The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1908-08-29
THE COPPER INDICATOR.


an Indicator of business conditions copper is
the |, st. When the demand for copper is great,
and the price is rising, you may be sure that bust
ness is active and prosperity increasing. 1t is even
better Indicator than steel, because while steel is
used i'll building and railroad and bridge construc-
tion the demand for it is somewhat specialized The
use of copper is diversified 1t is the hurry
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 Eectri-
cal manufacturing is rapidly replacing steam, from
the little onehorse key and umbrella repairers 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 truer index of bust
ness activity than anything else today. The price
must correspond with the demand. The difficulty
of fixing artificial price on it was demonstrated
last fall, when syndicate with something like
hundred million dollars failed disastrousy in the
attempt.
For several weeks past the price of copper has
been rising not by artificial boosting but 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 point where they were
compelled to buy copper to meet the demands of
their business and the result stifenng of the
price. The rise is caused, not by special demand
from any one source, but it is general, and the de-
mand is increasing. This is a sure indication of
increasing activity in all lines of business
1t is a very unusual condition for business to ac-
lively increase during presidential election espe-
cally following severe panic such as occurred last
fall. Business men generally looked for quiet
year, and the advice of bankers and fnanciers of
all kinds was to rest the oars until after the cleo
ton But the tide is setting in so strongly that it
simply cannot be held back, and the wise and far.
seeing ones taking advantage of it. 1t looks
as if business 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
not care which is elected What they can plainly
see is that the crops of the country are so great
that they will bring millions of dollars in from for
eign countries that the production of gold is ex-
ceedng that of any year in the history of the world
and that no individual, no matter what office he
holds, prevent the operation of these two basic
causes from resulting in the greatest of pros
perity in our history. When the election is over,
and the tmid gain confidence, the full effects
will be SEEM but the wise ones who are getting in
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
a panic last fall and that there was presidential
election The building activity here exceeds
all records, and many large buildings are being de-
layed because it is impossible to get brick fast
enough There is not an idle workman in the citv.
except through his choice. There are projects
under way in the country surrounding Salt Lake
City which will make it the metropolis of one of the
richest agricultural regions in the world. These
will be referred to more particularly next week.