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Show Foreign Competition For American Copper At a recent meeting of copper fabricators and consumers. Louis S. Cates, President of the Phelps-Dodge Phelps-Dodge Corporation, said that unless un-less a duty is placed on copper, mines in the United States will be unable to operate at more than 27 per cent of capacity, even ev-en in normal times. The world, exclusive of the United Uni-ted States, now could produce 2,100,000,000 pounds of copper annually an-nually at 6 cents a pound or less, according to Mr. Cates, while companies producing an additional addition-al 500,000,000 pounds have ths advantage of governmental assistance assist-ance or preferential laws. The normal foreign demand has been about 900,000,000 pounds less annually an-nually than foreign productive capacity. This excess tonnage must make itself felt in our market mar-ket unless American copper producers pro-ducers are protected. United States mines cannot meet competition of cheap copper made possible largely by the low wage scales and living conditions prevailing in some countries. Unless Un-less a duty is levied against alien copper, our mines will continue to exist ina state of depression, no . matter how greatly general business bus-iness Improves. This should be of especial Interest to the western states, where mining, in the paBt, has been the principal employer, taxpayer and purchaser of supplies, sup-plies, and where a mining slump, consequently, is most severely felt. |