Bisbee daily review., 1908-02-09
COPPER PRICE WILL ADVANCE
 GRADUALLY
Foreign Demand During the Depression In This Country
 Has Remained About Nor nal, and Supply Decreasing
(By c. [. waIker in Boston COm-

(By G. l.. Walker in Boston Con- merciaD.
 Copper is stronger and there is ev.
 cry reason to expect a further grad
 ual advance in price. Lake and cleo trolytic are now quoted at Ii to 14 1-2 l cents per pound. Some sales were re-
 gently made at a small fraction below
 II cents, due to the fact that there is
 Just now no unity of actio1 or policy
 on the part of the producers. All ! agree. however, that prices should go | higher. At the present surplus SUD- plies of copper are very small com pared with what they were three
 months ago It seems that the for eign demand throughout the depres- sion has been about normal. For | eign manufacturers seem to have aI- most as many orders on their books
 as at any time within the past two or three years. One German copper con sumner states that he had 100 per cent
 more orders booked in December 1907, | than in the corresponding month or
 either 1906 or 1905.
 It seems that only a comparatively small portion of the copper shipped
 abroad was purchased by spectators which means by those who plan to | sell later on. Some foreign eonsum- CTS undoubtedly purchased more than | their immediate requirements called for, however, thinking the metal was cheap. The largest producing interests | in this country shipped considerable | quantity of copper abroad about the | time of the panic, stored it in foreign warehouses and borrowed money on | it. The greater portion of this cop per has since been sold, withdrawn
 from the warehouses and delivered. Domestic consumption has under
 gone tremendous sArinkage, and as | yet few if any signs of improvement are noted. As soon as the easier mon- | ey conditions encourage renewal of construction workby railroad, trolley,
 telephone, telegraph, electric light and
 power companies, there will be deci-
 ded increase in the demand for cop | per.
 ! One of toe largest producing inter-
 ests, a gentleman who is most care
 Ful student of the copper situation, ex- l presses the belief that if all of the cop | per mines were again running to their full capacity, the increased output | would not depress the price of the
 metal more than one cent per pound He says that if the large smelting plants now idle were to resume opera tions immediately, it would be approx imately five months before their re- fined product would reach the mar
 ket and become factor in the metal
 world. If there were an increase or 25 per cent in the buying demand, it
 would carry the price of copper to Is
 cents before an increase in production
 could check it.
 Of course the most important factor in the copper market is the business
 situation in this country. At present business is exceedingly bad. It is i'm
 proves in three to six months, as many believe it will, the copper market will pick up with it. It is good opinion that our hard times will practically disappear by the beginning of the fall months. In this event the average price of copper for 1908 should be over 15 cents per pound.
 Almost everything of an adverse character seems to have been discoun- ted by the stock market. Bad news
 causes a reaction Of a point or two only now; and the activity of the mar
 ket is all on the up" side. There is
 large scattered snort interest in the
 market. l visited great many New l York brokers this week and found 75 per cent of them bearish. One of them wanted to bet that Amalgamated Il would sell at 40 before SO; that steel
 would go to 21 before 31; that Union Pacific would sell at par, New York
 Central at 70, etc. Such opinions as
 these are being backed by short sales.
 The bear traders will have to buy back
 the stocks they are selling, either at
 lower prices or higher. A snort in terest in a market which is as thor
 oughly liquidated as the present one is a tremendous sustaining force, ] amounting to an absolute insurance or
 safeguard against serious decline.
 The presidents message will be re- leased today. It will contain severe arraignment of corporations, being of the same character as those which were issued last year, and the culmin- ation Of which was the presidents speech at Nashville aooat the time the l panic was getting we'll under way. Of course the contents of the mes sage were known in financial circles 24 to 36 hours before the message was released for perusal by the public. Should the market decline after tne message appears stocks should be bought, and If it does not decline they should he bought. We are in trad
 ing market which should have an ad-
 vane.ng tendency for some time to
 come.
 I feel very sure that the copper sit
 nation will gradually improve during
 the remainder Of the year. As a re-
 suit the best coppers will be selling considerably higher next January than . they are now think that Amalgama- ted, Utah Consolidated, Copper Range. , Granby, Parrot, Utah Copper. Cumbers 1, land Ely and Newhouse are the. best stocks to buy just now. On reactions , buy Quincy. Wolverine, Calumet & Ar , izona, Butte Consolidated, Anaconda. i Mohawk, Boston Consolidated, Old Do-
 minion. Superior and Pittsburg. Neva- : da Consolidated. Michigan, and Hell yetia.