Daily inter mountain., 1899-04-14

| The copper market at the present time.
| is giving great satisfaction to the pro-
ducer and to those who have all along
predicted just what is now happening.
! The situation is remarkably strong, and
! this fact in itself seems to give an added
impetus to the good feeling characterizinS
it. Men like Leonard Lewissohn, John
Stanton and others of equally high ability
in copper circles, who have studied the
conditions very closely, asserted long ago
! that the copper market was bound, with
| the opening of the spring season, to ad-
vance sharply. The present growing de-
mand for the metal, coming as it does
from all sources, is demonstrating clearly
| the correctness of their foresight.
! There never has been a time in the
! history of the copper industry when the
! conditions were quite what they are at
present. The demand for the metal has
! not only had a normal increase in the
! directions where it is commonly used,
but added to this there has been mar
veous call for it from many new sources.
The supply has not by any means kept
pace with the increased requirements.
/ Withal that new companies have been
organized and are getting ready to open
up promising properties, there is as yet
no actual production from any of these
and the older mines are being pushed by
! the increasing demand to their utmost
and are simply unable to keep up
with it.
The whole situation, therefore, resolves
itself into a case of supply and demand,
| with the supply light and the demand abb
normal. What is more, as the indications
are now pointing, future requirements
promise to reach even larger proportions
/ than any that have yet been recorded
The market at the present time is almost
barren of copper for spot delivery, and
bids of 1872 cents for such are being re-
peatedly declined. Not in many years
has there been time so near to the
opening of navigation when there was
such a scarcity of available copper for
immediate delivery The most of the
copper now being sold is on late summer
and early fall contracts, and even this
can be bought only in round lots at any
thing like is cents.
/ The foreign demand, as well as the do
mestic, is steadily growing, and there is
/ no prospect of it's letting up in the imme-
diate future. The visible supply abroad
has, within the past week or 10 days, ac-
cording to trustworthy authorities, fallen
| off very considerably and the current
month promises now to show a larger
! decrease in this direction than has been
recorded in long time.
With the opening of the spring season;
with consumers who had been hoping to
see the price of lake ingot lower, and
| who have therefore, held off in making
| their purchases, now in the market; with
the supply, already limited, still diminish
ing and the demand even at the ad-
vanced prices growing, it would seem as
if the market was in a position that fully
| justified the expectation of even better
than 20 cent copper during the com
ing summer. AS in all other lines of in
dustry the present year is proving to be
a time of unprecedented activity ant
growth, so indeed 1t is only reasonable tc
expect a corresponding development il
the great copper industry, which is now
on broader and a better basis than eve,
before in it's history.