The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1911-11-23
COPPER GOES UP;
OUTPUT GROWING
Advance in Price Despite New
Producers Shows an Op-
timiStic Turn.
BUSINESS IS IMPROVING
Limited Stocks Abroad and
at Home Have Effect on
Situation,
BUSINESS IS IMPROVING

one Of the extremely satisfactory de-
velopmcnts recently in the copper situa-
tion has been the steady appreciation III
the market price Of the metal in the face
of the fact that a greater production is
certain from the immediate present on
ward. lnIhandlns this phase of the mat
ter the last copper letter Of George J..
Walker says.
October mine outputs were generally
larger, This tendency To Increase VIII
continue for eight or ten months TO come
stated some time agp that the peri2a
of great growth in production was at
hand and that In the coming twelve
months we may expect TO sec a greater
aggregate increase than We shall again
In several years.
Business Is Better.
on the other hand, there is reason to
believe that business sentiment I'm this
country is beginning 10 improve. that
some OF the established enterprises arc
expanding somewhat. and that new IN
dustrial growth. especially along electu-
cal lines. Is under way. There is no
other form of enterprise that can be so
readily financed al present as an elcctri-
cal one This is decidedly a bull arSu-
ment on copper.
TO the far north now empire is being
opened up and developed by the Grand
Trunk Pacific and other railroad sys-
TENS. In northern Canada there is an
area approximately as great IN extent as
the Mississippi valley that Will grow
crops OF winter wheat oats. hay. pota-
toes. etc. which II now wilderness of
spruce and nr. II is claimed that the
pulp wood which can he cut from an
acre OF this land will approximately pay
the cost OF clearing and preparing IL for
agriculture.
The Canadian government is colonizing
that area and. meanwhile. important min
eral deposits, as the silver OF the Cobalt
district and gold at Porcupine. are being
discovered and developed. In that area
eral OF them are already being harnessed
for electrical development. In the COM
Ing fifteen or twenty years Canada prom
ises TO consume a very great deal more
copper than IL Is likely to produce.
Telephone Demands.
In this country the telephone develop
ment is one Of the largest consumers OF
copper The telephone Is used much more
in the world It's tremendously pop
ularity here and the fact that IL has al
ready come TO he indispensable be
taken as conclusive proof that IL event
ually will occupy similar place In the
business and social affairs of other peo-
pies all over the globe.
Eight or ten years ago there were many
important cities in Europe that did not
have electric lights: but the popularity
Of this method of illumination has never
ceased toSgrow, and now the centers of
population over the entire globe are so
lighted
In previous letters I have carefully re-
viewed the sources from which new cop
per production may be expected to come,
and have shown conclusively that the
ratio Of output will increase much less
rapidly in the future than IL has In the
past In spite Of this it appears that
consumption must grow more rapidly than
il has heretofore and that a higher price
for the metal. therefore. is assured.
Producers Sold Out.
II is interesting to learn that nearly
all OF the large copper producing COM
panies have sold their entire output up
10 date This leads to the conclusion that
by far the greater portion of the exist
ing surplus must be held by speculative
interests. AS these spectators have car
ried their copper through the long period
OF extreme depression, they may be eX-
pected to keep il now until IL shows them
profit. This means that the surplus
will come back on the market very
slowly.
In view OF this It would appear that
the way is now clear and that a gradual
advance in the price OF the metal is not
only possible but to be expected OF
course the increase in production and the
existing speculative holdings will be like
ly TO prevent anything in the way OF a
sharp and extreme advance, but | believe
copper will sell at 10 cents pound with
in a year.