Bisbee daily review., 1907-10-02
ARIZONA MINING MAN
 ON COPPER SITUATION
lArizona RepubIlcanl

way, at the present time. is the cop per situation. Will the slump in the price of the metal continue until all the mines are closed down and thou sands are out of work, to say nothing of the stopping of dividends to the operators and the curtaiiment of ex- ploration: is the present condition a mere furry caused by manipulation, or is 1t a natural reaction that shall restore the copper industry to normal conditions and make for a more con tinuous prosperity? These are the views held by different groups of crit ics. The latest mentioned phase is the optimistic one and receives the endorsement of many men who should he in position to tudge if statements in the press are to be relied upon. J. c. Erman, who is just now stopping in Phoenix and who has been inter ested for long time in copper mines in Pinal county. has followed the cop | per situation. pretty closely for a num- Der of years, and has given it special study since the present conditions have arisen. Following is given his views of the situation:
 The recent and almost unprecedent- ed slump in the price of copper. from lNo h4Eu BE1LG O1 AO.lf0 ptE pound, the Average price of lake for last January to 15 cents per pound on last Saturday, has given the pessimist a chance to predict calamities of all sorts to the industry in general. It
 has also given room for various rum
 ors of fight for control of various properties throughout the country, an
 example of which is the rumor to be
 heard on the street now about the Amalgamated being on the bear side
 of the market to secure control of the
 Calumet and Hecla property in Mich ] igan. That there is nothing to be ap- prehended in the calamity line and i that there is no war on between any
 of the big operators, is equally patent | to all thoroughly conyersant with con
 ditions as they are now. The sole
 reason for the present lower price of 1 the metal is that it has been too high,
 causing many of the largest consum- 1 CTS not only to reduce their consump | tion, but in many instances to stop us- ing the metal entirely. The cause is | not, as many hold, that the production
 has increased faster than the demand. On the contrary, consumption has in creased much faster than production and will continue to do so under nor
 nal conditions with copper at IS cents a pound or less. The worlds produc- tion in 1897 was 393,730 long tons of
 which the United States produced ] 2i0 .060 long tons. This was increased at an irregular rate until in 1906 the worlds production reached I'll ,675 long tons, an increase in nine years of 7S per cent, the United States produc- ing in that year 4OS,475 long tons, or an increase over 1897 of S9 per cent
 It might be remarked in passing. that the production of this territory in creased in that period of time from | S1 .530,735 pounds of blister copper in 1897 to 263. 100000 pounds in 1896, or about 1s7 per cent. Thus it will be seen that although the increase in this territory was immense in Eine years, l the increase in the world as a whole was not nearly so fast, and in fact in some countries it actually decreased. as in Africa for instance. where it fell from TAO long tons in 1897 to i 6SS0 long tons in 1906, and in other countries 1t remained about station ary, as. for instance. in Europe with production of S9.S55 long tons in 1897 and but 91 ,995 long tons In 1906.
 Many antiquities on the copper market regard the present slump in the price of the metal rather sign of a returning healthy condition of the market than otherwise, condi- ton that the market cannot be ac- cused of when it hovers around % cents per pound, for the simple reas- on, as stated above, that it diseour- ages consumption and allows large stocks to accumulate. There Is DO question but that under normal condi- i tions the stock of crude copper has been decreasing for years and the de mand increasing, and in fact the quss- ton has ofteu been asked where the future supply for electrical equipment ] t- -4ee-aazee4z- from -- Cnnar.- mines are nnt ineyhanstihle and every pound ex- tracted means just so much less in the ground The old sources of sup ply, though not exhausted. are getting nearer and nearer to extinction and reaching more or less rapidly the ! roint of exhaustion. Though the long ! life of copper mines is well estab- ushed. they cannot last forever, as T.. ! A. Rickard once said. even Methusa- ] lah died While this does not mean as much to us as 1t does in some Of | the older countries of Europe where ! some of the mines have been worked since the times of the Romans. never theless, in Michigan the mines have 1 reached a depth of over mile and l in Montana nearly half as much, and cousequently are in both places much nearer exhaustion than are the mines ! of this territory. With these facts in tmind, it is pretty hard to see how the
 price of the metal can stay down for
 any great length of time.
 i The rBmors of war between the
 HecIa interests are absurd. To begin Ii with the Calumet and Hecla people do
 trof want any other property and on
 !the other hand are in a position to
 defend themselves against any raids
 Amaigamated and the Calumet and
 ss is perhaps nc other copper produc
 CT in the world. For one thing, they
 lhave reduced their cost of production
 down to a minimum SO that 1t is as
 How. if not lower. than any other mine
 in the world. and is certainly much
 lower than that of the Arualgamated
 in Butte. Tn addition to this, the5
 | .-..x. ~i-r <.~o-ho1f of rant nar