Bisbee daily review., 1907-06-02
AT VARIANCE, SAYS
 WALKER
Copper Producers Surfeited with Cash, and High Prices for Metal Remain Without Change to Date.
(By Geo. L. Walker. in Boston Com
 nerciaI May yF
THE METAL MARKET.

| NDJ GSO. IL. Ndlhci, ln DOSlOn NOul-
 mercial, May z5)
 THE METAL MARKET. Copper is dull, and, so far as posi- | tive information can be secured, there is no change in price. Lake is held at ! 26 cents by the largest producers, and | electrolytic at 25 1-2 cents per pound 1 Consumers are holding aloof and waiting. They are not fully satisfied that they will be obliged to pay quot !, ed prices for their July and August copper. The expected strong demand from abroad has so far failed to put in it's appearance. Ie seems that con. sumers must come into the market soon, however, and it is known that there is no accumulated surplus which can be used to depress prices. Three important producing inter ests who were seen this week stated that the market was inactive. They | were holding their copper for future ] deliveries at 25 1-4 and 26 cents for lelectroiytc and lake; they are all sold ahead well into next month and are delivering their production to con sumers as rapidly as it is refined; but they admitted that they were getting no bids for copper; that they were not even having inquiries from consumers
 This situation is not difficult one to understand. All of the important consumers were buyers two or three 1 months ago, and they bought their May and June supplies of copper at that time The metal is coming to them now as rapidly as they need it, and because of the unsettlement in the financial world they evidently have determined that for "a while, at least, they will adopt what is known as the hahd-to-mouth practice of buying. This means that they will l not contract for coper except for i'm mediate or nearby delivery, and will take no chance of being caught in a declining market with large stocks of metal on hand
 One impoj tant copper producing in- teresC says be does not expect to see any material increase in produc- tioa this year. He declares that the present generation will not live to see another 15-cent copper market. A representative of the interests l who are charged with being responsi- | ble for the low quotations that are being put out by certain New York trade paper says: q see no change in conditions. Some large round lots of electrolytic copper can be had at A cents in this country, and copper can be bought at the equivalent of this price on the London Metal Ex- change. hear that wire makers are less active, and in some few cases consumers have asked to have aeliv- cries of copper deferred a month. Consumers will have to come into the market within the next ten days for their July copper, and it is hard to make predictions on the future of the market until they reveal their atti- tude on future contracts"
 The unfavorable crop reports, de- clining security markets and the prac- ticable impossibility to sell bonds and raise new money for railroad and in dustrial business the prices of all commodities. including copper, will undoubtedly decline somewhat. There is unlikely to be anything of the na- ture of a break in copper prices. If consumers adopt the hand-to-mouth practice of buying, prices will prob ably remain at their present level for two or three months and then recede gradually to about 22 cents, and pos sibly to 20 cents at the end of the year It must not be forgotten, how ever, that some of the highest author ities in the trade express the strong est confidence that the market will not drop below 25 cents this year.
 THE COPPER SHARE MARKET
 Bearish factors have predominated in the financial world, and prices of copper shares have declined this week The extreme advance iu the price of wheat, though probably very largely the result of manipulation, has impressed the public that this year is to be one of discouraging crop fail- ures. Agitations in legislative and administrative circles of an anti-cor- poration character have seSved to further unsettle confidence in railroad and industrial investments. The pc riOd of political agitation is approach ing, and with it comes the usual ap- prehension that there may be ell over turn which will give us an administra- ton even more antagonistic towards the railroads than the present one.
 A great many railroads and some in- dustrial corporations need large amounts of new money to pay for ad- ditional equipment, extensions, etc.; and money for such purposes is not available. The announcement of a proposed issue of $10.0O0, 900 to s50,- 100000 of new bonds never faiIs now to bring about severe break in stock market prices.
 It must be recognized that our un- precedented industrial progress can be maintained only through the steady investment of new money for the extension of large enterprises. If the railroads cannot borrow money for new lines and equipment, labor and and all departments of industry must suffer. We are "up against an overworked money market. We have not sufficient currency to carry for ward business in it's present lsgre vol ume. Unless there is some relief soon, commodity prices must decline. Evidently this has been sensed first by the stock market, as is always the case, and security prices have ris- counted in advance tke business de- pression which must ultimately be-