Perth Amboy evening news., 1906-10-15
Supply of the Metal Cannot Be-
sin to Keep Up With The De-
mant Prices Soar.
DOUBLING PLANT HERE.
Every Effort Is Being Made to Com
plcte the Additions to the Raritan
Copper Works in Order to Help
Meet the Demand - Electrifying
the Railroads TO Cause Il Still
Greater Demand for the Metal.

The advance in the price of copper
in London and New York markets,
explains in great measure why such
strenuous efforts are being made to
furnish the additions at the Raritan
Copper Works in this city. The sup
ply cannot begin to keep up to the
demand at present. When the work
at the local plant is completed its
capacity will be doubled
The strength of the copper market
has induced many people to speculate
actively in copper stocks, and the
curb market recently has witnessed
some extraordinary advances in min
ing stocks. The avidity with which
some issues have been bid up indicat-
ed apparently that the buyers were
ignoring the fact that in many cases
they we're paying not 2 or 8 or 10 per
cent. for the stocks they were buying,
but, as matter of fact, several hun
dred per cent.
Mining stocks with a par value of
81 or SIS or $1U a share have sold up
to many times their par value, al
though many of the buyers would be
very apt to hesitate to purchase were
the stocks quoted not dollars per
share" as these stocks are. but ac-
cording to the percentage system.
To many ten-dollar stock selling at
$40 looks a good deal cheaper than a
hundred-dollar, stock selling at $500.
This fact has doubtless helped along
the violent advances which have oc-
Cured in some of the stocks traded
in which has enlivened the curb mar
ket of late.
The present position of the copper
market, it is claimed by those who
are in a position to speak authorita-
lively on the subject, is in no sense
the result of artificial conditions, but
merely of the enormous demand for
copper, which has increased much
more rapidly than the output of the
metal.
According to an estimate made by
a representative of one of the largest
American copper companies, the out
put of copper in the United States
this year will not show an increase of
more than 2 per cent. over the output
a year ago, although the demand for
the metal has increased very largely.
The amount OF copper which has gone
into the building of electric railways
has been very great. 1t is predicted
among copper men that after the
railroads of the country have had a
chance to compare the relative merits
of the two systems of railroad cleo
trifcation, one of which has been
adopted by the New York, New Hav-
en- G. Hartford and the other by the
New York Central for the electrific;t.
tion of their lines running out of New
York, there will be undertaken a vast
amount of such work by other rail-
roads.
The Amalgamated Copper Com
pany, it is said, has increased the out
put of its mines little, if at all, this
year, although extensions to its plants
will enable it in the near future to
turn out considerably more copper
than it has been producing recently.
The Phelps-Dodge mines, it is said,
are turning out no more than they
did last year, if as much, while the
Lake Superior miles are expected to
contribute less than they did last
year to the total copper production.
How much further the price of
copper can advance without seriously
checking consumption is a question
which producers of copper seem un-
prepared to answer. Some express
the opinion that even 22 cents a
pound for copper would not MATER
ial1y lessen the demand for the metal