Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1907-09-13
DULL IN COPPER
Bio Mines Shut Down Because
of a Long Period of Over
Production.
TEN THOUSAND IDLEAT BUTTE
Price Low and Operators Decide 10
Wait Till Surplus Is Used
Stocks Are Badly Off.

New York. Sept. 13.-There We're
downward plunges during
the morning i'll copper stocks which
kept the whole market unsettled.
Copper declined 39s,
and American Smelling 54. Only a
few rail stocks lost as much as Il
point The price improved steadily
after midday.
New York, Sept. ia crisis in the
copper situation, due to a deadlocG
between the producer and the con-
sumer. has resulted in a tremendo IS
overproduction of the metal, and the
Amalgamated Copper company, the
largest producer of copper in this
country. will soon shut down its mines
in and about Butte. Mont.
News of the intended suspension of
operations there was made known yes
terday by an interest closely identi-
fed with the company. AmalgamateG
stock fell over four points on 'tha
stock exchange when the news b =
came known, and the shares OF the
company sold down to $GD25, which
is G1 points under the high record
price of the year.
1t is said that the suspension at
the Butte mines will throw 10000 men
oNt of work The Amalgamated COM
pany has had difficulty in obtaining
an adequate supply of fuel at Butte,
and this is said to be. contributing
cause for the shut down.
big Surplus on Hand.
The Amalgamated company, along
with other copper companies. has been
piling up a large surplus of metal tor
several months. and it is authoritative
ly stated that there is now a sursplu9
of 250.000,000 pounds of refined cop
per i'll the United States.
The present situation has developed
from the seeming situation of the
producer and consumer TO reach q
price for the metal that would prove
satisfactory. The selling price of cop
per has been steadily reduced in tht
copper markets of the world, but the
consumer has steadfastly declined tC
purchase except when needs we.c
J pressing. The official price for COZ
| per has been lowered from % cents
to 1S> cents a pound by the United
Metals Selling company. Copper pro
ducers on the metal exchange, in theil
efforts to tempt the buyer. have grad
ually cut the price to 1914 cents fol
lelectrolytic, which figure was Teache'
yesterday.
stocks Are UnsOld.
| AS consequence of this acute COP
per situation, copper stocks have ac
cumulated rapidly. The production o
refined copper in September, it wa
stated yesterday, will be 6,000,00
pounds less than last month. Their
were reports in the financial distric
yesterday afternoon that certain bank
have declined to carry any more COP
per metal in their loans.
How long it will take to dispose O
this vast surplus of copper is problc
matical and cannot be determined III
til a price for the metal has bee
reached which will cause heavy buS
ing When work at the mines is re
sumed there may be a readjustmen
of the wage scale which was put int
effect some time ago, when coppe
was selling at over 30 cents a pound
The miners agreed that if the pric
of copper fell below 90 cents the
would agree to reduction of wage.
: River Day at Burlington.
Burlington. Iowa. Sept. 13.-Yeste
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