Bisbee daily review., 1908-03-26
OUTLOOK FOR COPPER STILL
 FRIGHTENING
Metal Price improving Steadily and Operations at Various Big Camps Returning To Normal Scale.

At lssf the clouds of doUbS in the copper market are beginning to dis- appear and as the sky clears there IS a gradual return of confidence says inc Mining world The stimulant whsea is strengthening the market IS the resumption Of buying by domestic eonsaaers. who it seems anticipate that prices win net go lower if any thing will advance. Incidentally the reopepine Of some of the more import ant mines in Butte and elsewhere sug- vests that supplies Of copper in hrst hands are nearing the level tnere and should the normal demand reap near before new stock has been pro cincsa in quantity. prices might agaih jump. beyond reason. s The supposision that mining is be ing resumed in certain quarters Tor inc purpose of rehabilitating the cop per share market is perhaps better founded than the rumor which m inmates that the Amslgamated coterie is coercing the Calumet & H ecla man areneut so that 1t win be compelled. eventually to sign the ''gentiemen's agreement" While the two larger in- terests are surveying the situation through a microscope. the Guggen- helms and their associates are quie.- lv obtaining dictative control of many of the more promising of the newer copper mines. which, by the way are being equipped so as to produce the metal at the minimum of cost ana lower than at Butte.
 la. arr fr, mammoth copper production, and 1t would not be surprising Co see thess states eclipse many of their elders few years hence. It will be the lower grade ore deposits, mined by steam shovel, and the product concentrated and smelted in huge plants, that will eventually give 10 Utah and Nevada an enviable reputation. Success iIi these states will also mean perhaps the utilization of similar practices in mining and ore treatments in districts where heretofore the future of ec- economically developing the vast low grade copper deposits seemed to be hopeless.
 The saving in mining at g to sO cents per ton by steam shovel and s1.e0 or sI.50 by ordinary means Is a factor which will encourage the development of any property whose area is large enough to guarantee pro fitabIe working even If the ore does not carry more than about two pei cent copper. Such property, intel. 1egently managed. should yield a fail interest in a normal capitalization ever when copper sells at only F or l; cents per pound.
 Recently the policy of issuing bondi as first lien on the property and re deemabIe in stock after a certaii number Of years has met with success in this country Of course, thes bonds bear interest higher than paid by banks on deposits; conse quently the bonds of mining compa nies of known merit are eagerly sub scribed for. Stock in these concern naturally does not receive dividen' until the interest on bonds has beei paid, and where a new copper prol erty is being opened up it is not req sonable to expect dividends wi-hi a period less than three years II be sure, there may be exceptions t this rule. but the dividend understan must be earned by the actual work ing of the mine, not by the sale stock or other means at the expens of depicting the fund So necessar in carrying on operations.
 Within the last month or si weeks several of the better manage copper companies have either reduce or discontinued their dividends ten porariIly. not for the reason tha: theI was not enough money in tf treasury but because the metal mari ct has been unsettled. Now tni
 metal prices have improved. and tf cost of labor and supplies at fl mines and works generally are le than they were six months or a "; ago, the prospects of the copp market have assumed a more chee ful tone. Producers, however, shou not become tee enthusiastic. nor col sumers impetuous. rather should tn
 ..go easy,'' for prudence now " ,,oa, rrosoarjtv 1atpr