The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-01-13
SENATOR CLARK
REVIEWS MINING
Says 1t Is Hardly Probable
That High Prices Will
Soon Be Restored.
DISCUSSION OF THE PANIC
GOOD SENSE OF AMERICAN PEo-
PIE SAVES DAY.

There are many things which will IN
terest those who are engaged IN copper
mining IN the intermountain regions IN
Former Senator William a. Clarks dis
cussion Of the copper situation in the an
nual financial review of the New YORK
Times. Senator Clark while optnlsuc'
presents the problems which copper pro
ducers must confront with absolute frank
ness. lie does not think It proDable thdt
copper will soon reach the high prices
which prevailed early in the pass year
believes that hundreds of small mines,
which have been compelled TO close doWLl
because of the drop in prices. viii Tot
be reopened. ,-,
conditions. charaCteTiZing them as inc
most unheard-of IN the history OF the
world. That the panic ended so soon ne
attributes 10 the good sense OF ths peO-
Due to Good Sense.
A feature Of this so-called panic which
eXscts our admiration. says senator
clark, is the patience and. forbearance
of the people at large whose tunds ar, aIe
held in the banks. and who have not been
allowed to withdraw except IN snaIl
way for their actual necessities the money
which they have deposited.
Senator Clarks review IS neaoed Cop
per Awaiting Revival of Business, and
L look for very healthy CONDITION Of
the copper industry in the west upon the
revival of business. Copper is one of the
staple and most widely used metals, and
the probabilities are that in the course OF
three or four months. when the surplus
of the market has been absorbed, the
prices viii advance gradually TO 10 cents
the situation is something like this:
The demand for copper has very greatly
increased, particularly in the last ten
years because OF the expansion Of cleo
trical lines of all kinds. Copper as
conductor is much to be preferred TO
other metals. and its consumption has
been enormous.
..For some two or three years past the
production did not keep pace with the
consumption. Hence copper became
The price advanced from month to
month until it reached the high point OF
% cents a pound. Naturally. these high
prices led to the opening of new mines
that could not be worked prOfitably at
the low prices prevailing few years ago
The result was that production out
stripped consumption and copper began
10 accumulate.
Las summer. when the reaction or re-
stricton in business began. the holders OF
these surplus stocks of copper pressed
their holdings on the market, and prices
started to go down. The decline started in
July. and was very rapid, until In Octo-
Der IL had dropped to Il cents pound, or
less than 80 per cent of its selling price
few months before.
Below Cost Of Production.
production of many mines in the country
and they were forced TO close down. In
deed, the price afforded little, if any.
profit TO the larger companies and the
owners of the richest mines.
without any concert of action all the
great companies began TO restrict their
production by closing down their mines
and works or a scale ranging from about
70 to g. per- cent on their usual output
The result has been that a part of the
larger Accommodations, which were esti-
l1aE f1l
copper. has been absorbed. and under
present conditions the probabilities are
that in the course of three or four months
this surplus will be entirely used up. This
viii relieve the congestion in the market
and give opportunities for prices TO ad-
vance gradually.
1T is hardly probable that the metal
win for a long time reach the high prices
which prevailed in the early part of the
wear. and it Is generally conceded that it
is great mistake to allow the price to
advance TO such an extent. At 10 or l6
cents pound many of the mines which
produced al the high prices will be unable
10 resume. and I therefore look for the
maintenance OF the market at figures
which are conservative.
Many Small Mines Closed.
Hundreds Of small mines in the coun-
Try that by reason of the low price of cop
Der had been compelled to close down will
not reach point where il will be possible
for them to operate at a profit. Only
those mines lndt nave large deposits Will
again produce copper at a cost within the
present selling price. l know personally
of almost 100 small mines that have closed
down. In the large companies that are
enabled to COSTUME operations because
of superior facilities for handling the ore
there have been large reductions Many
small mines had 10 shut down because it
was impossible to run without losing
money. Further, because the large ones
are not getting fair profit they have
greatly restricted their output.
AT Butte, Mont, the closing down of
eleven of the mines to the extent of
more than half OF their ordinary outpuf
mas thrown out of employment 1000 or
$500 men In Arizona several thousand
men have been made idle
AS for the present financial condition
of the country il is the most unheard-
OF in the history of the world We havs
had panics time and again in the United
States. which have generally resulted
from the scarcity of money. failure of
crops, and fall of financial institutions