Show BUSINESS TRADE AND FINANCE The week has been enlivened by a good fall of snow which besides inn king Immediate demand for seasonable I supplies tends to assure a full water supply next season thus giving a cheerful outlook to the farmer The coal strike continues but is easing eas-ing up The company is constantly increasing the number of Its miners and the output of coal at all the camps except Castle Gate which Is wholly Idle On the other hand the strikers continue to afllrm their determination Ito I-to hold out to the last but deprecate hole violence Their demand has now been reduced to the point not of recognition rec-ognition of the union by the company but of insisting that the company should not discriminate against union men In hiring men to work The miners have also decided to appeal to the State Board of Arbitration to hear and settle the case sette Trade In this city is active in view of the season and of the oncoming holidays hol-idays The holiday trade promises to be unusually active but merchants complain of being shorthanded on account ac-count of the absence of their employees on duty as members of the National Guard The bank clearances of the city showed a decrease of 77 per cent the past week compared with those of the corresponding week a year ago The mines continue their active production pro-duction at 3 rate never before equaled while the dividends of the year will be considerably Increased by the second great distribution of the Highland Boy or 5150000 which It Is announced fron Boston will be decreed at the directors meeting of Friday next The smelters of the valley are doing great work and are keeping well up with the demands of the ore producers The railroad situation remains as hitherto the Los Angeles line Is being pushed with all energy at both sides of the gap and the work Is In good shape The Molfat line also shows due diligence and the Western Pacific has every Indication of vitality With a plentiful snowfall which Is now promised the outlook for Utah next year In Its farming live stock and general Interests Is as good as could bu desired And the Invcstiga I lions of the Utah Lake water system Lons with a view to great Government worl there in the making of the lake a mighty reservoir are about complete with every Indication of a favorable report which will Insure for the State one of the most extensive Improvements Improve-ments put In anywhere under the new National irrigation law The conditions throughout the country coun-try are excellent barrIng only the labor la-bor troubles Employment Is good In all Industrial lines at good wages except 1 ex-cept In cotton the price of which restricts re-stricts manufacture and compels re ductlon in pay of factory hands Agricultural Ag-ricultural products are In plentiful supply at better average prices for all than ever before known Dun reports cotton manufacture not encouraging but that there is evIdence of better conditions in the iron and steel industry Retail trade feels the usual impetus D the holidays approach In a few places there is still delay in handling freight promptly but as a rule trafllc facilities are adequate A significant point is noted that whll the output of pig iron declined to about a million tons in November the lowest of n month In several years furnace stocks increased to 658157 tons exceeding exceed-ing all records inG al Bradstreet reports distribution gaining gain-ing with the cold weather and the approach ap-proach of the holidays this holding good both for Jobbing and retail The improvement In crude Iron holds Rail way earnings are generally good and will show a gain of fully o per cent over November 1902 Exports continue to Increase Business failures arc about average The International Mercantile agency reports that the most encouraging information in-formation regarding the state of trade ly I found In the condensed reports from leading l lines of I the year compared with 19 Statistician Swank says the bottom has been reached In Iron and steel depression The Maryland Steel company lias an order for twenty thousand thou-sand tons of rails for Beirut no doubt for the Bagdad railway which IK quite a triumph as Germany haa been supplying sup-plying all the material for that and other railways in Asia Minor The bank clearances for tho week for the first time in many weeks showed an Increase In the great tnctropollst New York over tho corre o pondlng week last year the percent 39 In the cities age of Increase being clc outside of New York the Increase was of 42 per all for gain 2 C per cent ft al statement bank New York ent The cv bn > ef nomanltthi Hsueil yesterday had no market though in a gen feet on the thouFh cml way It was favorable The actlv stock mar ty and Irregularity of the an hot l during the week represented 01 improvement In tho speculative sent and ment although the profittaking the net have left occasional setbacks hne lef and I the strength nn esults small yet restl In at large solidity of the country Eltl such its general trade and business arc Is the shaken by hat instead of being wild speculations nnd desperate ras In New York they caution of Jobbers lave actually overcome the evil effects of Wall dissipation of tho financial Ilslpaton the rescued rC9cue Street and have once more < thepits of their own speculators from thcT > ls digging |