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Show HOW METAL PIES ABEJPIB Engineering and Mining Journal Jour-nal Explains a Matter Very Little Understood. HAS APPLICATION TO PRESENT AGITATION Interesting Way of Elevating Prices of Metals Set by the Trust. Wo have received Inquiries as to the manner In which the Important metals, other than iron and steel, are Bold, says the Engineering and Mining Journal. We have many times printed articles on these subjects, but ns new persons aro constantly coming into the business who aro unfamiliar with It. there Is ample reason for republishing Information thnt lo well known to the mnjorlty. Gold Is, as Is well known, tho standard of value. Its price being fixed at tho British mint nt 77s 10.5d per ounce troy of 0.H25 fineness: fine-ness: and at the United States mint at $20.fi71S per ounce troy. These mints receive unlimited quantities at those prices. However, there is nothing to prohibit pro-hibit a private banker from bidding higher If ho chooses- Of course, no one will pay much above tho coinage rate, becauso geld can be obtained always from the mints on tho basis of 77s 10.5d. and ?20 G71R per ounce, respectively, but gold coin loses something by abrasion and Is subject to further loss In shipment, ship-ment, whereforo. there Is a margin for bidding on gold bullion. In December. 1003, tho price for gold bullion was 78s O.fid, the highest of recent years. Shipments Ship-ments of bullion to London by the goltl-minlng goltl-minlng companies are received by their banks. On tho day of arrival, bids arc asked from the Bank of England and from foreign for-eign banks which may want tho gold for export. Tho highest bidder gets It. The market for gold Is Intlmntolv associated as-sociated with the banking transactions whoroby International balances are settled. set-tled. In the purchase of ores, and for all ordinary purposes, gold has only the fixed coinage valuo. The silver market mar-ket Is also Intlmntoly connected with banking transactions, largo exports being be-ing made from London to tho far East In settlement of balances. The silver market of the world, more thnn any other metal market. Is determined by London. The silver brokers of London moot dnily at 2 p. m. nnd flxo a prico for that day. They aro bound to soli at the price thus fixod nny quantity that may be required, but are not bound to take nny quantity that, may be ofrorod. If the quantity offered Is more than can be disposed or, It ncccsssarlly goes over to tho day following, and then hns an effect in fixing tho price for that day. Tho London quotation Is for standard stan-dard silver. I. o., 0:925 fine. Tho New York price for sliver fluctuates fluc-tuates gencrallv In correspondence with tho London price, being lower than tho London price by an amount representing commissions, oxpressage, insurance. Interest In-terest and other charges hot ween the two markets, nnd also Is affected by fluctuations In the rate of exchange. Occasionally Oc-casionally the New York price foreshadows foreshad-ows the London price for the following follow-ing day, wherefore the difference between be-tween the two markets Is not absolutely absolute-ly constant. The New York price Is established es-tablished by the firm of Handv & Herman, Her-man, which handles tho great bulk of the silver bullon business of the 1'nlted States, most of tho large refiners selling their product through It. Silver Is commonly com-monly sold in Ingots a little upward of 1000 ounces In weight. .0990 tine, for cash. Immediate delivery The quotation above referred to Is frequently called the "official price," and Is commonly adopted In buslnoss and bv tho press and Is tho quotation which Is published In tho Journal. Occasionally there are quotations for commercial barn," which are a llttlo higher than the "official price." These represent tho retail business that Is done with jewelers, manufacturers of silvor-ware. silvor-ware. etc., a business Into which the large refiners do not entor. The large transactions in silver are rather complicated, compli-cated, nnd as above stated are closely Involved with banking. This Is Illustrated Illustrat-ed by the transactions of tin. iTnit..,i ?t,ilS.mmt 1,1 1906 wl'cn It purchased B.lBS.tZn ounces of silver. Before Inviting Invit-ing tenders publicly, Inst August tho Treasury department, anticipating that such Invitation might have an effect upon the mnrket, bought about 2,500,000 ounces on the London market for future delivery. These purchases wore afterward after-ward exchanged for metal Jn this country, coun-try, which was delivered at the several mints as required. Tho remainder was purchased directly in this country. The ,nmcan Purchases cost, In lots of about 100.000 ounces, from S to I cent more than the quotations for the same day. However, the prices paid by tho government govern-ment Included delivery, ami also Interest which sellers havo to reckon on account of delay In securing government settlements. settle-ments. Because of the fact that about 70 per cent of the world's copper output Is produced In North America, the New ork market Is the leading and governing govern-ing ono In this metal, although It Is always strongly Influenced by the London Lon-don market, Inasmuch as a large pnrt of the American production is sold for export. Practically all of tho copper produced In North America Is sold by seven concerns, but of these two aro extremely small factors, On the other hand, the great, bulk of the domestic consumption is by a few manufacturing concerns. Under these circumstances, the transactions are gonerallv in larre ots on a- contract basis. There Is no business to speak of done on anv metal exchange, and little or no speculative business done In any wav. Sninll requirements re-quirements for copper are supplied by brokers,, who purchase from the large selllns agencies, and do a retail business, busi-ness, so to speak, which Is qulto dls-llnct dls-llnct from the great wholesule business. The quotations which are reported In the Journal represent the bulk of the transactions ns made with consumers, basis. New orU, cash. The quotations are based on transactions which represent repre-sent a very large proportion 6f the total copper sold. No distinction Is made among copper sold ns "spot." "prompt " or "future." but nil the sales arc taken as made for consumption and averaged ns nearly as possible. The small lots sold at premiums figure almost dlsappenrlnglv small when averaged In tho great bulk cf the transactions. It Is aimed to represent repre-sent the average actually received bv tho producers for their whole output, "as Is shown at the end' of the year by their ' official reports. It Is a common practice I nowadays, for copper to be sold on the I basis of .10 days, delivered, which means that the sutler pays the freight to the point of consumption and waits for the money thirty days after delivery, or else discounts the bill for cash This Is com- ' monly Ignored In mnnv casual ami inac- 1 curate reports of the price or copper The spelter markot Is quoted In tho same manner as the copper market. In the quotations for copper and spelter, two prices are commonly given, In order to represent the range of the market, but the full range Is seldom shown precisely, becauso the mean of the figures given is Intended to represent the average, which would not always be practicable by glvlmr the extreme ranges. Upward of 90 per rent of the lend produced pro-duced from domestic ores Is refined and I1 , by three Interests, chief among which Is the American Smelting and Refining Re-fining company. The market for pig lend Is largely controlled by the Intter com-tmn. com-tmn. and at present the price1 Is controlled by It. .Inasmuch ns.tho selling prico rixed I by It is adopted by the other large pro- f ducers. The price established by the Amorlcnn Smelling and Refining companv Is for nearby shipments of desilverized lend In 50-ton lots, or larger. The bulk of all the load produced goes Into consumption on that basis, tho large consumers making contracts for their supply and paying for It at the average of the settling prices for the month. A small amount of lead has-been has-been sold during tho last year out of warehouse by Independent dealers at a premium, giving rise to quotations higher than those of the trust, but the total volume of this business is insignificant In comparison with the great production of lend which Is marketed on the terms stated above. |