Show THE MUDDLE IN COPPER It Appears to Be Working Out Low Price Leads to Increased Consumption Con-sumption No Probability of Present Return to Former High Prices e TRIBUNE SPECIAL Houghton Mich April 27The mud tile in the copper situation seems to bo working out In the only that such a muddle can ever be cleared up satisfactorily satis-factorily that Is by allowing natural trade conditions to rule Manipulated prices arc followed by sad reactions Just as a headache follows an excess of alcohol Were it not for fear that the Amalgamated Copper company or Its sales agents the United Metals Selling company may enter the market mar-ket again with an eye on manipulation the outlook would be fairly clear The lower price of copper is leading to greatly increased consumption especially espe-cially abroad where copper vas cutout cut-out of all specifications wherever possible pos-sible during the three years preceding the break In prices that came near the close of lOOt American consumption consump-tion continues very large and has been Increased by the drop of 6 cents per pound though not to the same extent as abroad S a o A number of tables have boon printed print-ed within the past six months setting set-ting forth the cost of making copper In the various American mining districts dis-tricts Nearly all of these figures are too low In 1891lS3j the cheapest copper cop-per ever made in the United States was produced There are no big Amor lean mines now making copper as cheaply as then In most of the fields wages have advanced and the efficiency effici-ency of labor seems In Inverse proportion propor-tion to earnings as It now takes more men to produce nton of copper and each man draws higher wages The cost of structural Iron and steel hardware hard-ware and machinery is 35 to 50 percent per-cent higher than six years ago and copper mines are notoriously large consumers con-sumers of these articles Last but not least prosperity has bred extravagance In mining methods as Is always the case and In consequence of all these facts the cost of making copper la 2 to I cents per pound greater than six or eight years ago If the entire copper supply of the world came from the United States or even from North America the advanced ad-vanced cost would simply be charged direct to consumer but the foreign mines are expanding at least as rapidly as those of the United States Canada and Mexico It Is of the highest Importance Im-portance to the American producers to I known whether costs have advanced In Spain Chile Australia and other copperpi oduclng countries That costs have advanced to some extent Is certain but it is not probable that the Increase abroad has been so u marked as in this country In Germany Ger-many which Is a large producer of the metal It Is probable that copper Is being made at least as cheaply as six years ago forj Germany Is now enjoying a period of industrial depression de-pression and It is while limes are hard I and Business Is bad that every country coun-try lays the foundations for Its next boom The United States traversed t the valley of depression torn 1S93 until un-til 3S9S and has been In clover since Germanys turn Is coming at S The copper production of Montana continues restricted The Boston Montana Is so effectually tied up by litigation that It Is making only about twothirds the production secured two years ago The Anaconda Is now using Its maniflcent new smelting plant but It is hard to see where the mine is I making any money as Its copper must be costing nearly all that It Is selling for In the market Helnzes Montana Ore Purchasing company Is now turnIng turn-Ing out copper at the rate of about 3500000 pounds per month much the largest output ever secured There seems no prospect of an end to the unfortunate litigation between the Amalgamated and PIclnze Interests and until some sort of a settlement is I II reached Montana Is sadly handicapped In copper production Arizona is Increasing In-creasing Its prdductlon steadily and Is I opening a number of new mines of oI considerable promise To the north of the United States British Columbia Is making wonderful gains In copper production pro-duction and new mining fields are being be-ing opened up to the eastward of Lake f Superior and In various districts of Quebec Nova Scotia and New Brunswick Bruns-wick Ju Mexico the Boleo remains the only considerable producer in Lower Caflfoinlu hut Sonora Is coming to the front with great rapidity The Naco sari mines of the Montezumu Copper company are producing at the rate of about 10000000 pounda per annum and the Greene Consolidated in time same Stair is making nearly four times us much In the State of Mlchoacan south and west of the City of Mexico the Inguaran mine controlled by the Rothschilds Interest bids fair to speedily speed-ily become one of the worlds largest mines O V Abroad there arc few mInds of the first rank In process of development but there are a large number of second and thirdrate mines and the number is being added to steadily The Monnt Lyell mines of Tasmania bid fair Jo become a second Rio Tlnto in time ant1 show a steady expansion Japanese mines arc working steadily and a large number of new properties are being opened In various parts of the Island continent of Australia South Africa Is merely holding Its own but Important developments are under way at a number num-ber of points In South Amerca notably In Chile Peru Bolivia and the Argentine Argen-tine Republic Alaska has not reached the producing state in fact has not passed the stage of reports of copper discoveries of fabulous value That Alaska has copper deposits of Importance Import-ance seems reasonably certain but the tales brought back from there are too wildly improbable for serious credence It may be assumed with safety that the same geological mineralogical and chemical laws rule In Alaska as In the more settled portions of the earths surface and acting upon this assumption assump-tion 11 becomes necessary to scale down or discard the wonderful stories of mountains of solid copper ore impossibly Impos-sibly rich In the metal As the mere opening of a big copper mine Is a matter mat-ter of years It Is reasonably safe to Infer tITat Alaskan copper will not become be-come a factor of Importance In the worlds supply for some years to come no matter how rich the deposits may prove That the production of copper by the mines of the United States remains practically statlonafy Is not due to the suspension of producing mines No American mine of any Importance has shut down because of the drop In the price of the metal though It Is certain that some of the mines now In opera lion are losing money on every pound produced JXist ns It takes several years to develop a new mine so It takes a long time to close a copper producer down The Iron trade Is responsive to market conditions and Iron mines are closed do n and reopened at will Such Is not the case with copper mines They are wound up like a thirtyday clock and must run down before stopping stop-ping I S S Viewing the situation from a purely economical standpoint there seems no great reason to anticipate a materially higher range of prices for copper In the Immediate future Manipulative influences influ-ences may be brought to bear upon the situation but barring such 12 to 14 cents per pound for lake copper at the Atlantic seaboard seems as high a price as Is warranted At such figures the best mines can make One profits not as great as during the period of boom but large as compared with other Industries Not all of the mines now producing can live at such a price for copper though most of them can None of the producers of the first class will l be compelled to close and but few of those In the second rank will be unable to produce their metal so as to leave a profit Th newer mines many of which have been advertised as bonanzas bonan-zas will bo compelled to demonstrate their right to existence and under conditions con-ditions that mean the survival of the fittest and some firstclass funerals for the balance of the list HORACE J EVANS |