The evening times., 1899-01-16
PLANNING 4 GREAT
COPPER COMBINE
Deals on Foot for a Gigantic
Combination.
To Include Mining Interests OF
America anu Canada.
Schemes Thnt May Result in n Syn
dfcate Which VIII Control the
Product of the World.

New York, Jan. 1e.-Negotiations look
ing to the consolidation of the copper min
ing interests OF the United States have
been in progress in this city for a week,
and it is said that gigantic trust will be
the result.
With reputed backing no less powerful
than that of the Standard Oil interests,
the American Copper Mining Company, in
its combination of six plants, expects to
reyolutionize the copper mining industry
Of the world, In which the United States
already figures as the chief factor. The
Boston and Montana and the Butte and
Boston mining companies, the Old Domln-
ion Copper Company OF Arizona, and the
Arcadian Tamarack and Osceola mining
companies of Michigan are named as the
component parts of the new organization.
1t is understood that the American COM
pany viii reach into Canada and absorb
important copper mines there, thus MAX
ing the combination international, but II
is said that the Calumet and Hecla Com
pany, the largest producer in the Lake Su-
perior region, has so far declined TO enter
the combination.
Disinterested observers of the transac-
tions in copper mining stocks for 1898 de-
clare that a small cOterie of men have
2lQeQ S0HNpN.uUN 10 luGlI NtdlAu
this channel The Rockefeller interests,
The LeWisohn. some business men of the
Lake Superior (Michigan) region, Marcus
Daily ana Messrs Leopold & Austrian, OF
Chicago are said 10 have taken the most
OF this money.
The combination. it is mentioned,
springs from the recent upheayal III cop
per. Prices have scared TO the highest
figures known, in fact OF unprecedented
cd anil Tfaf1ToT
of electrical energy has caused an enor-
NOUS demand for copper. European coIn-
tries alone last year used 456, 'Sa 100
pounds, and when il is considered that
American mines supply most OF the fo--
eign requirements. in addition 10 home
demands, the possibilities in the copper
situation becomes apparent
Hints of a consolidation received pub
Ncity first through the protective commit
tee of the Boston and Montana Company.
Stockholders were asked 10 deposit thsir
shares with a Boston trust company, in
order that they might be available for
protection against attacks on the COM
pany's property The matter was in
charge of A. s. Bigelow, head of the Bige-
low-Clark mining syndicate. OF Montana;
Sydney Chase, Of a brokerage firm recog-
niZed as direct representatives OF the
Standard Oil Company: Samuel Inter
myer, an attorney for the Standard, a8d
Edward c. Perkins. This request for The
hypcthecation of stock has all along been
regarded as a concentration preparatory
TO effecting the combination.
The Montana mines are the second most
important in the State which heads the
list OF copper producing States, being ex-
ceeded in importance only by the Ana
conda mine owned by Marcus Day and
J. B. Haggin. The Arcadian, Tamarack
and Osceola properties are in the Han
cock -Houghton copper belt in the No tn
ern Michigan peninsula. The Ar adian
mine has not been worked to any great
extent although its shares advanced al
mention of the consolidation scheme from
twenty-five TO seventy points
The Portage Lake district, where the
Michigan mines involved are located, is
in the throes Of copper craze that ap-
proXimates the Kaffir mania in South Al
rica. Brokers frcm Boston. which is the
American copper exchange. are doing z
rushing business at branch Offices opened
on the ground, and people are buying min
ing shares as fast as stock certificates car
be issued.
An attempt to consolidate copper inter
ests was made twelve years ago, but prov
ed a fiasco. The effort was made on q
corner" in the face of declining prices
increasing production and light demand
but the situation today finds advancing
prices and inadequate production
Lewisohn Brothers, of this city. are ac-
credited with being the principal factors
in inspiring new investments in AmeriCa an
copper mines. They have agents in Len
don and Paris and have encouraged the
export trade. They are said 10 have had
their first experience with copper in an in
vestment in Boston and Montana stock
years ago, when no railroad penetrated TIE
Butte country. They held stock for years
and when a railroad finally did enter Butte
and the mine could be operated with Z
show of profit they found fortune at theiI
command. The Rockefeller interests, after
heavy investments in iron ore fields. were
encouraged to investigate copper mines
with the result that they bought heavily il
the Michigan district. II is one Of ihe per
sistent reports OF the day that the Roths-
childs have made overtures to them lock
ing to a syndicate control Of all The copper
mines in the world