Show AMERICAN COPPER HAS LITTLE CHANCE IN FOREIGN F TRADE TR ADE the article given below has been submitted tor for publication by the arizona copper tariff commission much la heard card nowadays about foreign trade foreign trade might be vital for other industries but not for our copper mining there Is little chance for american copper to figure in foreign trade it Is doubtful that even with proper tariff protection much american copper would find its way into foreign trade because our production of copper and our consumption of the metal are about balanced expected usual increase in this nations use of the metal which increase and use has been and Is the worlds greatest indicates that the united states under normal condl eions would be importing porting ini copper to supplement all that which could bel be mined in this country by existing operating mines this athla fact explodes the pet theory of opponents to a copper tariff which theory presumes that a tariff would be of no benefit to american copper mining be because causie this nation Is en an exporter of the metal that a surplus producing of the metal must be sold abroad according to the exportable surplus theorists the domestic price of 0 a metal la Is fixed by the price which the exported metal brings in world trade those who bellevo this forget that the Ame american copper mining industry austry y was nurtured and prospered under the wing of protective tariff that under such tariff this nation became a successful copper exporter and nd that the high price which when obtained in this country tor for copper was not affected by the price palca which wils was received to for r it in the world trade the principal cause of at the collapse ot of the copper mining industry of this country la Is foreign competition during recent years developments of vast deposits of rich copper ores in africa and other lands have been vigorously advanced cheap labor low transport transportation atlon costs richer ores extensive easily worked deposits and lower taxes of countries lacking in public improvements and general welfare institutions long ions deemed necessities in the united states give the foreign producer of copper decided ad vantages tho the foreigner Is able to set a selling price for copper so low as an of what it costs to produce it in this country in the absence of any tariff barrier low priced copper from these foreign fields has been and Is enter ing the united states and displacing in our own fac factories the metal for merly supplied by domestic minos mines the development of vast foreign sources of copper supply has bas brought about a cond condition lUon of world over pro ot of the metal and as a consequence a gigantic struggle gIr to Is in progress for the control of the worlds i copper markets strong evidence that inthe in the united states sorely needs tariff pro lies in the fact that our mines j were the first io feet feel the effects of ahw overproduction over r production in april 1929 when copper sold for more than 19 cents a pound production of the metal in this abu country began ish and since that time has continued to decrease mines in other parts of the world did no not i begin to be affected until november of the following y at the present time with the price of copper capper at 8 cents and lower copper I 1 production in the united states la is I 1 curtailed fully 65 per cent few it ii continued to back page THE PLIGHT OF COPPER ii t continued from page one i any anny copper minos mines in this country can operate without loss loaa with tho the metal tit at such a low selling price I 1 in n direct contrast with this the union du haut Ha katanga tanga tho the big african copper producer may bo be noted this company la Is earning profits at present prices it Is the opinion of some authorities that copper from several largo large foreign fields can bo be delivered at a profit to our atlantic coast sou ports por ta for as low a selling price as 0 cen cents ts a pound with such euch strong competition american mine operators and workers rating better wor working lhing and living conditions than fo ref knorst aru aro unable to hom oven even tho the cosur 1 11 liet ot of this fou country im which ma malot ilot cally la is the best in the wt v id another fallacious falla cloua notion la Is that the largo large stocks of the metal above ground must be consumed before any results can be realized from rom a tariff it la is interesting to note that the roa ma jor part of tho the copper stocks blocks in lila his coubry consists of foreign forcia n copper A tariff would bavo kept this foreign copper out of the country and hormal domestic demands would have consumed I 1 the domestic component of these stocks of what benefit to american copper producers Is curtailment of american production it if foreign copper Is not kept from continuously building up stocks in this country j it if world overproduction over production Is the re suit of foreign developments and alid it the larger part ot of our stocks on hand la is of foreign copper it if seems uni reasonable that american producers alone should cartall production in order to bring about a retrenchment hithe worlds copper production this Is tho the very thing that was done lif in the early part of this year it was announced that a world cartel of copper interests had effected a 16 per cent production curtailment in 1930 in 1929 as much copper was produced 1 deuced in the united states as was produced in all the rest refit of the world combined it may bo be truo true that a wide reduction of ac 10 per par bent wasl effected but the whole truth la Is that american producers curtailed more than 32 per cent while the rest reat of the world curtailed less than I 1 per cent in brief the united states slates did dida all the curtailing curtailment of production in the united states does docs nothing for do mastic mining conditions but dut to 10 shut anui mastic mining anui down minest mines throw miners out of work and prevent tile the payment ot of dividends unless foreign mi mines nes are made to curtail production foreign copper wll wil cont continue 1 nu 0 to be dumped here neither overproduction over production nor stocks on hand can be reduced by such a ono one sided procedure the only equitable curtailment Is one in which all the producers in the world participate each making the same prod pro port lonato ionato reduction another contention of tariff opponents Js as that a tariff would oy overproduction over or production conditions by making it possible to develop low grade bodies that otherwise could not bo be developed tho the proponents of such a contention lose sight eight of the fact that a six cents centa a pound tariff would permit only ot the continuous operation of well established mines A six cent tariff margin would not facilitate the bringing in of any additional dit ional low grade ore bodies it Is doubted by some that a six cent tariff Is oven sufficient to give adequate protection I 1 to all of the well established mines which up to the immediate past have been producing tho the cry that the remedy for the american copper mining industry may be found in an inc increased ceased and more diversified use of copper becomes hollow when it Is considered that not only is the copper demand in the united states greater than that of all the rest of the world put together but that tho the demand here Is increasing ng at a rato rate of six times greater than the rate of any other country to advise that american copper producers ought to improve marketing methods Is vague admonition were it not that such advice harbors subtle suggestions that an improvement in marketing methods necessarily includes a readjustment of the worlds production and consideration but such readjustments entail curtail or of production and recent experiences perien per lences ces have taught that when cur tail tall ments are to be effected american copper mines are the only ones that do the effecting foreign competition Is the cause of Ameri americas cals copper mining troug le paradoxical as aa it may seem A a considerable sid erable number of the major copper producers in this country are not in a position to do anything about this competition because they haye have become tied up with one or another of several international copper combinations bj bi these combinations are fighting one another tor for control of the copper markets of the world and the most attractive of these is tile the market in this country nut but copper production costs in the united states are relatively high international combines logically close down their high production cost mines 1111 in other countries the ultimate result asnon will be it if nothing Is done about it laj tho the idling of american copper mining demands of american factories will then be satisfied with foreign copper american copper mines are now being urged to make aurthur reductions those who bear the brunt of such readjustments of production are those american mine owners and mine operators who have not associated themselves with any international copper combine american mine workers american communities and institutions this international trend of tho th a american copper producing industry la Is not unique it Is the same general generel course being called by many other american Ain erlean industries and leave to their wake momentous economic social so oct a and a ad governmental problems t ti vex tom tho american people american balnes ibro making way for foreign mines mills and smelters shelters sm elters havo have already boon been erected in foreign parts fires are being quenched in our furnaces the near future will see tho the construction of copper fabricating factories on distant soils american copper manufacturing plants in our industrial east cast will then begin to to 10 close their doors and connecticut valley will be a meaningless term in the copper world Amb american rican managerial ability and A american rican technical genius created bindo and developed deve loved the american copper producing industry into the greatest in the world many american mine managers and engineers have realized that their livelihood Is now a dl deferent story there Is no demand for his labor when the cheaper labor of primitive peoples Is close at hand I 1 that there Is no considerable open opposition to demands tor for a copper tariff is noi not surprising those american an producers pr dicera dicers thit tha have become involved internationally know thero Is no real argument against as dinst a tariff protection of the Arne american industry la Is to live an open controversy would cai them to disclose facto and figures proving tile the very opposite of their present subtle contentions the full truth of the scuttling of a basic american industry for the profit of a ew f financiers Inanc lers the causo cause of distress to amerlan american workers the reason for the disappearance of dividends tor for investors in american pines mines the inhumanities perpetrated on primitive peoples forced to work foreign copper properties would cause a nationwide nation wide protest against the use 0 of the foreign metal in tile the united states those few dictators of industry and finance possess the facts in the casu caso it itis as extremely difficult probably impossible tor for a tow few small independent mine owners an and d operators or any group 0 of workers t to pry into the secrets 0 of wall street and lombard street or to investigate labor conditions condl eions in africa but unmistakable symptoms indicate clearly tho the character of the cause of the trouble arizona copper tariff corn com |