Albuquerque daily citizen. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1895-1903, 1902-03-17
LEAD BUSINESS.
Miners Should Combine and Estab-
Iish SmeIters in the West,
INTERESTING ARTICLE ON MINING

The lead business, like any other,
is done by three parties, the producers
or miners, the middle men or smelters.
and the manufacturers or
who supply the trade in the various
articles of manufacture. The producers
are mining companies and individual
miners, among the former some are
more or less associates of the smelter
trust. The middle men are the Ameri
can Smelling and Refining company,
the Pitcher Lead company, of Joplin,
Mo-. the Pacific coast smelters and
quite a number of smelters independ-
ent of the trust, but mainly engaged in
the reduction of non-argentiferous lead
ore. Independent works are preparing
for operations in the Rocky mountains
in competition with the trust. The
manufacturers or are the
National Lead company, owning the
Harrison reduction works, the Rio
Grande plant at Socorro and the old
silver smelling and refining works at
Cheltinham, st. Louis, of which only
the latter Is in operation, reducing the
ore from the company's own mines at
Flat River, Mo, to pig lead. The Ma
tional Lead company is composed of a
number of corroding companies
throughout the middle and eastern
states, consuming about 10000 tons
of pig lead per annum In 1900 there
was made 1920 tons of white lead,
which includes the product by the in
dependent corroders and probably also
the sublimed white lead made by the
Picher Lead company, of Joplin, Mo.
The manufacture of lead pipe and lead
plumbing, mixtures for rubber and
other goods, consumes the rest of our
production of lead. Every new article
produced in certain branches increases
the consumption of lead. Prosperity
in general increases it. We produce
enough lead, year in and year out, to
do us. Some tunes there is a shortage,
then a surplus, but on the average, pro-
duction balances consumption. AS
L~eadville, for a time, largely increased
the output, so will, for a time, south
west Missouri. The introduction of the
Whitley table and it's limitations have
prevented a great shortage in the
Rocky mountains. From time to time
thus a new discovery or an invention
has filled a shortage. And so it may
in the future. New railroads into min
ing districts will make possible new
| utN tlOpliChto Va Ohi 10
sources of lead are pretty well known
throughout the United States. There
is no danger of a serious overproduc-
ton if it be then a yea of panic. The
American Smelling and Refining COM
pany was organized for self protection
to stem the tide of competition which
proved %ruinous. The Guggenheim
smelters entered the combination after
having professed intention of remain
ing Independent. Today the Guggen-
helm interest is the whole soul if not
the whole body of the trust. The trust
is doing all it can to force all smelling
companies into it's arms, but in Mis-
souri,, especially southwest Missouri,
the mines of that class which can pro-
duce proftably only by wholesale oper-
atoms which have a good profit now
with a very low state of the market.
The most prominent producers there,
the. st. Joe Lead company and the
Desloge Consolidated, as well as the
National Lead company, cannot cease
operations or reduce their output with
out very serious loss, but the two for
mer have frequently withheld their
product from the market for a time.
. In Joplin the chief production of lead
is incidental with zinc mining and the
Picher Lead company sells the pig lead
generally on the same day that it buys
the equivalent in ore. The output
around Joplin will rarely exceed 25,-
900 tons of pig lead per annum. This
includes Kansas, The trust, therefore,
so long as Missouri remains such a
prominent factor cannot absolutely
control the market, although it can
materially help it by storing its desil-
verified lead. This, however, does not
restrict the output. Hence the closing
of trust plants and the low price they
pay for the ore, increase of treatment
charges, in fact the decentralization of
the Rocky mountain market for argen.
tiferous lead ore. The use of foreign
lead smelter in bond facilitates this
policy of restricting the home produc'
ton. A combination of miners is one
of the measures of relief and in antici
patton of such a step the trust has as
T, ISOLATED with a number of mine devel
; opment companies that buy up large
|. mines. 1t stands to reason, therefore
/ that no new smelter can operate sue
! cessfully unless it is assured of plenty
of ore, has good financial backing, the
good will of railroads and talent ant
+ business management.