Bisbee daily review., 1907-08-25
TOAE IF FUTURE |S DECIDEDLY
 BULL|SH
Those Who Take Hopeful Posi- ton on Copper and Hang on Are Going to Be Big Win- nerS in End.

Now that the air is blue with bear ish news on copper it is well to get out of the rut and look at the situa- tiOn in a broader way. The man who wants to know just what the price of copper is going to be next week will have a hard time finding out; but the man who wants to know what the fu- ture of the copper industry is going to be will not have the least difficulty The present reaction in the price of the metal may be very annoying to many. But to investors who are in- terested in copper stocks the future of the industry is the real question, and that is very bullish.
 These occasional reactions in price are perfectly normal and natural. This reaction in particular was absolutely normal, and was clearly indicated be- l fore hand as pointed out in our issue
 of March 29. The statistics then in dicated that the price would decline at least to 21 cents, but this decline | has now taken place and it is not | easy to say whether the price will ! go any lower or not. But certain it is | that the investor who takes bullish | position on the copper industry and remains deaf to all bearish news now coming out will win in the long run. l The copper industry is growing the i most rapidly of any of our leading l industries. How rapidly it is growing may be seen from the increase in the demand for the metal. The demand | for the metal, in turn. is easy to de i termine from the statistics of prices and production. When prices are fall. | ing and production is growing it is
 pretty sure proof that the demand is
 keeping pace with the supply. Of course the prices used in this com i parison must not be mere quotations They must be the actual average
 prices realized.
 The actual average price realized upon copper exported in 1881, was l6.2 cents and in 1906 it was 16.6
 cents. Those averages are obtained by dividing the total amount of money
 received for copper exports by the
 total number of pounds exported for
 the respective years. Hence they prove pretty conclusively that the de mand for the metal grew at least as fast as the supply. But the supply grew at an enormous rate. Our pro
 duction of copper in 1881 was only T .GSO.OOO pounds. while in 1906 1t was 9CG.5 .5S9.947 pounds. That is an in
 creaseof 834 ,9O9,94 pounds, or 1164.S
 per cent. This affords a means Ot
 estimating the future needs of copper
 consumers. The average annual in crease in copper consumption for the whole period was about per cen
 for each year as compared with tho year just preceding. Since 1893 tht
 consumption each year was about per cent greater than that of the pre-
 ceding year. Hence it is perfectl!
 safe to assume that the demand fo
 the metal will continue to grow fO
 some time at the rate of ' to s pc
 cent per annum.
 How strong the demand is may per
 haps be seen to better advantage by , comparison with pig iron The use
 of iron have expanded wonderfully . Iron is now being used in thousand
 ways where formerly wood. stone 0 some other material was used. Ye 3 the demand for iron has not grow nearly so fast as the demand for cor ' Der. During the 25 years ending wit = lJUb OuT plONuCtlDll OA tOpPNA AASANN l ed 11G4.S per cent without breakin , the price; but our iron production iI g creased only 462.4 per cent, and ye - that broke iron prices about 19.4 pc !. cent. Copper production increase f more than twice as fast as iron pro
 duction increased more thetaointaol 0 duction, and yet the demand 10
 copper grew so much lasle Q than the demand for iron that COT 0 per prices did not break while fro 0 prices did.
 The iron prices used in this con 0 parison are the annual averages 10 several different brands of pig fro
 | given by the American Iron x Stet 0 ] association. The average for 1SS 0 was s23.57 per ton and for 1900 slS.s Q per ton. Of course iron has gon 0 higher this year; but the hignes prices this decade as compared wit 0 the higher prices in the eighties sho' 0 a still greater decline than the oLl = given. Nothing could be more bulls
 on the copper metal for the long pu 0 than these facts showing that the d e mand for it increases faster than th d demand for iron. Investors who e low themselves to be frightened by
 normal reaction in the price of coppt Is are making a great mistake.-final l. cial News.