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Show BUSINESS AND TRADE. . The week past, being the closing- week of the year, showed the time do voted- largely to invoicing, although j trade in staple .goods was first-class during all of the week. Reports show thai 'most of the merchants will find their business away ahead of last year's transactions in magnitude aud profit. The big after-holiday n!c.g will begiu immediately, in order to clear the shelves for. the soring goods. Tho closing week of- the year was bet lei' in real estate than had been anticipated. an-ticipated. Inquiry was brisk, from all sources. Many lots aud homes of mod-1 erate cost wei'e sold. Dining the past week rcaltv dealers spent a large pur-I pur-I lion of their lime, in compiling reports and balancing their books. One of the leading linn's Viys that their realty business of the year Mirpassos that of tho orcvious vcar bv from Ihirty-fJvc lo 'fifty' per cent'. The big deals closed during dur-ing the preceding fortnight 'brought a st longer feeling-Building feeling-Building goes on iu the. building cen-lur. cen-lur. but has been .suspended temporarily, temporar-ily, in the outer seel ion. The new year promises very large, in building opera-lions, opera-lions, including at tho head of lhc list the new lii'glj school, the eapitol build-inir. build-inir. ami the administration building for the university, not forgetting the big "Walker skvsrrapcr already begun at the northeast corner of Main aud Second Youth's! reels. Collections are reported belter than al this time last year, with mouey plentiful and many loans made on goo.l seenritv. The bank clearances of Salt Lake ity for tho week showed an increase in-crease of l-l.l per cent o-ver those of the corresponding week the year before. An event of interest during the week in railroad circles was the extension of the lease to the! Qrcgon Short Bine of its present quarters for t on years -to come. Courtesies 'of the season among the railroad men visiting here, as well as among the local railway officials, have been numerous and plcasanf. 'J'he firmness of copper and the appreciation ap-preciation of copper share values have been the principal features of the past week. Hie last of the old year. The complete reversal of sentiment in re L'ai'd to copper at the year's end is due to the decreased production of tho past t.)vec month? an. 1 tho materially re diiccd world's surplus of the metal, so 11)12 for the coppers and tho copper producing industry open? bright and momising. lu mauv wavs th State of Utah has reason lo feci gratified over the successes suc-cesses of the old year, A total smeller production of ;f3;!.G-fl.loI!.7U in the face of low metal prices, against 'o3,0-S,-fiofl.l- for the previous year, and the pavn'ien t of $S.fl73,S5(J.'io in dividends, against .S.TuSTi the year before, all indicate the resourcefulness of Utah mines. The assurance that the condition condi-tion of the leading producers promises even belter rewards for 1ft 1 2 is a most gratifying foundation on which lo lay expectations, and there is not a single cloud anywhere in the linn a mout to iu-dicalc iu-dicalc trouble for the mining industry in the period just dawning. While it. may scoin a. far step from the improved stock market condition's in New York and .Boston lo brighter financial limey for Utah, it nevertheless neverthe-less is true that the rellcetiou of this eastern optimism and confidence will be seen almost immediately iu this State. It indicates easier money, a portion of which iu search of in vest men Is will j conns to develop now milling territory of the whole West. And there is no olhcV western Stale presenting opportunities op-portunities equal lo those of Ctah. A great, deal, of western capital has been locked up in the low-priccl copper cop-per stocks for . two or three years, profits are' being seen and reaped now for the first time and a considerable portion of this money will find its way into local mining channels. The Utah mines have the. advantage of economical economi-cal power, adequate railroad facilities, uncqnaled competition in smelting, and it is a matter of history in each mining min-ing district of the State that the resources re-sources are nol surface deposits, but storehouses of wealth that deK-eud Jul unsounded depths without deterioration.. Ulah closes a MbM.did year, with lb.-; certainty, of e en belter tilings to, come, The comui-rcia) agehues of the country coun-try vcp'ortv-quiet Uiide in wholesale and jobbing lines, with clearance sales be ginning earlier than usual. Cold, wcalh- j or has imparled ac.tivitv to the His-trrbuting His-trrbuting and retail trade. The holiday j tntde is reported to have been salis-1 factory. - Tho year closed with something approaching ap-proaching buoyiiucy iu some leading departments de-partments of trade. New business in iron aud steel, eame forward in heavy volume, orders for rairf being the lead-' lead-' inir feature, wilh some mills having four months' work ahead. Tho wool trade is reported fairly ac-livo ac-livo in Boston, with a turnover of; 5.000,000 to u'.OOO.OOO' pounds of wool .luring tho week, on the en me basis of prices that have prevailed. The bulk of the business has lieen iu Territory nnd domestic. Money is abundant foe all safe investment in-vestment purposes; but it is-still shy of "the sired." There is no indication of a uv .flurry or distress, and the indications indi-cations for the future are bright from eerv standpoint. The year goes out in a satisfactory manner from Hie business busi-ness standpoint, with abundant signs of revival and strength. . |