Mohave County miner., 1908-01-04
A Question of Policy.

To stop development or not, that is the question. By reason of the low price of copper and lead, it is for di- rectors and managers to decide wheth- CT on the one hand they shall stop de- velopment and thereby minimize ex- penses while extracting ore in reserve so as to maintain good profits or, on the other hand, continue development, diminishing production meanwhile, so as to conserve the ore for the time when the metal market improves. Two extremes of policy are illustrated by Lake Superior and Butte At the copper mines of the Lake country the operations are maintained steadily, regardless of the vagaries of the met al markets. Development and extrac- tion proceed at their usual ratio no matter whether Secretan, the Amal- gamated, or the United Metals Sell ing Co. is trying to set aside the laws of supply and demand. At Butte, on the contrary, sweeping reductions in the scale of operations, the closing down of big mines, and the cessation of smelling operations are ordered, in the expectation, apparently, of restor- ing the metal market to healthy con dition. Changes in the policy of the copper mining companies are made in lordly way, highly disconcerting to local industry. It seems to us that two obligations are involved, one to the shareholders, that is, the owners of the mine; the other, to the local community, The first requires that the maximum profit be made. Is it made by violent changes of policy? The manager of big mine gradually gathers number of efficient employees and develops a system based upon the usefulness of such body of men. The y s-tte in the locality and can be de- pended upon to do certain work in a cerlaln way. It may be that explora- tion work is done under contract, at so much per foot, and in dull times like these the cost is minimized owing to keen competition. If the mine is closed down pending revival of met al prices, the force at the mine be- comes disintegrated, many of the men leave the locality, and in the interval the mine itself suffers, for all eXper- fenced men know that idle workings will cave and the timber in abandoned levels will rot to such an extent as to make repairs excessively expensive when finally they become requisite on a general resumption of operations. If the mine is not closed down, but extraction ceases, while development proceeds, the shareholders get no div idends; while if extraction proceeds, while development is stopped, the shareholders get temporary profit at the expense of destroying the future earning power of their property. But another factor comes into play, namely, the moral obligation to the community The people of a mining community do not share directly in the prosperity of mine, save in so far as they get the chance to work, and it is by their work, especially if it be efficient, that the company has prospered. It owes something in return and it will find it's interests best conserved by having some regard for its social obligation. A director is in dilemma nowadays and the situation is not without hu- nor. A feverish metal selling agency pulls one leg and working miner the other; whose pull is strongest?-M. X s. Press.