The Alaska prospector., 1908-04-09
COPPER . MARKET EXPECTED
Present Conditions Said to Be Due to Financial
 FIurry. in East.

In the opinion of men familiar with the resources of Alaska there is little doubt but that eventually copper is to rival the gold and salmon industries in extent of output. There have been many large copper propositions dis covered within the last year or so and the biggest copper mining interests in the world have become interested in Alaska.
 Almost coincident with the reports of big copper discOyeries in this ter ritory has come a slump in the cop per market and also, for time, an almost total cessation of copper min ing in the states. In commenting on the future of copper and the pres ent conditions Mining Science, Den- yer publication of prominence says:
 The market for copper in the Uni ted States depends fundamentally upon the resumption of that class of business which involves new struc- lures. The consumption of this met al through ordidnary wear and tear amounts to less than Ina If the norma demand"
 "Mr. James Douglas has shown that about one-third the copper is con- sumed in brass wearing parts. This demand IS, of course, comparative- ly steady one, because it simply keeps up ordinary wear and tear. One third the demand is for architectu- ral brass, bronze and structural cop per. Of this third, part is for re- newals and part for new structures. The remaining third is for electrical equipment and the renewals in this line are relatively very small. Thus we see that stoppage of new busi- ness might readily decrease the de- mand by 50 per. cent, and this is about what happened during the lat ter months of 1907.
 So far as this country is concerned, only little improvement can be looked for till the East gets over it's fit of the blues. The East is the seat of the major consumption of copper, and so long as it is out of the market the American copper market is a good deal like a four-horse team with three of it's horses down in the mud. The fact that the fourth horse is up and doing will not work much ad- vancement till all can pull together.
 Luckily our copper market is not limited to the American demand, and Europe in general, and Germany in particular, has not felt the depres- sion as much as the eastern part of the United States. Germany has been very large buyer of copper in the United States market during February and March. The European buying, together with the optimistic tone of the West, are the two most encouraging features of the copper trade.
 '"The large surplus stock of copper. which was on hand last fall has been entirely consumed, according to MT. John D. Ryan; according to others, n large part of it has simply passed into the hands of speculators and re- mains menace to the market. All the amalgamated mines at Butte have been reopened. Mir. Ryan states that the increased foreign demands to- gether with some resumption of build. ing at home justified this step. The | "knockers" have it that this move is simply to whip the Lake producers. into line. The latter groupe of pro ducers went right along producing copper when the Amalgamated was closed down and was trying to bolster l up the market, so it is only natural that there should be some bad blood, but we think no sane man, and MT. Ryan is certainly sane, would go to all the trouble and expense of start ing the Butte mines simply to whip the Lake producers into line. Tie more tenable theory is that Mir. Ryan means just about what he says. There is little profit in Recent cop per, and the Amalgamated might as well get it's share.
 Looking beyond the immediate future, the outlook for the copper market is extremely good. Tho world has increased It's consumption of cop per about 5.8 per. cent. each year since 1880. It will keep on needing an increased supply of copper esch year and of course, the price will have to be sufficient to reward the miner for getting 1t out.'
 "rhe average price of copper since 1880 has been between 14 and 15 cents, but as the copper mines arc getting