Show blead lead advance will be benefit to local mines recent advances in the price it tf lead carrying that metal to 6 50 per hundred pounds is one ot of the most inspiring events to occur tor for everal several years as related to the ruin min ing industry and the str enoth dis placed by lead is particularly pleas ing to the mining operators ot of the district lead mines which have tor for a long time been operating on a very slender margin ot of profit are confronted with an outlook un usual in its promise indications are said to be favorable for even higher prices the financial review one ot of the most conservative ot of eastern papers says that there is not enough lead on hand to satisfy all demands at present even though producers are operating at full capacity and turn ing ont oat maximum production As foreign resources are also depleted all indications point to a sustained and extensive upward price amov ment merit indirectly the shortage in lead supplies Is throwing increasing busl bust ness into the zinc market as the lat ter metal can be used as a tute available stocks of this metal are seriously depleted from the coal and rail strikes which have curtail ed smelter operations in the east advance of zinc to 7 at 7 05 cents a pound last week with heavy sales marks the fifth increase in three weeks as well as the highest quotation tor for the metal in over two years Con concerning cernin the sharp stiffening fening in the price of the metal the boston news bureau says zinc men have been tearing fearing a shortage of the metal and on the first of this month sur plus stocks in this country were equivalent to only two weeks sup ply or about 20 tons against stocks last summer of about 90 tone tons production has been restricted in the past year by labor shortage the zinc camps are as short ot of men as are the copper camps underground mining has become increasingly dis tasteful miners have emigrated to the oil fields and the great auto mobile centers of the middle west the 3 per cent immigration lestric tion has greatly curtailed cur tiled the entry of at foreigners of the underground type the pole the lithuanian and the finn used to be the backbone of our mining labor supply notwithstanding galvani have been hard hit by the coal shortage they are still buying increasing ton nages of zinc in the first eight months of this year consumption of zinc tor for all purposes amounted to tons or an average of 32 tons per month in short pro has been below consumption in these eight months to the tune ot of over tons per month although our domestic market has consumed all the foreign otter offer ings ot of zinc in the past year the new tariff virtually puts a stop to the zinc imports under the bill a cus toms levy of 1 cents per pound Is provided against the present duty of 15 per cent ad valorem valoree this puts the zinc schedule fa of a cent higher than the old payne aldrich bill and means that the american market Is closed to te tle foreign producer a |