Semi-weekly herald., 1913-01-09
WHERE WE STAND.
(By Carl J. Trauerman, Mining En-
gineer, Butte, Mont.)

corporatios and to the man not in
intimate touch with his bankers, the
business affairs of this country seem
TO be in a kind of healthy tumble.
The last two words seem contradic-
tory, hence, one might depict the
business state of the country by the
use of the worn, homely simile of the
man who was introducing his friend
johnson to his new bull dog. Tic
dog was barking and johnson was
timid. The introducer exclaimed,
Don't be afraid, barking dog won t
bite" yes" said johnson, you know
that and know it, but the dog he
doesn't know it,
Taking business, as a whole, it
seems to be barking. The question
arises as to the future, will this
bark turn into bite or should she
merchant, the farmer, the trader ex-
pand his affairs believing that the
dec will practice the adage expressed
by the owner of the dog?
Fresh in our mind is the trcncn-
dous drop in the market value of our
seasoned securities listed upon ou.
eastern stock exchanges. Was this
movement prediction of the large
iaen of affairs as to the future OF
was it merely due to the technical po-
sitions of high money and supply and
demand of stocks, taken advantage OF
by the ''bear" operators?
shall attempt to show, from .ig-
ures obtained by close reading OF
that famous financial organ, the Wal
Street Journal, and other trade pa
pers, the fundamental conditions dur.
ing the past year, the present time
and what may be predicted, funda.
mentally, for the future.
Our 1912 crops surpassed all pre-
vious records. If the raw product
were marketed it would total money
value of over $9,50O,0 100000. Figur
ing that some of the grains will b,
fed to live stock, the real purchasing
power of our crops, when turned
into money, will have value of con.
siderably over $4,000, 100000
Copper production in the United
States, Canada and Mexico will this
year amount to over 1,200,000,00(
pounds. This is record production
In addition, there was Imported" in
to this country to be treated and re.
fined about 2S0,000,000 pounds, max.
ing total copper available for treat
ment nearly one and one-half billion;
of pounds. At present, with the meta
selling at over II cents and the larger
selling companies going into the new
year with less than one weeks pro.
duction unsold, for the copper in.
dustry the situation for 1913 certainly
looks bright. Amalgamated has in.
creased it's dividend during the past
year as have seven of the copper COM.
panies operating in the Lake Superio'
district.
A greater part of this copper vii!
90 into use in the electrical industry
and glance at some of the electrical
figures will prove inteesting.
Two of our largest electric public
utility corporations have recently en-
larged their facilities and capital to
meet still large consumption of this
form of power, i. e., the companies OF
western Montana and of Utah and
Colorado.
In five years the money capital in
vested in power plants has increased
over 100 per cent and that this figure
will be surpassed may be judged from
speech by H. NJ. Byllesby, electrical
engineer of Chicago, before the
Bondsmen's club of that place, in
which he stated that the greatest
prosperity that America has ever
known will occur in the next few
years.
The Denver & Rio Grande railroad
will electrify its entire main line be.
fore 1915, calling for an outlay OF
over $l5,00O000,
The Westinghouse Electric company
reports that it has 14,700 men on its
payroll, record number, that it is
working to capacity and expects the
present fiscal year, ending March 81
1913, to be the best year in its his
tory. Its foreign subsidiaries report
like condition.
No greater criterion of the coun-
try's prosperity may be asked for
than the condition of the steel in
dustry. On Dec. 10, untitled orders
on the books Of the United States
Steel corporation totalled nearly s.
100000 tons, this record being ex-
ceeded only twice in late years and
these last figures based on the old
method of intra-company orders being
figured in. 1t is true that for 1912
the profit per ton was very small
however, with the present prices OF
their product on stable plane the
steel Companies have nothing to COM
plain of. 1t was stated that an in
dustrial decline had commenced in the
Pittsburg steel district during the
latter part of November. A resume
Of the November Oroas earnings nj