooo tons more than in ~886, when our production was 5,683,329 tons. Our production of Bessemer steel rails in 1887 was about t,95o,ooo gross tons, or about 375,000 tons more than in 1886, when our production was },574,7o3 tons. in addition to our large prodt,ction of pig iron in ~887 we also consumed about 5oo,ooo tons of imported pig iron, and about 16o,ooo tons of imported steel rails. Our imports of iron and steel in other forms in I887 were also very large, the total importations of iron and steel in all forms aggregating nearly i,Seo,oeo tons. Our production of iron ore in 1887 was about 1 I,ooo,ooo gross tons; and our imports in the same year amounted to about 1,250,OOO tons. In 1886 we produc,'.d about to,ooo,ooo gross tons of iron ore, and imported Lo39,433 tons. In November, )887, there were in the United States ~82 blast farnaces, entitled to be classed as active, the annual capacity of which Mr. Swank estimates at about )l,oco,ooo tons. Particularly noteworthy is the great activity in ~he construction of new furnaces duri)~g the past year, esPe-. cially in the Southern States, Tennessee and Alabama, where the develop-,nent of the iro'n industries during the pa_',t two years has been exceptionally