The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1915-04-08

in the United States, and also to the
reduction in tariff on steel products,
with which spelter is closely allied,
believe that as a unit a reduction In
tariff on spelter alone would not have
affected the zinc situation seriously.
To confirm my statement, please re-
fer to the government publication on
spelter conditions in the world. which
shows that, except Tor short periods,
spelter has never sold in the United
States for a price equal to the London
price (Which Is standard to Europe)
plus full duty when we enjoyed our
former tariff of l " per pound ON
spelter, and later under the Payne
Aldrich bin when this was reduced To
I1%c per pound. l believe, therefore,
lin normal times the protection of Nc
to 1c per pound is adequate to insure
good average conditions in the spelter
industry of the United States; but a
high duty would be advisable to per-
INIT the zinc industry of the United
States to be protected against the de-
pressed conditions in Europe, especi-
ally when good American conditions
would mean good zinc conditions This
Is the trouble with an ad valorem duty,
II affords the most protection when
you need 1t the least and vice versa
Prices Not Excessively High.
1--WE have discussed these conditions
frequently, and conditions today in the
zinc industry have borne out these as
sumptions as evidenced by the present
price for spelter of various grades,
which, compared to 10-year averages,
look to be abnormally high, but which
although considerably higher than
might be expected under normal times
are not so excessively high after all
think can explain this statement
better by comparing zinc conditions
with those of copper
1T is generally conceded that the
average cost Of producing copper in
the United States is about 10c a pound.
| A selling price of l5c per pound Is not
considered high by any means, taking
into consideration depreciation of the
Iplant, depletion of ore reserves and
profit
There are few isolated cases in
the United States where spelter can
be made, including smelling and min
ing costs for less than &c per pound,
but 1t is generally known that the
average cost Of producing spelter in
normal quantities. in the United
States is between and SIC per
pound, or safe average of sac. If,
las In the case of copper, gross mar
gin of so per cent of the cost is added
to the cost of spelter to provide for
proper amortization, depreciation Of
Iplants, depletion of ore reserves, and
profit to both miner and smelter, a
normal price for spelter should be be-
Tween y q and Sc per pound This is
not an unreasonable figure, and at
these figures the consumption of spell
ter in the United States would con-
tinue at it's maximum. In other words
there would be no tendency to sub
stitute for spelter at this price,
IF spelter previously had been
handled as intelligently as copper, we
should not continue to regard 5.Sc as
the normal price for spelter because
at this figure there is no profit to the
industry as a whole.
whether as result of this presen'
condition in the spelter industry o
the United States, resulting in highe'
prices, and a continued consumption
of spelter even at these prices, a prize
Of between 7c and SC per pound vii
be maintained and considered as {
normal price remains to be seen. J.
imy opinion, spelter will rule at mucl
higher figures in the future than il
has in the past and in the statemen
of physical and financial conditions o
the American Zinc company, l thinl
it is only fair to give due considera
ton to this possibility"