The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-10-24
BUSINESS WILL
SOON BE NORMAL
Student of Trade and Financial
Conditions Sees No Cause for
Alarm in Present Situation.
ALL DUE TO MANIPULATION
COPPER WILL SPEEDILY REACH
FIRM BASIS.
ALL DUE TO MANIPULATION

Few business men of Utah study con-
ditions of trade more closely or watch
the ups and downs of stocks more care
fully than does =. f. Grant, who is en-
gagged in the insurance business ana IN
promoting the rubber industry. When
asked his opinion of the existing state OF
affairs and the outlook he replied:
Il see no particular reason 10 be dis
cOuraged. Present conditions could nave
been easily foretold. Most western bank
ers and business men of experience have
prepared for the slump. The only ones
who suffer are those who bought stocks
beyond their ability to pay for them
These have been obliged to sell at loss
TO cover their margins or repay their
loans. Others who have their stocks PAID
for and are out of debt will only surfer
a paper loss They will have to wait I'M
til the manipulators are ready TO start
the mines and smelters again"
Then you attribute the disturbance 10
manipulation and not to natural causes
Due to Manipulation.
ITO be sure. large combinations of big
operators undertook to develop the cop
per industry. In various localities We're
extensive deposits of low-grade ore. To
handle this ore prOfitaDiy il was neces-
sary to do so on a grand scale, with all
modern expense-saving equipment and as
little outlay for shipping as possible. This
meant mills and smelters- THESE required
money. The people We're prospecting and
money. Copper dope was circulated,
companies We're apitalized and
fl0ated. while copper prices were adj
vanced by collision with manufacturers
and a guarantee from time to time against
decline for a limited period. For the cop
per manufacturer is not so particular
about the price he pays for raw copper
so long as a competitor cannot get II AT
a lower figure And so the price was adj
vanced from 12l5 or 10 cents two years
ago to - cents Can anyone say that
this was a natural advance? If so, what
about this sudden decline? The country
is quite as prosperous as il was six
months ago and the requirements of trade
for copper just as great.
Reason for Decline.
''The secret of it is this: There came a
time when the manipulatOrs of the mar
ket and the large promoters of copper
mines and Smelters had collected from
the public about all that they needed or
that they could get So they set out TO
get their stock back. But they wanted
II at a lower figure than they had sold
II for So adverse dope was given out.
One excuse or another was assigned. An
over-prOduction was reported. and the
slump came. BY selling short the man
Ipulators made as much as they had pre-
Viously made by high prices. and gath
cred up the shares they had never in
tended to be without for a very long
time.
rs " OHCi
What about this overproduction? II
was at first limited and then openly an
bounced that if all copper mines were
closed enough copper would remain on
hand to supply all factories for the next
twelve months. This is strange. If any
such surplus exists ii was accumulated
while copper was advancing in price as a
result Of an increasing demand. AS a
matter of fact there is no actual sur
plusage. The usual amount of copper is
IS uHn inn On cha nv
living in warehouses in the shape of man
ufactured articles, il is lying in storage
in the form Of matte. Just as soon as
these manipulators are through shaking
down the public they will begin work on
as big a scale as ever and guarantee a
fixed price for cOpper-nOt as high as %
cents. but at profitable fgure-this
matte on hand will be turned into arti-
Giles and utensils of trade. the so-called
surplus will thus disappear and the con-
sumption of copper will be as great as 1t
was before the slump.
Is Only a Game.
ITS nothing bat a game. and the
loser is the man who plays for higher
stakes than he can put up if IL goes
against him. The man who doeSnt nave
to sacrifice his stock will find his invest
ment in a good copper property all right
in the end. Other mines and metals Just
now are largely influenced by copper
and will rally according to their merits
when the recovery inevitable to copper
comes
There was no other reason for this
slump. The prosperity of the people, the
requirements of trade, developments or
industries requiring copper wire ana &c
vices would have stimulated the demand
and held up the price under normal con-
ditions. OF course nearly everybody was
looking for the usual decline in the pres
idential year. and would have douptless
taken steps to clean up before that time.
R,It this would have interfered with the
well laid plans of the manipulators VINO
anticipated the people rev months IN
the way l have set forth
There can be no question as to the
tutIlre of copper IL will settle down TO
II or IS cents and the mines and smelt-
ers will proceed as before. The shaking
nm will on account of general prosperity
ana a lack of harmony among the manip-
IIators hurt some of them and their
banks worse than il hurts the public. 1t
ought TO be lesson. but people won I
learn much from II. Next time the game
is PLAYED there will be just as many peo-
pie take part as ever before.