Show AN EMERGENCY HAS ARISEN the senate finance committee la Is reported to have voted favorably on adding an import duty on copper to the revenue act and has been critics ed tor for including a tariff provision in it a revenue bill in the case of copper a recent emergency has arisen involving the lives and happiness of many thousands of people to meet this emergency through a now new tariff enactment at this short session of congress Is an obvious impossibility emergency has been created in tile the past two years because of changing economic factors from a nation exporting copper the united state has become a notion import importing I 1 ng copper this Is due to the tremendous increase in production in foreign countries mainly in rhodesia lUio desla belgian congo and canada in spite of world depression large now new mines entered production arst year producing higher grade ores and with cheaper labor than our american mines this foreign copper produced at low cost now dominates the foreign market and has up copper in the united states where it already threatens the domestic market that this Is no temporary condition due to the depression Is evidence by the tact fact that foreign productive capacity Is now 50 per cent in excess of maximum foreign consumption and Is 20 per cent greater than the whole world consumption in fix the year 1931 by july 1 there proba ably will be but two copper mines in fit arizona and those operating on a very curtailed heals we in the east cannot ap preda preele ate what that moans means the merchant the supply dealer and the railroad worker all depend upon the mine for their support the copper mined in arigona in 1929 paid over BO 50 per cent of the trees and disbursed approximately in wages direct to employees and paid out for supplies and power by july I 1 it la in estimated that the payroll will be reduced to something less than two and one halt half million dollars ra a year a sum cum obviously inadequate to support even the mine companies production ot of copper in man many Y american mines has been maintained this past winter purely because of all the social emergency the executives ot of our copper mines have felt that they were faced with grave responsibilities ties and fought courageously to keep their men at work how miny many of us in the east know what the copper miner Is suffering buffering today the western miner Is a splendid pioneer type his opened the west tor for and he has fought and struggled to maintain a homo home under conditions which many of us would consider impossible during the past winter he has had plenty of time to think he has been able to read the report of the united states tariff commission and so learned that the excess 0 of imports over exports ot of copper tor for the three years 1029 1929 31 la Is about tons lie ile has discovered that this excess ot of imported copper had it been produced in the united states would have provided work borit tor for men for or two years on halt half time before the tall fall the entire united states may bo be implored to send aid to the suffering mining communities of the west people who are now asking a alc for an import tax on copper are attempting to forestall and avoid appeals to the rest of the country already overburdened with local obligations Peo people of the west are an lade inde pendent stalwart class of pioneer type who have never before asked aid of anyone and even now are facing their with great courage it if the people of the east thoroughly understood the extent of the calamity now facing the mining communities muni ties of the west the demand that congress pass an import tax on opper copper would be just as insistent and vocal here in the eat as it Is in A arizona I 1 can utah and other western states new york times |