The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-05-14

Copper is king in Boston. Copper is
Striving to become king in New
York.
In Boston they talk of little else, says
the New York Herald. and have talked
of little else for months.
In New York within week the cap
ital stock of sI5,OoO,GO0 company, or
ganized to control the output of a few
mines was subscribed almost before it
was offered, the public paying full par
value of S100 share.
In Boston, copper stocks have dou-
bled, trebled. quadrupled in year, and
naw companies to work new mines are
being organized so fast that they can
not be promptly investigated and listed
on the exchange.
In New York the statement is gravely
made that the stock of the new ANAL
Samated company, to be handed out to
the public at 500 a share, will be worth
$3.50 and $175 share by the time it
can be delivered.
Copper's Great Boom.
Whether it be copper crazy or copper
sane that the public is becoming, is not
to be discussed here. Copper crazy or
copper sane, new movement has come
into the financial world. and it will run
its course. II is clearly a movement
to control the copper output of the
earth. Copper, in this day of electri-
cal and mechanical development, of
Sheathing of battleships, and of wars
and preparations for wars, is a COM
modify that the world must have. And
copper is being demanded in greater
quantities than it can be produced. It
nay be d fictitious shortage. or it may
Oe legitimate. Only the other day a.
great cartridge factory in England
shut down because copper could not be
had at a fair price. The price of lake
copper on May l, 1885, was II cents a
pound; on May 3, 1899, it was 1919 cents.
Clearly, the British army must have
its cartridges. Warships must be
sheathed if they are not to be eternally
in dry dock. Electricity demands its
wires and its brasses. Yet the visible
supply of copper in the Boston market
on May ., 1898. was Is, S91 tons, and with
all the diggings and smelling for
year it was, on May 2, 1899, only 26, 529
tons.
Figures to Stagger One.
That is the situation. and building
upon a larger demand for the metal in
the future, some of the greatest finan-
cial manipulators in the country have
taken hold of copper. The formation
of the Amalgamated company in a lit
tie room in Jersey City last week was
only the first step. That meant a
company with a capital of s75, 900, 000.
Yet in the plans of the men who are
behind the copper movement. SO 600. -
900 is a mere bagatelle. a $500. 200. 900
steel trust, they say, is a pigmy com
pared with what is to emerge in Wall
street when the plans are carried
through. 1t may be $500. 900 900; it may
be more. Other companies with a SIM
liar enormous capitalization are to
come forth and be fed to the public
with the promise of s, 10 and Il per cent
dividends.
All the copper mines that are wanted
will be gobbled up. as the Anaconda,
Washoe, Parrot and a few Montana
mines were gobbled up, or partially so.
last week. Then these big combina-
tons will be amalgamated into one
enormous company. and, presto,-so
the financial magicians say--a new
Standard Oil company will be born.
This great Juggling with millions is
called an industrial revolution" The
imagination reels at the promises that
are held forth, yet if these things be
done they will not be more surprising
than the leaping, bounding advances of
copper shares in the last year. The
Messrs. Rockefeller and ali the Stand
ard Oil capitalists are in it; Roswell
p. Flower is in it, ]. Pierpont Morgan
is in it. and the copper ma gnateS of
Boston-half a dozen of whom cannot
count on the fingers of one hand the
millions they have made in copper-are
in it, too.
What the Game Means.
To succeed. the manipulators of the
coming great copper trust must keep
the price of copper up. To keep the
price OF copper up they must control
the output. not only of the United
States, but of the world. There is
copper in great quantities in other
countries. Spain, Germany, Asia and
South America and the Philippine
islands are rich in it. In addition to
this. success depends on an ever-in-
creasing demand for copper, and on
the continued failure Of human inge-
nuity to supply a substitute.
If ii fails, the crash that will come
will be a financial earthquake. Once
before an attempt was made to control
the copper output of the world. and it
ended in a disaster that shook all
Europe. 1t was only ten years that
Nj. Secretan led the syndicate known
as the Societe DIES Metaux into the ire
mendouS manipulation through which
the price of copper the world over was
TO be doubled. And doubled il was,
but only for a time. Then came the
crash, and almost everybody connected
with the movement was overwhelmed.
4, But the promoters of this gigantic
enterprise can see no failure in it, They
say that the first company organized
with S75. COO 900 capital, represents assets
actually worth 500, 600 900 or $i25. 000 =
Goo little discrepancy of S25 900 900
not cutting any material figure-that
the stock will always pay s per cent.
and that there will be rights attach
ed TO II giving large profits independ-
ent of the dividends This evidently
means the right" to subscribe for new
issues at par.
Lawson's Glowing Advice.
Listen to Thomas w Lawson, one of
the Boston promoters:
THE fact that the above values are
now known to some and will. in the next
few days, be recognized by all. will
cause the stock 10 be largely over-sub-
scribed. but this SHOULD deter no one
from subscribing, for the reason thai.
Notwithstanding this certainty, those
who are engaged in perfecting this
great enterprise have decided that in
stead of a favored few being allotted the
entire amount, all shall be treated
alike
Cautious critics of 'Coppers' will
probably again cry their sarcastic
philanthropy, but to the legion of
DEWEY AND A POWDER BOY