The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1884-11-20
Plenty of Cheap Copper.

The present price is about thirteen cents
L pound. The old price, few years
years ago, was eighteen to twenty cents,
and during the war it went up to fifty
cents. Curiously enough, as the price
Of copper has gone down, the uses of it
have increased. and hundreds of things
are now made of copper that were form
erIy made of cheaper metals, or not
made at all. Who has not noticed the
sudden increase of articles made of
brass-the beautiful plaques on which the
ladies paint, the tons of chandeliers,
gas fixtures, frames and thousands of
other things-all resulting from cheap
copper, for brass is two-thirdS copper
and one-third spelter or zinc?
''How do you account for all of thiS?"
was asked of manufacturer.
Il do not know exactly how to ac-
count for it," he said, ''but it is fact.
Here is a copper teakettle, such as l
used to pay 1925 to $3.50 to import. /
can now sell it for 75 cents and make a
profit. The home manufacture has in
creased enormously. Thousands of
workmen are employed who are new at
the business. Processes of manufacture
have improved. We are learning how to
make things to better advantage. We
can export instead of import. | do not
think the tariff has had much to do with
it. Here are seamless edge, planished
copper teakettleS, extra heavy, spun
from the bottom up to the breast,
making a body of great strength.
sell them to the trade at S27 dozen.
1t was not long ago that one of them
indeed, one not so good as one of these
would cost almost the price of dozen.
For few cents more we sell them
nickel plated. They are used as orna-
ments for parlOr stoves sometimes.
Here are urnS, tumbler warmers, cuspi-
dores, jewelry boxes, brass mats,
umbrella stands, hat racks, stovepipe
collars, stove legs, stove platforms, and
lots of things that could not have been
made a few years ago, owing to the
high price of copper. Now they are be-
coming articles of everyday use"
In another store were more than
sixty varieties of brass plaques imi-
tating hammered work, at prices vary
ing from $3.50 a dozen to $40 a dozen.
This is comparatively a new business.
In another store were copper bath tubs
Of half dozen patterns, basins,
closet pans, boilers, pipes, and copper
balls for water tanks. Walking up
Fulton street among the wire stores,
there were copper and brass cages,
wire cloth, and other copper utensils
sparkling in the sun.
How do YOU account for the boom
in the copper and brass business?"
Easily enough; we can buy cheaper. "
''What makes it cheaper?"
1.-The coming in of Arizona and othd
Western copper to compete with Lake
Superior copper. The price has kept
going down, but the demand for copper
has kept pace with it. New uses are
made for it every day. Formerly the
lake copper people had it all their own
way. They would calmly announce the
price of copper for the year, and all we
would have to 90 would be to pay it.
But now it is quite different. The Ari-
IONA copper is not quite SO good, but it
answers Just as well for many purposes.
and keeps the price down. The lake
copper is about half a cent to a cent
dearer. but the monopoly has gone.
The old high tariff on copper, from
which fortunes were made, is no longer
of any account We not only take nc
account of foreign copper. but we are
now exporting plenty of it and plenty
of manufactured goods"
There is very considerable village
at Ausonia, Conn, that has grown out
of the manufactures of brass and cop
per. The place is named after Arson
q. Phelps, and ut the Office of the COM
pany in Cliff Street thousand copper
and brass products may be seen, from
the crude copper in ingots to the deli
cate chandeliers and lamps that initiate
if not excel, the finest French impOrta-
tons. There are tons upon tons of cop
per and brass in sheets, ready to be sold
to manufacturers. There are copper
and brass nails and tacks, and weights.
gongs, rods, wash basins, wire cloth.
printers rules, about sixty varieties OF
sheet brass. and as many varieties Of
wire, sheathing, bolts, rivets, kettles.
seamless brass and copper tubing
boiler flues, ferruleS, gas fixtures,
chandeliers, and thousand knick-
knacks.
The rapid progress of electrical in
ventions has required an immense con-
sumption of brass and copper for cleo
trical machinery, 1t has been found
out that copper wire has many qualitie:
that make it desirable for telegraph.
lightning, and telephone lines, fol
which. during the high price of copper.
it could not be used. Now the copper
wire trade is enormous and constantly
growing, and the varieties manufac-
tured are many and curious. Tons upon
tons of these varieties of wire are kept
in stock, though only short time ago
such a thing was unknown in the trade.
Immense quantities of brass and copper
are used in house hardware, water fix
lures, railroad supplies, clocks, and
fancy goods where other and cheaper
metals were formerly made to do, all
owing to the marvellously low price OF
cOpper.-N Y Sun.