Butte semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1886-1890, 1889-02-02
THE RUMOR ABOUT COPPER.
Not Credited as Other Than a Stock
Jobbine Story.

Not Credited as Other Than a Stock
Jobbing Story.
The dispatch appearing in yesterday
mornings edition OF this paper from Bos-
ton about the European Copper Syndicate,
stating that it would buy no more copper
and interpreting this as the breakup OF the
syndicate, was one calculated to have a
momentous effect in Butte-if true. In or
der to get an idea of what truth there was
in the dispatch q reporter visited Manager
Palmer of the Butte and Boston at his
office in the Barnard Block yesterday
afternoon and asked if he had seen the dis.
patch referred to.
Mr.. Palmer replied that he had and that
he himself had been in receipt OF a similar
dispatch from Boston stating that there
was a rumor that the syndicate had re-
fused to purchase any outside lots. 1t also
stated that, in consequence, Boston and
Montana shares had fallen to so. Mr..
Palmer did not think there was any danger
OF the collapse of the syndicate. 1t was
true that the contracts it had with the
producers, which were to have been re-
u6N6u OH Uuc 1OUu lu6GduU lOI oCA yOdAC3
had not yet been renewed. Even were the
syndicate to collapse there need be no ap-
prehension to the producers of a fall in
copper. The existing contracts OF the
Syndicate with the producers are secured
by the deposit OF ample collateral in New
York and Boston. He stated that the
consumption OF copper in this country last
year by the manufacturers was greater
than at any previous time even in the face
of the high prices ruling:
In reply to q question whether, if the
Syndicate should collapse, the unloading
upon the market of the log, 900 tons o
reported on hand would not have an in
furious effect on the market. he said he
thought not. Surprising the amount to be
correct, it was not an abnormal stock on
hand. Last year, when the amount was
stated to be forty-fve thousand tons, it
was known to be the lowest stock of cop
per on hand in ten years. Since then the
yards OF the manufacturers have been
cleaned up completely. The situation is
Just this: The total surplus copper on
hand is now definitely known; before the
Syndicate was formed, it vas impossible
even to guess what the stock on hand was.
It was then held by producers and con.
sumers themselves, and might at any time
have been greater than the present surplus.
Then the consumers had the producers at
their mercy and forced prices down below
living rates. The tables had been turned
by the combination effected by the Syndi
cate, and they were obliged to pay the
present high prices. The producers had nc
sympathy with the IN theil
| present p~redicament, and hoped it nigh,
continue.
The contracts the Syndicate had with thu
producers included nearly all the mines ii
| the world. 80 that outside lots were a mer'
bagatelle and could not affect the mar
ket. As for the rumor that the Syndicate
was likely to break up, he regarded it as {
| stock-iobbing rumor. simply intended tt
affect the price Of stocks, and he put nj
faith in it himself.
1t was possible that inability to estab
lish the metal bank which was to hav
been perfected ere this had something t.
| do with the rumor. The bank was still
a thing of the future and there seemed t.
be some hitch about it's formation.