Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-02-01
OF COPPER
NOT IN THE HANDS
OF ANY ONE KING
Question of Dominance
Probably Will Be Fought
Out by Guggenheim and
Standard Oil Interests.

NEW YORK, Feb. 1.-The United
States produces more than So per cent.
OF tho worlds output OF copper. Last
year. out OF a total Of 913,1s2 metric tons,
this country contributed 515, 1854; japan, 6s,-
O5s; Spain and Portugal, 47,50O; Chill, 49,
go; Mexico, 1896, and Canada, 33,2is.
No one liking" controls copper.
What may be called the Standard OIL
Lewlsohn combination liz responsible for
an annual output approximately 80 per
cent. OF the aggregate Of 1,tSo,OO0.OOO
pounds. while the so-called "GuggenheIm
properties account for 90 per cent. The
remainder Is distributed among interests.
including the Phelps-Dodge, Cole-Ryan
associated with Standard Oily, Hayden.
stone & Co. and the various independ-
ents, of which the Cslumet-Hecla and
Tennessee Copper Company are the most
prominent.
The nearest approach to a monopoly in
copper industry Ia in the smelling end of
II. Here the vast organization operated
by the Seven Guggenheim Brothers has
come to be known as the "Smelter
Trust This control Is centred in the
American Smelling and Refining Com
pany. Sc important has this branch be-
come that. instead of the mine seeking
the smelter, the smelter is seeking the
mine.
This explains the enormous purchases
of copper-bearing ore properties by the
Guggenheims in South America. It is
only in the last few years that the Gug-
genheims have risen to the position of
the second greatest producing interest
in the country.
Copper mining on a gigantic scale re-
ceived its impetus from H.. II. Rogers.
He was instrumental in forming the
Amalgamated Copper Company in 1899
to operate mines in and around Butte,
Montana.
The Amalgamated is a holding corpor-
alton and not n mining company. II
owns S,1S5, 500 shares. or about 70 per
cent. OF the stock of the Anaconda Cop
per Mining Company, the most important
producer in the world. Its output in 1912
was 294, 500, 900 pounds, as compared with
the production OF $50. 900. 900 pounds by
Phelps, Dodge & Co. at its mines in the
United States and Mexico.
An authority on copper finance says
of Amalgamated's future that II does not
ever seem likely to control the copper
industry, but appears to be a useful bal
ance WheeI IN steadying copper prices
and Is seemingly a party to a rapproche-
ment OF all the leading copper-producing
interests OF North America and Europe.
A "sentlemen's agreement" has done
much to prevent violent fluctuations In
either price or output since August. 1910.
Much notoriety was gained by the
A~malgamated in It's earlier days, as 1t
was said to be grossly overcapitallzed,
and In addition its stock was unloaded on
the public at top-heavy prices. The mar
ket movements of the stock showed weird
fluctuations. and insiders are supposed to
have prohted by the queer course of
prices.
At the moment the question of domi-
nance in copper promises to be fought
out by the Guggenheim family and the
Standard OIL interests, although both the
Lewisohn and Phelps-Dodge interests
brains.
The worlds 20 leading mines in 1912
and their output in pounds follow: