Bisbee daily review., 1911-12-22
THe PRICE OF COPPER.

The price of copper in the markets of the world al this tfnfe1-fs showing such strength as to afford much en- couragement to the producing ele- ment Of the southwest. Reference to the market quotation will reveal the fact that the red metal is now sell ing wholesale, in large orders, for .1s Is cents per pound, and the news papers Of the Arizona copper dis iricts are quoting Dr. James Doug las, head of the great Pheips-Dodgs interests in the southwest. as pre-. dieting that the price wiu reasA at least l5 cents by the first of the com ing April
 Dr. Douglas is a very practical man and very conservative in his views and estimates. Heretofore he has not taken a very roseatc view Of the cop per situation. but has rathsr inclined 10 the opinion that the otitiook for better prices was not fattering and was rather contingent upon the mat ter Of production. The increased de mand that is now in evidence. how ever, especially from England, Ger many and other copper consuming foT eign countries. has resultef In a ma terial stiffening of prices and copper is today bringing the best price it has reached since the panic Of 1907 when the bottom apparentN dropped out and the market hardly reached the cost of production.
 While it has been claimed in some quarters that there was a small mar. gin of profit in copper production even at as low market figures as cents per pound, it is readily notice ssle that so long as the price has been below 12 cents there hGs not been the activity and development in copper mining which would indicate it was upon a prosperous basis. As matter Of fact, real prosperity fcf the copper business requires that the price of the red metal shall advance beyond the % cent limit. When the price of coTper reaches 20 cents it will mean a return to that prosperity copper production once enjoyed fn the southwest when it was one of the greatest principles of southwestern prosperity. As the present tendencs now seems to be so decidedly up- ward and so astufe an observer ss Dr. Douglas can see the period at which fl is going 10 reach 15 cents it is to be hoped that present deve.- Opments are but the precursor of more rapid advances thai will carry prices to the point where there viii be a real and enduring prosperity for the copper producers of the south west.
 The great treasure house Of the as- ton SO far as copper is concerned lies fin the southwest The copper mines of Arizona, New Mexico and Mexico are now producing a very large per cent of the worlds supply at nearly as cheap a rate as it can be produced elsewhere, snd there are millions Of tons or fine copper orc yet 70 be developed and mined ia the great southwest. So iOng as the price of the metal has remained near ta ihe point where it went during tho 1907 panic copper development haa not enjoyed the impetus that would have been evident had tbe former sat isfactory prices prevailed Every ad. vance then, that is secured in the price of copper. which places it that much above tlia ccst of production is sure to stisnulste southwestern copper mining. establish new eoppec Erodnoinsa aeenteTs and materially add 50l theg wealth and prosperity of the southwestern Copper producing dis. tFict. The producers O. the souths vest are TOW greatly encOuraged over the general outlook.-El 'Paso Times. IL