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Show MINES FORCED j 10 RAISE PAY Michigan Copper Companies Trying to Hold Men and Attract More HOUOHTOA. MlCh., Oct 7 The recent 16 per cent Increase in Wages granted1 employes of tho Copper Range! and Qulncy mining companies In the! .Michigan copper district, and the an-, nouncem-nt that the Calumet EXecuJ and Mohawk and Wolverine coni-panles coni-panles would shortly readjust wages.' Is Interpreted as an effort on the. part or the mining companies to hold tog-ether such fore s as they now have and add to them if possible PROFITS REDUCED Men have left the district In con-! slderable numbers during tin- past few months, due to higher wages obtain-j vinnjiwo rt. I l pp l lllg or mine organizations has resulted, with sub-' 1 sequent higher costs and lessened pro-1 I ductlon. It has been the- history of' the district that when one or two: companies Increased wages the others! virtually were forced to follow to j maintain general morale Mining costs still are high and earn-; ings small Although surplus copper Is Steadily diminishing no substantial ' Improvement In the metal market is! expected until next spring. Copper has been selling recently at 14 cental per pound or a fraction tinder. I'res-i ent and contemplated wage Increases I will mean an increase of costs of from 1 one-half to a cent per pound. Tho j only way shattered organizations could be revived and thMr efficiency Increased was. to raise wages, rvn though not strictly warranted by the present price for the metal, officials point out. j HALF NORMAL Ol TI'l I Copper mining companies at the j close of the war were left with an abnormal ab-normal metal surplus. Demand for the metal fell off Sharply and the price dropped from i'O cents p r pound, the war price, to under 12 cents The majority of the mines re-ported re-ported operating losses, wages werej decreased, production decreased, and In the spring of 1921 the Culumet St Hecla and subsidiaries shut down completely The other companies continued to operate, sufficiently only l to keep the mines open Production tod.-o Is approximately one-half of normal for the district, estimated at ll.OOd 000 pounds per month, as com-i pared with a pre-war normal of 22.-1 (100,000. |