The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-12-24
Bank CIearings More Than Double
Those of Last Year.
ARECORD- BREAKING YEAR
GREATEST VOLUME OF BUSINESS
EVER SEEN.
December Exports Will Exceed the
Imports By Over Seventy Millions
Market For Wool Shows I'm
provement and Sales Have Been
Large-Boom In the Iron Trade.

New York, Dec. 23.-R. G. Dun q
Co.'S weekly review of trade will say
in tomorrow's issue: 1t is year be-
yond parallel, and goes to its close
with the biggest volume of business
ever seen. Enormous transactions at
the stock exchange makes some differ
ence, and heavy railroad earnings, but
when all the transporting and specula-
tive interests are eliminated, there is
still much larger business than in
any other month of any year. Last
year the exports were, in volume
greater than in any previous month IN
the history of the country, but this
year the three weeks report shows an
increase of % per cent, against 9 per
cent in imports, which would indicate
much more than $7O,000,OO0 excess of
exports this month.
The payments through clearing
houses have been for the week, $50 per
cent greater than last year, and 12.4
per cent greater than in 1892, and for
the month IT'S per cent larger than in
1882. No greater volume of business
has ever been done in the history of
this country than in the closing month
of this year.
Sales of wool have been large, 1885,
100 pounds, against %, lis, 200 pounds
last year, and 15S0, 200 pounds in this
same week of 1892, with small as well
as large manufacturers buying very
freely, which indicates a general i'm
provement in the demand for goods, al
though not enough as yet to lift prices.
The story Of the iron manufacture is
like a dream With $4,000 tons Besse-
mer pig sold at Pittsburg for $1,000 and
grey forge at S94J, and Chicago sales
tod Nv IN nj
works, and eastern sales so numerous
and so large as to raise the price %
cents, there is a demand for finished
products, which includes at Philadel-
phia 1000 tons of plates for export to
South America 5000 tons at Chicago,
where works are crowded; $4,000 tons
steel rails by the Maryland Steel COM
pany for Asiatic Russia; $4,000 tons for
Australia against British BIDS at Pitts
burg. and about 10000 tons domestic at
the east; $500 tons structural work at
T Chicago and Pittsburg, and 5000 tons
for car building at Chicago, all the
works there being crowded with heavy
buying of sheets and wire rods, and
sharp competition in the south on cot
ton ties, pending a contract for 10000
tons cast pipe for Yokohama. and sales
of smaller quantities in each class too
numerous to mention.
L Prices OF IRON ana steel products nave
not materially changed, although the
tone is everywhere stronger, and for
wire nails quotations havN been ad-
vanced to s1.2O at Pittsburg. But this
country is beating the world in this in
dustry.
All this business is done with full
belief that the next years demand will
be greater than ever before, and it is
creditable especially in the iron and
steel business, that so little advance
in prices of finished products has been
made The range of prices is nearly 20
per cent lower than in 1892 indicating
an astonishing increase in the quantity
of products exchanged. How Europe
will be able to pay more than $4,000
900 due on merchandise on account for
the month of December, besides the
enormous balances due for November
and the previous months, is question
which the country can afford to con-
slider at its leisure and with comfort.
Failures for the week have been 25S,
against 2e2 in the United States last
year, and 81 in Canada, against SO last
year.