The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1910-02-15
THE LEAD TRUST
Production and Prices Un- der It's Control-The Grabbing Guggenheims

NGW 4OrK, F0D. I0.-In SySLomdL1C attack upon the Guggenheims who, it is claimed are trying to grab Alas ka with it's billions of dollars worth of natural resources, Hampton's Magazine in its forthcoming March number pub fishes an article claiming that the Guggenheims head not only the Smell ter Trust, but the Lead Trust also. Eugene P. Lyle, IT,, the author of this series of articles revealing the sys- tenn upon which the Guggenheims op- crate, thus describes their activities in the lead market.
 s'The original Shelter Trust hardly pretended to activities beyond the lead-sliver field, but now that the. Guggenhein1s were in, there was no one field that might bound it's operations. Two of the Guggenheim brothers. in their plea for the greater combine, frankly pointed out the Trusts possi- bilities as a lead monopoly. This statement, being directed to miners, was intended to placate them with the prospect of higher prices for lead. Ev- cry householder in this country who foQs the bills for lead plumbing pays several cents more per pound for pip ing since the Trust has controlled the market.
 '"The bigger Trust quickly manifest ed it's control It rested not at all within the limits of lead-silver mining, but invaded the pure lead fields. such as Missouri. where hitherto the Trust had set up no pretentions.
 'sThe chief lead districts of the Uni- ted States are the Occur d'Alene of Idaho, the Flat River and Bonne Terre of Missouri. the Joplin of Mis- souri, the Park City of Utah, and the LeaGville of Colorado.
 "Consequently the lead business of the United States was almost com pletely in the hands of the Shelter Trust Towering the lead-silver or Rocky Mountain districts) and the Missouri producers. As the Trust smelted nearly all of the silver-lead ore, it could dominate the mining of the same, either encouraging or cut shelter control. When the Guggen- helms entered the Trust the only inn portant desilverized lead producers outside the Trust were the Selby Smell. ting and Lead Company of San Fran cisco. and the Balbach Smelling and Refining Company of Newark, New Jersey. The Securities Company soon took over the Selby concern as well as all other lead plants on the Pacific Coast, leaving the Balbach Company as practically negligible in the situa- tion.
 .The Trust did not at first control the Occur d'Alene district, which pro- the United States. Occur d'Alene, though, was essential to the Trusts ambition. A big Occur d'Alene lead producer was the Federal Mining and Smelling Company, having a smelter at Everett, Washington, in which the Guggenheims quietly bought control. They secured control also of the Sul- 1ivan Group Mining Company, with a smelter and mine at Maryvill,. British Columbia which made the Guggen- helms supreme in the Occur d'Alene.
 '"There remained the Missouri pro- ducers In the list of the Securities Company's holdings we note the Fed eraI Lead Company and the Central Lead Company. The latter owned lead mines at Flat River, Missouri. The Federal Lead Company, besides hav- ing a sme1ter and refining plant at Alton. Illinois, also had mines and contracts in Missouri These. being absorbed by the Securities Company, became Trust possessions.
 t"The manufacturing lead industry in the United States was practically divided between the United Lead Com pany and the National Lead Company. The National and the United fell un- der the Guggenhein influence, though in it's report in 1908 the National de- nied that the Guggenheims were any longer an important factor in that company.
 .sBy consultations and acquisitions the Shelter Trust had become the Lead Trust. It's monopoly of the met al was abslute, in the United States, the country that ranks first in the pro- duction and in the consumption of lead. The supreme test of this non- opoly was that it made the price. In 1896 the average price of lead per pound was 2.83 cents; in 1898, 3.63 cents. That was before the trust was organ ized. Prices ranged much higher after that. In 1900 the average price was 473 cents; in 1902, a small fraction above 4 cents; in 1904, it was 4.3 cents: 5.347 cents in 1906 and 4.21 cents in 1eOS-after the panic. The prices before 1900, were, for many mines, below the actual cost of production. So far the Trusts control appears to have helped the miner to a certain extent it did, though the increased consumption of lead must also be credited for an up ward influence on price.
 "In a low market, however, with ex- cess supply, the American Smelling and Refining Company lost control. In- dependent producers broke away from the policy of selling on the Trusts schedule, and finally. in November, 1907, the Trust abandoned a schedule of selling prices