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Show The Menace of the Copper Price Many who are not close students of the subject see the recent high price of copper from the point of view of the higher wages, larger dividends, and the greater amount of money available for distribution today. They give little or no consld eration to the question of what it may mean for the future and whether whe-ther the prosperity of today may af . feet the stability of tomorrow. The soaring price of copper Is actually act-ually a dangerous thing for the United States copper industry. It la so recognized by most of the copper cop-per producers and observers and its future possible effects are feared unless proper steps . are taken to hold the gains. This means the continuation con-tinuation of the excise tax on foreign copper which expires June 30, 1937. The prices that are skyrocketing to totally unjustified heights first constitute a threat against the possibility pos-sibility of the copper excise tax. Those who oppose copper protection protec-tion are using this as an argument that copper prcUctiutt was an emergency em-ergency and is no longer necessary. They point out to the high price and apperent inability of the United States copper mines to supply the present demand to prove their statements. ..i The reverse Is the real truth. It was not an emergency, nor was it i a depression which created the nec- i easity for the first copper tariff in j 1932, although it must be admitted that the depression intensified the j seriousness of the situation. The ul- j timate necessity of U. S. copper pro tection was strongly argued in the boom year of 1929. It was the competition for the Un- S lted States market by foreign mines i who, because of cost advantages, i could produce mora cheaply than r could the United States mines. It was a fundamental condition that had very little relation to the depression, de-pression, and exactly the same situation situ-ation prevails today and will continue con-tinue indefinitely in the future as long as American labor standards and wages are higher than those In South America and Africa. There Is nothing that the foreign copper producers would like better than to use the present war-created boom to upset the United States copper excise tax and make this country a free market again. Th United States is the largest consuming con-suming country in the world and a wonderful place to dump surplus copper stocks produced In non-consuming foreign countries. The same is true of certain United Unit-ed States copper fabricators, who would like to eliminate domestic copper protection, yet retain Just as high tariff as possible on their manufactured copper products. In other word3, the fabricator .wants the opportunity to buy his raw materials ma-terials at the lowest possible price but to sell his products well protected pro-tected against foreign competition by a high tariff wall. Some of them are using the higher price of copper cop-per as an argument for not renewing renew-ing the excise tax. There appears to be no opposition to copper protection except from those Who own no United States copper cop-per mines but are interested in copper cop-per mines in other countries. Having Hav-ing sent their American dollars a-broad, a-broad, they are naturally more anxious anx-ious to augment the Income of those wandering dollars than they are to protect the security of American people and American Industry whose Interests, financial and personal, per-sonal, are still In the United States. |