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Show BUSINESS, TRADE, AND FINANCE. Tho week has been rather cool for the opening of spring, and yet the signs aro evident that this opening Is well along. The leafing of trees has a good start, and buds and1 blossom's are coming com-ing along- beautifully. But frost has dono some dnmago to Uie fruit Interests. Every IndlcaUon is favorable, however, for a good fruit yield, while tho ouUook for general agricultural prosperity and for the range Interests was never bettor and very yeldom so good. Tho Immediate stress Just now in the settlements is the wool shearing and marketing. This is on in full force, and competition for tho clip is eager and earnest. The railroad companies, too, arc intensely interested In, getting the freightage of the wool, it bc-ing decidedly decided-ly an object, as over ten thousand tons will bo to movo eastward In tho region of which this city j3 tho wool center, and as something llko three million dollars dol-lars will be paid for the wool of the samo region, It Is easily seen that Uie Immensity of tho business Involved In tho wool clip Justifies the eagerness of buyers in their canvass and of. the railroads rail-roads In their compeUtion. The mines continue in excellent form to givo forth their riches. Tho past month has shown a great record, as will bo noted In the summaries of sales and of product, found elsewhere in this paper, pa-per, this morning. The smelters, independent inde-pendent as well ao the combinaUon, havo dono exceedingly well tho month Just past, enlarging capacity and ad-Justing ad-Justing methods of handling- bo as to achieve the most desirable results. This Stato is one of the largest and steadiest of tho ore producers. Thoso who havo mado investments in Utah's mines have, on the wholo, done better than the aver-ago aver-ago of the mine Investments throughout tho mining region. The consequence is that Utah mines aro favorites in tho Investment In-vestment markets of tho East, and they aro certainly deserving of this confidence, confi-dence, because of tho splendid record they have made. Tho rallrn.nl ntfimtlnn olmwc nnthlmr , ..lW....b new, save tho splendid1 energy in tho pushing- of the San. Pedro, l0s Angeles & Salt Lake railway (the Salt Lako route) south from Calientes. Excellent progress 'is making; the rails aVIII soon bo laid to Las Vegas, and the gap to the southern connection will be closed now in tho counting of months, not by-years, by-years, or even one year. The contracts are kept lot well allead, 00 that tho utmost ut-most advantage can bo taken of' tho work, to push It for results. The Moffat road, building hltherwnrds from Denver, Is making excellent headway, head-way, and will havo something worth while to show for its summer campaign. Active operations at Uils end of the lino -will soon begin now, according to the ofilcial outgivings, and then tho enterprise enter-prise will seem moro real to our pec; pie. There has been nothing new on tho Western Pacific during the week, but there is ho reasdn at all now, any more than a week ago, to credit Uie report that this project had been absorbed by the Southern Pacific The formal 'denial that it has been io repeated, as is also George Gould's denial that he Is in any way connected with It; which seems to make It, a3 has all along-been claimed, a Uioroughly Independent line. And that It has admirable merit as sucli is something some-thing which Is universally admitted-General admitted-General business throughout the State, sltmulated by the excellent prospects pros-pects for good crops, (the lato storms mado this prospect extend to tho southern south-ern portions of tho State, as previous ones had mado the northern portions secure,) succulent ranges, tho great wool clip, and tha wonderful output of Uie mines, was never In quite so good a condition con-dition as now. The great iron deposits of the southern region are also likely to add materially to the otherwise excellent ex-cellent ouUook, for the Indications that they are to be made tho foundation of considerable railroad- building and extensive ex-tensive plants for utilizing tho ore, are unmistakable. In this city, business Is gooi and on a sound basis. Merchants in all lines report re-port more activity, and thcro is improvement im-provement In collections. There Is also improvement in tho Jobbing- trade, with a favorablo outlook. The bank clearances clear-ances of the past week show a falling off as compared with those of tho samo week last year, no doubt Uio causo being be-ing the backwardness of the season. Tho realty market hero is brisk, offerings offer-ings finding many takers. The demand Is largely for residence locations, but good sales of business property are also reported. The building season opens stronger than in any previous year; everywhere one; goes he sees new structures struc-tures going up for business purposes, for dwellings, and gTeat flats for rental purposes. Tho mostl conspicuous of these is the largo rooming apartments Just east of Eagle Gate, erected by Mrs. attractive appearance Throughout tho country, business is getting on a moro confident basis than it has been for a year. Tho actual strength of business conditions is manifest man-ifest In the fact that despite the cold, backward spring, tho floods, and Uie labor troubles, actual results are ha many places ahead of last year, wllch then-was Uio maximum. Extraordinary activity is expected during May? an immense demand for implements by J farmers being already manifest Distributive trado is quiet but tho cool weather has enabled- dealers to close out the remnant of their winter stocks. The labor situation is Improving, Improv-ing, and the Iron and steel industry Is on a Bteady basis. Business In general Is along conservative lines, but is, on tho whole, remarkably satisfactory, as I Dun puts it And ho continues: "Ao a rule, manufacturing plants are not working: at full capacity, Idle machinery being most extensive In textile Industries. Indus-tries. Floods and storms have interrupted inter-rupted trafllc, yet railway earnings thus far reported for April are only 6.5 'per cent smaller than last year." Business failures are about average. Tho bank clearances of tho week showed a decrease in New York of 22,2 per cent compared with tho like figures of tho corresponding week last year. In tho country nt lare the decrease jvoo but 1.5 per cent, showing remarkably stable business conditions. Tho decrease for all totals 1-1.4 per cent. ' The New York bank statement, Issued yesterday, shows a small Increase in loans, an Increase in deposits and in legal tenders, and small changes in the other Items. Its effect on the market was not noticeable. The slat ement again showed a broken record for loans and deposits, the former amounting to $1,-01D.C3CS00, $1,-01D.C3CS00, and the latter to $1,11-1.357,300. The stock market during the week wao stagnant, it shows the prostration incident inci-dent to tho over-speculation of last year, and tho suspicion felt of every effort to throw any new stock on the market. Tho present situation is decidedly better than Uie feverish anxiety last year that kept tho wholo country la a ferment, with the constant and insistent demands of Now York for more and more money to handlo Its "undigested securities." Thcro will be no more of that sort of thing for a good while, which will bo all tho better for every Interest. |