Daily Arizona silver belt., 1907-01-08
THE BIG ELECTRIC COMPANIES
Must Advance Prices in Keeping with Raw Material-The Question of
 Copper Supplies

The News Bureau Says: The advance in copper has had one unexpected effect
 Both the great electric companies, the General Electric and the Westinghouse are now striving for better prices rather
 than to get each others business. A manufacturer recently declined the
 price named by one of the big electric companies, and was astonished to re ceive a letter of thanks from them foi declining the price, and stating that if he wished any other goods in that line
 the present price would be so much higher. He filed his order instanly ai the higher price named.
 The Westinghouse Electric company has advanced the prices of most of its heavy goods about 10 per cent, which corresponds with the advance made by the General Electric company Novem- Der l. The Westinghouse Electric has not followed the lead of the General Electric, but has been steadily advane- ing prices for the past three months until the average of the advances is about 10 per cent in the lines of electric apparatus affected.
 The advances are based wholly on the higher cost of the raw materials which enter into construction. The Flee trie company uses about 100000 lbs. of copper monthly at it's East Pittsburg works, which it is obliged to buy large. ly in the open market. As the com pany is not covered with copper for any length of time ahead, it fills its require ments from time to time at the mar ket price. Steel, pig bars, tin and all metals are also from 20 to 30 per cent higher than last year.
 Both of the electric interests are look ing for copper mines. It is said that the General Electric company has in vested somewhere near $l,0J0,000 in copper properties and has expectations of good returns some time in the future, while George Westinghouse has been wrestling with half million dollar cop per mining investment in Arizona.
 Both these companies would do well to consolidate their copper mining in- terests, pick up some cheap copper mine on the Boston market and develop it jointly, remembering that at the pres ent time it takes more than $2,000,000 to make good copper mine, but as these interests consume over l25 100000 pounds of copper per annum, they might just as well understand that together they have not enough money to buy half that amount of production in the form of profitable mine. Both of them would have done better to have bought Calumet & Hecla or Anaconda instead of investing money in copper prospects.
 If Mir. Westinghouse, however, fails to make good copper mine in the southwest, it will be about the first failure he has ever encountered, for he has phenomenal record of successes in many fields.
 The Westinghouse works are crowded with orders which are now booked for months ahead. In spite of an increase in floor area during the past fourteen months of over 1,000,000 square feet, the company is still cramped for space, and in some of the shops temporary stagings have been erected in the aisles to give greater room.
 A Westinghouse manager attributes much of the rush in fall business to the growth of central power station business throughout the country. Cen tral station officials have found that the expansion of business this fall has wiped out their reserve margin of power and that it was necessary to build up new margin of safety by installing new apparatus.