The Butte inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1901-1912, 1901-11-28

that q reduction In prices may be COM
PEELED by holding back Of orders.
1t is true that there has been some in
crease in European imports from Chill.
Peru and Mexico, and also from Japan;
but this increase has not yet been large
enough to have caused a serious de-
crease in purchases from the United
States, had business continued active.
The production Of the leading European
mines, as shown above, has been practi-
cally the same this year as in 1900, and
could not therefore have effected any
change in the demand for American cop
per.
Business Active in the q. s.
On the face Of matters this decrease
in our exports would give some color to
the current rumors of the great accu-
mutations of metal here. Were the con-
ditiOns here parallel to those IN Europe,
this would undoubtedly be the case;
but. as everyone knows, they are widely
different. While business in Europe has
been uncertain and depressed. in this
country it has been extremely active
and the industries in which copper is
consumed have had their full share of
this activity. We recently referred to a
carefully prepared statement showing
the consumption of copper in wire anu
in brass making. which indicated thar
far greater quantity had been absorbed
for those purposes in the first half or
the present year than in any similar
period on record. 1t is we'll known that
the consumption in electrical work has
been very great. The railroad demand
for use in the construction of locomo-
tives and cars, for signal connections
and other purposes, has been large also:
and this is demand of which much less
account has been usually taken than its
Importance deserves. Building has been
very active all over the country, with
correspondingly large requirements for
brass and copper in plumbing work and
fittings: and this also is an item not to
be neglected. The building of steam en-
gines and other machinery has been in
creasing also. In fact in every direction
we find increased consumption, and it is
not an unreasona bile assumption that the
falling off in exports has been almost
if not Quite-made up by the home de-
mand.
Short Deliveries Impossible.
There are instances which could be
given which go to corroborate this as
sumption. Thus producers have been
forced recently to buy copper from out
side parties to fill out deliveries on con-
tracts: and could only secure immediate
deliveries by paying a premium above
what may fairly be taken as the market
price. In short, the general position OF
the market is that short deliveries can
not be had at the present time.
1t is generally possible. by manipn-
lating statistics of production, ship
ments and the like, to figure out the ex-
istence somewhere of large stocks of
copper. It must be remembered, how
ever. that under present conditions with
electrolytic copper-which constitutes
the larger and more important part of
the production-nearly three months are
required to transport matte or converter
copper from the smelter, to refine 1t and
put it on the market That is, there is
always about three months production
carried in some form by the producers.
This can only be reduced by shortening
the time required for the transportation
and treatment; and such material can
not fairly be counted as visible stock.
1t is, however. by including it that it
was probably possible to make UP sucA
figures as have been published IN some
instances, with an attempt at piausi-
bility. Taking mercbantable copper in
it's ordinary forms, we do not see any
reason to believe that great or even UNI
usually large stocks are now being car
ried; and forecasts of the market based
on the assumed existence Of such stocks
are necessarily unreliable.