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Show THE COPPER INDICATOR. ; an indicator of business conditions, copper is the i- it. When the demand for copper is great, and the price is rising, you may be sure that business busi-ness is active and prosperity increasing. It is even a better indicator than steel, because, while steel i3 used in building and railroad and bridge construction, construc-tion, the demand for it is somewhat specialized. Th-J use of copper is more diversified. It is the "hurry-I "hurry-I up" metal of the business world, and is used not only in telephone, telegraph, trolley line and electric light construction, but its use is rapidly increasing in all kinds of manufacturing machinery. Electrical Electri-cal manufacturing is rapidly replacing steam, from . the little one-horse key and umbrella repairer's shop to the largest factories. Consequently, as the vol ume of general business increases, more and more of this hurry-up metal is required, for "hurry-up" is the watchword of American business life. The price of copper, therefore, is a truer index of business busi-ness activity than anything else today. The price must correspond with the demand. The difficulty of fixing an artificial price on it was demonstrated last fall, when a syndicate with something like a hundred million dollars failed disastrously in the attempt. For several weeks past the price of copper has been rising, not by artificial boosting,"Dut rather in spite of efforts to keep it down. Consumers held off from buying, using all of their surplus stock and odds and ends, in hopes that the price would go down. They finally got to a point where they were compelled to buy copper to meet the demands of their business, and the result was a stiffening of the price. The rise is caused, not by a special demand from any one source, but it is general, and the demand de-mand is increasing. This is a sure indication of increasing activity in all lines of business. It is a very unusual condition for business to actively ac-tively increase during a presidential election, espe cially following a severe panic such as occurred last fall. Business men generally looked for a quiet year, and the advice of bankers and financiers of all kinds was to rest on the oars until after the election. elec-tion. But the tide is setting in so strongly that it simply cannot be held back, and the wise and far-seeing far-seeing ones are now taking advantage of it. It looks as if business men were not much worried over the outcome of the election; either because each one is sure that his candidate will be elected, or that the opposing candidate will be elected, or that he does notAre which is elected. Wrhat they can plainly see is, that the crops of the country are so great that they will bring millions of dollars in from foreign for-eign countries, that the production of gold is exceeding ex-ceeding that of any year in the history of the world, and that no individual, no matter what office he ,i .. . .i . . jiuiua, can prevent xne operation oi these two basic causes from resulting in the greatest wave of prosperity pros-perity in our history. When the election is over, and he timid ones gain confidence, the full effects will be seen; but the wise ones who are getting in j now will reap the principal harvest. . Salt Lake City, of course,' is going right ahead as usual. No one would know that there had been av panic last fall, and that there was a presidential election on now. The building activity here exceeds all records, and many large buildings are being delayed de-layed because it is impossible to get brick fast enough. There i9 not an idle workman in the city, except through his own choice. There are projects under way in the country 'surrounding Salt Lake City which will make it the metropolis of oneof the richest agricultural regions in the world. These will be referred to more particularly next week. |