COPPER STIES II NEW 10 LEVEL Saturda' Sales Reach Sixteen and Five-eighths Cents Per Pound. Copper Interests took advantage of, the limited hours of business Saturday t In the cast to make the record price for copper since the dayH preceding the 1907 panic, sales of tho metal being made at 16B cents per pound. This has inspired predictions in heretofore conservative circles cir-cles that tho metal will touch 17 cents beforo the end of the week. Tho simple explanation for this in that consumption Is exceeding production, and there arc slim fthanccn for production being increased in-creased materially in the Immediate future. fu-ture. An eastern authority states that thero are nine refineries In the Unitod States which have a. total capacity of 125.300.QP0 pounds per month, these being as follows: Kiohols, Laurel Hill, N. Y 330,000,000 Rarltan. Perth Amboy. N. J 330.000,000 Baltimore, Canton, Md 288,000,000 A. S. & R. Co., Perth Amboy... .180,000,000 U. S Chrome. X. J 180.000,000 Balbach. Newark, N. J 48,000,000 Anuconda. Groat Falls, Mont.... 65,000,000 Tacoma. Tacoma. Wash 28.000,000 C. & H. Mln. Co., Buffalo, K. T. 56,000,000 Total 1,504,000.000 The above refineries can hardly bo ex-pectod ex-pectod to operate 100 per cent efficiency, so that allowing for accidents and a production pro-duction of 13,000.000 pounds copper per month from the Lake which does not go through tho rcflnerleB, there would not appear to bo very muoh room for expansion expan-sion in copper production. Allowing tlie refineries to put out 122,-000.000 122,-000.000 pounds per month, or 2,800,000 pounds less that. 100 per cect. possible production, pro-duction, and allowing for the "Lake" copper, thore would possibly be 135.000,-000 135.000,-000 pounds per month. TSxports of 65,-000,000 65,-000,000 pounds per month, and a domestic domes-tic consumption of 75,000.000 pounds per month, would absorb this production. Therefore It is obvious that an Increase in production to above 135.000,000 pounds per month is hardly probablye no matter what the Increase In mining production, unless there Is an Increase in refining capacity, and this takes time.