Bisbee daily review., 1907-09-08
INDUST RIAL
 CONDITIONS.

CONDITIONS.
 While commercial reports give nc reason for lack of prosperity through, out the country, still there is a gen. eral feeling of uncertainty and doubt pervading the country which has tenn. porarily frightened the money market and this has caused a general slack. ening of the rapid gait at which the people of the United States have been going during the last five or six years.
 What more concerns Arizona today than any other industrial condition is the fact that the copper market is away up in the air" to use a slang expression. This has caused the cop per producers of the country to re, duce production. This is the case in Cochise county. and we understand that the same conditions prevail gen orally in other copper producing states.
 How long will this inactivity pre- vail among the copper producers?
 That will depend on the ability of the copper producers and consumers of that metal to reach an agreement on a stable price which will leave a profit to the mining companies. The general expectation seems to be that such an agreement will be reached in the near future. Until it is reached we may expect to see no disposition towards growth in copper production. This must necessarily hurt Arizona temporarily and we consider the pres ent as a time for extreme caution on the part of all. The reduction of cop per production will curtail the de- mand for labor, as it has already done. Many development proposi- tions may cease effort until the copper price shall be more attractive and stable.
 Another fact to be considered and a very important one is the increased cost of copper production, especially in this section of the country. The claim is now made that copper can net be produced in Arizona for less thaa ahant 14 cents, whereas six or seven years ago copper was produced for g cents or under. We are pre- pared to believe that the cost of pro duction has been great when it is considered that timber now used in the mines costs more than s30 per thousand, whereas the minimum cost of timber in the past was only SIS. The costs of production has also in creased because of the lowering Of the grade of ore in nearly every im- portant producing camp in Arizona Material of every character has 'ad vanced in cost; eastern coke is now the only available supply and it costs SIS per ton, whereas several years ago the cost of coke was only sS per ton; oil now costs s2.2O per barrel as against a minimum price of s1.3O. Labor costs more than ever before in the history of mining.
 An these conditions are of nature to sustain an expectation that until there is stable copper market at a good price there will not be that activity in an industry which has eontributed so much to the rTosperity of Arizona during recent years.
 While there is every condition which would indicate general pros .perity there Is 9 universal disposi- ton of those who hold the purse strings of the country amounting to ultra conservatism. and the banks are refusing to loan the enormous sur piuses which are piled up in the east until those who hold the money reach the disposition to turn it again into the channels of trade it behooves every individual. business man, ar tisan, mechanic and laborer to hold firm his present ground. whatever and wherever it may be.
 When business activity is resumed