Weekly Arizona journal-miner., 1906-05-16
THE FUTURE or COPPER.

''"'' H'""' U" 'V'"y s"N price of copper, and Boston authorities state that it will bc 20 cents almost i'm mediately. What is the meaning Of itf
 Tho output of copper has for 25 years past been steadily and almost uni formly increasing at the rate of 10 per cont per annum. Yet at no time in TO. cent years have stocks, either in this country or abroad, been SO low. There are under promising development great numbers of copper prospects-somc of them huge as to the quantity of ore cx. posed. In Alaska, through British Columbia, Oregon, Utah, California, Arizona, and into Mexico, copper mines nre producing and others are being prepared for production. Nevada is to be added to the list of copper states. Montana Is increasing its output and Michigan is holding it's own. And still stocks decrease; orders are booked for months ahead and the price climbs. It is no ordin. ary demand that has made possible SO extraordinary . condition.
 The civilized world is at the begin. ming of an industrial revolution, where. by . vast economy is to be applied. Nations are based upon motive pow. CT, which has until recently been an. other name for coal. Modern and pro- gress and civilization have eentcred in those countries which have produced coal most abundantly. Next to gold, which buys all things, cheap power is most essential to prosperity, for to 1t come raw materials and men to work them, and commerce and profit. While coal was the cheapest source of power, it was kind. It is 90 no longer.
 The harncssing of Niagara Falls marked the beginning of n new era in industrial history, to development of which copper in vast quantity is es- scntial. The energy of water, flowing under prcssures, and generating electri. city Co be transmitted through copper wires to distant consuming points, and there converted into power, was dem onstrated to he, within certain dis. tanccs, cheaper than coal generated steam power. It became at once evident that throughout the world, in every country possessed of mountains and streams there is available an inexhaustible source of power and heat. The manu. facturing nations are busily develop. ing the energy of their streams for industrial purposes, and the power SO derived has become the successful com. pctitor of coal, is upbuilding new man. | ufacturing centcrs within reach of its transmission lines, is undermining the prosperity of old centers too distant to be served by them. Water power, electrically transmitted, must here. after be prime factor in industrial progress for its economy reduces the cost of production. II cannot be dis puted that the manufacturing nations will develop, to the fullest extent, cv- cry available water power within their borders; and that for transmission pur- poses alone, m incalculable tonnage of copper will be required.
 Nor is this nIl So serious has be- come the competition of water power that coal producers in this country are
 preparing to convert their coal into power at the mines, and to transmit this electricity to consuming points, ra- ther than to transport the coal to the same points. It has been determined that within certain limitations of dis. tancc. the energy of coal may be more cheaply delivered through copper
 wires than the coal itself can be dcliv. , cred over steel rails. This principle logically carried out, will cause the es
 tablishment of power plants Gin coun' , tries or districts distant from coal pro ducing areas, nnd where no water power is available) along main lines of I. transportation. and at seaport towns D whence power may be transmitted tc consuming points. In many parts of , the United States, in England, Ger | many, France, Belgium, and in lcs' , degree in many other countries, sucl systems are becoming matters of nc f ccssity for the maintenance of interna
 tional trndo competition.
 Such is the industrial revolution in
 world is facing today. Though it ha q alrcady begun, its accomplishment vii q take mnny years. It means that hence IT forth, and increasingly, the rivers 0