Lyon County times. [volume] (Silver City, Nev.) 1874-1907, 1902-11-08
THE PRICE or COPPER.

The probable price of copper in
1903 is of present interest, and
many not gifted with the faculty of
correct prophesy realize that the
law of supply and demand will
regulate the matter. To this pa
per it seems the copper consump-
ton must increase, and that the
present price will not be materially
lowered. That this view is enter
tanned by men long in the busi-
ness of mining and selling copper
is manifest by the extension of
their operations and the better
ment of their plants. This con-
tinuously increasing demand is
the strongest factor in sustaining
the price, for it is clear that any
rigging of the market or juggling
with stocks can have no effect
other than temporary unsettling
of values, and that the permanent
solid thing about the business is
the steady demand for copper in
the industrial world.
For some time the price of cop
per was not fixed by the consump-
tion nor the cost of production,
but arti6cially regulated around
II cents per pound by stock man
ipulators independent of CONNER
cial conditions Of course the newt
able occurred and anything in the
way of promising copper pros
pect was exploited with the result
of tremendous increase in the
product, too great even for the ex-
tensive demand to meet. With
the inevitable surplus came the in
evitable reaction and break in
prices. Then came also the pro-
phesy that improved metallurgical
processes would enable nearly
every copper producer to tuIn it
out at an average cost of half the
then selling price. Even the
clever effort to corner the market
failed before such probability of
cheapness, and the usual sevice of
restricting production failed to
sustain falling market.
Effort was made about this time
to approximately know the cost of
production, but no general rule
could be formulated, as so many
factors entered into the question
as to make it almost local one.
1t was, and is, evident, however,
that, so far as the west half of the
continent is concerned, the mine
that produces copper las a by-pro-
duct" can market it the cheapest,
for, however much may be mani
fest the triumph of metallurgy in
such cases as the Atlantic mine of
Michigan, where ore carrying but
~ per cent copper is mined and
milled at a profit, yet the strength
of the game lies with the property
where the gold and silver yeild
pays all costs of production leav-
ing the copper as net profit.
This was one of the delusions
practiced in the days of II cent
copper in the announcement of
dividends from copper, in ignor-
ance or defiance of the fact that
in the case of great copper
properties that produce gold and
silver as we'll, in some cases, near
ly half the dividends credited to
copper should fairly have been
credited to the gold and silver also
derived therefrom.
So that the situation was that
the stimulous of high prices in
creased production beyond posi-
bility of present consumption and
the baseless fabric fell The swing
of the pendulum the other way
sent the price from II toward the
10 cent mark, and so it is only
within the last year that the in
variable and inevitable law of the
business world has made all
causes contribute to an even bal
ance where steadiness of prices
become more likely.
While it does not seem probable
thnt rnraSanf anricac xuill nn lnmar