Salt Lake Tribune | 1910-06-15 | Page 8 | Hard to Figure out Situation

H Eastern Authorities Differ as to Wj Cause and Solution of Wl Conditions. COPPER LIKELY '10 STAY WHERE IT IS 1 Frederick Lyon Believes Con- 2er Prices Depend on Gen-H'j Gen-H'j eral Industrial Condition. H Frederick Lyon, assistant managing di- '1 rector of tho United States Smelting. Ko- H" fining and Mining company. Is a visitor to the local offices of the compuny, Hjl reaching Salt I-r.ke from Boston on Sun- j'j day. Mr. Lyon was seen by The Tribune H J Tuesday and asked for an expression rcl- H atlvi to the present linanclal outlook and H( prospects for copper from a Boston stand- 1 'T could ?ivc you an opinion, buL it , -would not be worth very much," said 1 Mr. I-yon, and he then explained as fol- lows: "Just loo); back a few months and H recall some of the expressions and pre- H ' dictions made by some of the best men j In the country. lS-ccnt copper, for ln- j ptancc, was predicted on more than one. H occasion and hy more than one authority. H'j yet the opinions so expressed were all W wrong. p "Ask any dozen men In Boston who HV usually are considered authorities on the l financial conditions, arm you will got a K dozen views, no two of which agree either an to the cause or ultimate result of 1 the present situation. Men whose worn always has been of the highest value B j have jumped into the market recently, B loaded up on stock that looked cheap to , them, only to witness that stock continue Ht its downward trend beyond every expec- f: tatton. 1!: "Now as for copper, my personal opm- 2 Ion. If vou want It. is that the present . difllcultfos with which (he Industry Is H encased are not so much over-production and undor-consumptlon. but (hoy are due to the general industrial uncertainty. People are afraid to go ahead on any h Industrial lino until some order is brought into these existing difficulties. T lopk for a steady fluctuation In the price of cop-1 cop-1 per at somewhere near Its present level. H It ennnot go much If any lower because i It cannot be produced for much lower, l and I do not look for any much higher price for the reason that the production Is going to ho Increased so materially right along. Europe has the right system with copper for they buy It when It s n low and sell It when it Is high. In this countrv wo do just the opposite. So wc, reallv arc working more for the benefit of Europe copper-wise than wo arc toi our own country. l "As for the United States Smelting. ! neflnlne and Mining company, we are i not suffering as much from the present i; price of copper as the ordinary copper 1 producer Is. Our company .produces all the metals, copper, gold, silver, lead and j: zinc, and the increase in the price of sll- f, ver. for Instance, has compensated In our H earning conacity for the drop In the price Hn; of copper." ... h1 Mr. Lyon says that the company in ll rachuca. Mex.. Is extending its actlvl- f ties, 4000 men now being at -work on the group of mines there. There arc nlnety-'l nlnety-'l six shafts nn this ground, the depth of i which range anywhere from u00 to 1S00 U feet The company Is now operating '1 about ton or this number, and three more J shafla are being put Into condition for 'j the resumption of development and ore (i production. The. company has two con- ccntratlng plants, one now having Its ca- ' pacltv Increased from SO to 70 per cent. :,nd "when this Is completed the second plant will be treated In a like manner.