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Show I I The Market and the Mines j While Fortune has Dean using one hand to I stuff with groonbaoks tho pockets oE luolay invos- tors in Tlhtic mining stock silo Itae employed the I other in putting a large copper-rivited crimp Itt i the ilnances of those who own or did own shares in properties noted for their production of tho rod metal. Tho past tense is used advisedly advised-ly for a comparatively largo number of coppar traders have boon wiped from the business map f entirely by. tho slump of tho past month. As ' they have not advertised their misfortune in the j newspapers nor shouted it from the housetop I the public has remained in Ignorance of tho ox- tent of the disaster, but, While the newly-made i( Tlntic plutocrats have been buying suburban real estate and living on tho fat of the land thd buyers of Ely, Bingham and Nowhouse seourl-I seourl-I ties have boon getting their last year's suits pressed over and offering second-hand motor car for sale cheap. Before tho slump began a considerable quan-j quan-j tity of copper stock had been accopted by tha local banks as collateral and In numerous instances in-stances the money realized on the collateral was used to support the market. When tho decline let in tho banks became insistent in their demands de-mands for liquidation or bettor security and 1 when these were not forthcoming the shares wore dumped on an already overloaded markot thus accelerating its decline. Indirectly these losses have had an ill effect on tho general business sit uatlon which Ib only partly offsot by the benefits of tho Tlntic boom. Dealers in various commo- dlties havo lost some of their best customers and R the payment of many accounts has been indefl nitely postponed. On a small scale the situation II is like that reported in Now York by the press dispatches when "2,000 automobiles were sold by then who are considered rich, but who are embar- 1; Massed by the weakness of stocks." One reason Salt Lake loses more on the cop- 1 Hj per slump than it gains on the Tlntic boom is 1 that coppers are very largely held in this city While gome of the biggeat blocks of Tlntic shares are owned in Provo and the Utah valley. While H Salt Lake bears the losses on the one hand it Hi Has to share the profits on tho other. These are indications, 'however, that the Tlntic orange is al-most al-most dry. More than two weeks have gone by Bl since any notable "killings" word made through B hull operations, the backbone of the markot is B softening and the baar contingent is growing in B' ftumbors and activity with every call. Those signs may not be portentious of evil, but they are HH certainly not omens of good. If the markot holds Wm its own during the next thirty days tho public fl should be satisfied. B There will be nothing doing at the Lower Mammoth for two weeks or more. Tho new hoisting machinery! which is capable of going to a depth of 0,000 feet, Is on the ground and mln- Br. Ing must bo suspended while the plant is being placed in position. The May Day workings have been connected with those of the Unolo Sam at two points and the management is attaoKlng the four stopes from which the future output of the property is to come. In its Humbug claim tho Hi Uncle Sam has proved a body of ore on the tun- nel level 350 feet in length and 170 fret on the dip. The limits of the find have not bean estab-lished estab-lished and, it will probably grow larger with de-volopment. de-volopment. The Colorado and its neighbors have reported no important changes, but the record of ore shipments indicates- that they are pursuing the even tenor of their way. That reported strike Hf on the Victor Con. seems to have some merit, but, in the absence of official information, Its Importance Import-ance is hard to determine. Perhaps because they think It can be no worse; perhaps because of positive indications of improvement, observers of tho copper share market mar-ket are hopeful of Improvement. The sufferings of investors havo not caused much pain in tho real field of 'activity the copper camps. A Bingham operator said to tho writer this week: "Our camp is as. prosperous as I have ever seen it. The fall In the price of tho metal is of much less. concern tp us than the lack of transportation. transporta-tion. Tho shortage of cars to haul coal and ore lias threatened dire consequences. If that obstacle ob-stacle can bo overcome we can thrive on 16-cent copper. While tho metal remains at a figure which will allow other districts to work at all, Bingham can make good profits. Why? Because we can produce tho Stuff fdf Ida's money than any other camp yet discovered. I do not believe tho price will fall below 16 or 17 cents, and I think that is a fair price both for consumer and producer. pro-ducer. AWlillo back when copper was bringing only 11 and 12 cents we used to tell oaoh other that If It over got to 15 our fortunes would be made. When it did rise to 10 and 17 we were joyous. We never thought of asking for more. But since it has touched 2G we have grown rapa-oious rapa-oious and scorn a profit that would havo moro than satisfied us a few years ago. g & & All of the Bingham mines- aro Inconvenienced by the railroad situation, but tho- Yampa has experienced ex-perienced the most "misery" during5 tho past week. Tire" management cannot tell from day to day wlrevo the next day's supply of fuel and coal is comlhg from and an onforced tie-up which will affect 450 men Is likely to occur at any moment. If the emergency can be tided over until the tramway from the mine to tho smelter Is completed com-pleted there will no longer be an ore transportation transporta-tion problem to deal with. The tramway should be in commission by the first of October. Just as tho people of Goldllold have taken a fresh hold and begun to repair tho injury caused by the protracted strike of last spring, anothor Q labor controversy is started. Tho change houses, introduced for tho purpose of preventing ore stealing, steal-ing, are the bone of contention. In truth they havo always boon, but this time there aro no phantom grievances to becloud the real Issue. Tho men who havo been growing wealthy by high grading simply cannot lot go of tho graft so long as thoro is, tho faintest hope of retaining It. It is a good graft and no one should bo surprised that tho few miners who profit by l. should regard the change houses as a gross abridgement uf their liberties. The strange thing is that the hundreds hun-dreds of union men who work In ore not worth taking in small quantities, should risk the loss of high Avages, short hours and steady employment Q ' that tho small minority may continue an Illegal and dishonest phactlce. Tho common sense nf the majority dictated tho peace pact, that ended the big strike, an agreement that specifically provided pro-vided for change rooms, but the high grader, with satanic cunning and perseverance, plots, Intrigues and agitates until he gains his selfish object or drags down the whole structure of prosperity. & l! & Far from being intimidated by the threatened trouble tho owners of tho Goldfleld Consolidated, which is the point of attack, have rallied to the defense of the stock and even raised the price, thus defeating any bear raids that may havo been projected under cover of the strike. Other Nevada Ne-vada camps, free from the machinations of the high grader and the professional agitator, aro going go-ing bravely ahead with development work and laying a sure foundation for the growth of the state. At Fairview the Nevada-Fairview property prop-erty has opened 20 inches of high grade ore in a drift from the No. 2 shaft which proves tho vein for 1,000 feet; the Ely Con. at Ely has broken Into anore shoot while crosscutting from Its Brilliant Bril-liant shaft and from Pioche the first car of ore lias been shipped by the Lyndon Mines Co., over the Piocho & Colionte railroad, Just completed. & ? & When it became known that the May Day had 88 cars of ore in the market, each car of which Is worth about ?1,000, quite a number of persons wanted to got a little of the stock and the price advanced from 49 to 57 cents during the week onding August 28. Uncle Sam, May Day's nearest near-est neighbor, also profited by a unanimous thirst for Its securities and sold from $1.22 to $1.37. Now York Bonanza at Park City Is getting busy again, the water is receding from the lower levels and the stock has advanced from 10 to 15. Sioux opened at 49 and went t 53. Yankee Con, released re-leased thd brakes near ue and of the week and itfmped from 65 to G8. Columbus Con., which opened at $4.75, climbed back to Its old level and gold at $5. The declines waro more numerous than tho advances. Beok Tunnel went from $2.17t to $2.02, Black Jack from 61 to 60, Colorado 9 Jr$m $7.75 to $7,40, Iron Blossom, from $1.80 to M2, Mountain Lake from 73 to 69, Crown J?Oin from $1.02 to 98, South Columbus from $2.12 to $2, Seven Troughs from 58 to 45, Star from 42 to 41, and Victor from 16 to 15. Shares sold during the week numbered 289,582. They brought $236,882.22. Ore and bullion settlements came to $668,000. |