The Ely miner., 1915-09-10

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made in this direction. The right
steps have been taken, branch
banks established, and we are be-
coming acquainted with the South
American trade, but little has been
accomplished in the way of actual
new orders.
1t remained for the war itself to
solve the problem. None, not
even the belligerents themselves.
realized, the part that ammunition
would play, and the scale upon
which it would be used. Nor was
it realized upon what scale the
lives of men would be poured into
the hoppers of the mills of the
gods, nor how gigantic would be
the task of feeding, clothing and
equipping those men.
The entente allies turned to
America and placed great orders
for foodstuffs and supplies of var
ious kinds. The west harvested a
bumper wheat crop and sold it at
phenomenal prices. Our exports
picked up and our imports decreas-
ed. The war has erected barrier
more effectual than any tariff law.
Presently the shoe was on the
other foot in respect to foreign ex-
change; rates righted themselves
and more.
Representatives of the allies
sounded American manufacturers,
]. P. Morgan & Co. became Eng
lands fiscal agent in this country.
All the United States became in
noculated with the war order
fever" People talked in hundreds
of millions. Numerous manufac-
turers with plants adaptable in any
way at all to making munitions of
war figured on the war business.
Inquiries from foreign govern
ments, already large, were magni-
fed as they passed from mouth to
mouth, until they assumed man.
moth proportions. Nearly every
big industrial concern was credited
with the receipt of fabulous orders,
at rich profits.
The call for munitions created
an unprecedented demand for
some of the minor metals. Prices
of these literally sky-rocketed.
Spelter presented most spectacu-
lar movement. A level of E cents
a pound has been high in recent
years; 7 cents was reached occas-
ionly. With the revision of the
tariff downward, spelter prices
were hit hard just as were iron and
steel prices. Quoted at 5.45 cents
two years ago, it had declined to
4.82H cents year ago. Shortly
after the beginning of 1915 the i'm
pending flood of war orders became
manifest. Spelter, important in
making brass, sheets, etc., came
into strenuous demand. 1t soon
became evident that the supply
was relatively small and prices
scared to almost 80 cents for
ordinary prime western. Just at
present the market is in a slump,
but 1925 cents represents a broad
jump from the quotation of last
July. The same story may be told
of antimony, a metal which we
have always imported, and which
is essential in making munitions.
Lead fingered long before it re-
sponded to the war order wand,
but finally the magic possessed it
and it made a sudden squirt to 8
cents pound. Then, as sudden
ly, it faces about and now is quot
ed at nearly a normal level.
Copper producers curtailed opera
tions by SO per cent when the war
began, because of the loss of for
eign trade and accompanying poor
business in the United States. In
the past twelve months copper
(electrolytic) has risen from 1888
1-2 cents to around 70 cents a
pound. At present producers are
booked far ahead and shading of
prices by second sellers has result
ee in the low quotations current.
Tin advanced to above so cents in
the readjustment of conditions,
but now two years ago. Aluminium
also reflects the war demand and
the cutting off of imports.
The iron and steel industry is a
gigantic affair as compared with
the minor metal trades. 1t does
not respond nearly so quickly to
conditions such as the influx of
foreign business. Steel bars, for
instance, and basic pig iron, the
steel making grade, and wire nails,
all of which enter into the export
business, reflect the foreign de-
mand for shells, barbed wire, steel
rails, etc. Present prices continue
under the normal level, however,
as expressed by the quotation of
July 80, 1913. Black sheets and
No. foundry pig iron have not
yet recovered to the level of Dec.
81, and are considerably under the
levels of year and two years ago.
Foundry pig iron is the merchant
grade, sold to foundries and the
like. which have not felt too much
of an extent as yet the benefits of
the war business. Black sheets,
on the other hand, are sufferers
from the war, indirectly. They