The copper era. (Clifton, Graham County, Ariz.) 1899-1911, 1907-03-14
Walkers Weekly Copper Letter.

dIC uuCHduS Gu AdhG Is SCllluS d
25t cents and electrolytic at PSI cent!
per pound. Producers are experienc
ing difficulty in filling the contract;
they made three or four months ago
as production has failed to equal
earlier expectations. Bearish re-
ports and rumors concerning the
condition of the iron and steel mar
J ket, which have been circulated re-
Gently, seemingly have reduced some
what the inquiry for copper for dis
tant future deliveries.
1t is known that the condition of
the money market has caused the
abandonment of plans for new con-
struction and equipment by a few
railroad companies. and also that
scarcity of labor has checked indus
trial expansion somewhat in other
information obtainable, however, the
demand for steel and iron as we'll as
copper still exceeds the supply.
There is such dearth of cash cop
per available that it seems impossi-
BILE that any surplus supplies could
accumulate between now and the end
of the year, even should a general
business reaction develop. Those in
a position to pass competent judg-
ment, however. express the belief
that the average price of copper will
not drop below 20 cents within the
next three or four years.
Boston coppers have shown d. dis
position to break away from the de-
pressing influence of the New York
market this week, and to continue
their upward course. The announce
ment that the Calumet & Hecla COM
pany had ordered $4,000 shares of
Allouez stock transferred to its name
was the final evidence needed to con-
firm the statements made long ago
that the largest of the Lake Su-
perior companies was becoming
heavily interested in the stocks of
companies owning neighboring mines.
Reduced to its final analysis, the
action of Calumet 81 Hecla means
that the officials of that company,
with their ripe experience in the
Lake Superior mining field, became
satisfied that Lake Superior stocks
were worth more than the public was
willing to pay for them and thereup-
on proceeded to buy these stocks and
make them assets of their company.
1t seems to me that this constitutes
the strongest argument that possibly
could be produced that good copper
stocks are still cheap, not only on the
basis of their current earnings, but
intrinsically as well.
If. Calumet & Hecla officials feel
warranted in buying for their COM
pany such stocks as Allouez, Centen-
NAL and Osceola, and putting money
into prospects like Superior, La Sale
and Nonesuch, and in buying and ex-
ploring tens of thousands of acres of
mineral lands having as yet no de-
monstrated value; if the Cole-Ryan
interests are satisfied that the metal
market outlook warrants them in
keeping a large corps of mining en-
gineers in the field examining pros
poets, and in buying every thorough
ly promising property that comes un-
der their notice, it may be argued
that the public, also, is justified in
the bullish attitude it is taking on
the stocks of copper mining COM
panies and copper prospects.
1t must be borne in mind, however,
that Calumet & Hecla and the Cole
Ryan interests are sure of good man
agement for their properties, as they
know the mining business and are in
a position to have their managers
constantly under their eyes. The
public is not equally well situated in
this respect, and therefore, for its
own protection, should scrupulously
ayoid putting its money into the
stocks of companies which are pro-
NOTED by men who never have been
connected with successful mining en-
terprises.
Although copper share prices in
IlelbJ lis oIelhONo oPPNoA % OOLA-
pared with former standards, they
are still exceedingly low when COM
pared with any other group of stocks
on the market. While railroad COM
panies feel compelled to pay extor
tionate rates of interest for money
with which to purchase new equip
ment and to extend their lines, the
copper producing companies are buy
ing lands, extending their develop
ments, paying for equipment and
construction from earnings, and at
the same time disbursing more money
in dividends and carrying larger sur
pluses than at any previous time in
the history of the trade. Railroad
operating expenses are increasing
almost as rapidly as gross earnings;
but while copper mining profits haye
increased fourfold in three years,
production costs have not advanced
an average of one cent per pound of
copper.
The purchase of Copper Range,
Old Dominion, Amalgamated, Boston
Consolidated, Utah Copper, Utah