Butte semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1886-1890, 1886-06-23
THE TARIFF AND COFFEE.

In a lengthy editorial the Salt Lake
Tribune thus discourses on the copperques-
ton:
The Chicago Tribune, noting the recent
heavy aale of copper at ten cents by the
Calumet e. Hecla, and the further statement
that that particular company can
now produce copper at five and
one-half cents per pound, demands
that the tariff on copper shall be remove
and treats the copper industry as one
which no longer needs protection. Oh
course, it. takes tie old free trade view Of
the matter and expatiates upon what might
be could the price Of copper be run down
to a figure low enough to induce people to
invest in it. It ignores all factors except
the one fact hat the, great mine OF Lake
Superior is now so equipped that it can,
for the next few years, produce a large
amount OF copper at ten cents per
pound, or even less, though the late sale
caused the stock to depreciate $1,000, 900.
But it cannot produce than one-hali
tho amount used in the United States, and
the proper view to take of the matter is,
what would be the best policy for the coun-
try to pursue were the demand only hall
what it now is, and were there no Calumet
& Hecla. Would it be best % leave the
tariff as it is aud to encourage Ameri.
can miners to try to produce it, or turn
the miners out upon the vacant lands to
swell the agricultural crops and buy the
needed copper from Chill or Europe? The
answer to that can best be reached by
s~lancing at the price and production OF
copper in the past. In the last eight years
the product has increased more than 30
per cent. and the price has fallen
over 40 per cent. In the United States the
product has increased more than 300
per cent, and now amounts to more than
nne-third Of all the product OF all the MINIS
OF the entire world. The product OF the
.'ahanes IL Hecla amounts to o~ne-iourth Of
the whole product OF tile United States.
Aside from that phenomenal property and
the Anaconda of Butte there is notanother
copper mine in the United States that can
produce copper and sell it at q profit at
ten cents per pound. The question is
WQeCQer AiLeE udSiuS A!CACdoSu HN"
ty OF the metal SO much that the price has
fallen nearly fifty per cent. tho Govern
ment shoull now take away all protec-
ton and let the majority OF the mines
close down or not. It seems to us that
the proposition is a plain one; that the
first result would be the importation OF a
great deal OF copper from abroad which
would have to be paid for with American
gold, and the second would be there
would be such a falling off OF produc-
ton that the price would speedily gravi-
take back to the old figures and a ton OF
copper would cost double what it now costs.
In the vicinity OF this city are several cop
per mines which were valuable three or
four years ago, which are worthless now.
simply because it will not pay expenses to
mine and reduce the ore. The old propo-
sition comes back: A throwing off of the
tariff means either a stoppage Of mining or
a mighty reduction in the price OF labor
and transportation. Between British
Columbia and Mexico on a line q few miles
wide there is copper enough to supply the
world, but it cannot be taken out ard sold
at 10 cents per pound. Perhaps when
labor shall be, by the reforms now at work,
reduced to the Spanish and Algerian basis,
these mines will become available, but they
are not nOw.