The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1917-10-04
Price Fixing; How 1t Works in the
Metal Mining Industry
Engineering and Mining JournaD

Evidently the authorities in Wash
ington are discovering that price fix
ing Is not all that it was cracked up
s~and supposed to be- Many disagree
able things have happened that have
given the price fixers jolts.
1t has been notorious that the cost
plus-10 per cent theory, applied to
construction and manufacturing, was
direct invitation to exorbitant de-
mands by the wornmen and extrava-
gance on the part of the contractors.
who readily acceded to demands of the
workmen, and other things which in
creased the cost and consequently the
profit at 40 per cent. knowledge of
this condition has seeped back into
congress, where this week it has been
the subject of angry representations.
The price of bituminous coal was
fixed arbitrarily and operators in sew
eral districts were obliged to go to
Washington to protest that they could
not afford to produce at the price fix
8 ed, and that If the government adher-
ed to ii and wanted the coal from
would have to operate the mines on
its own account Now there is talk Of
the government raising the price
The government bought zinc both at
a fixed price and by competitive bid
ding. Since then the price of zinc has
gone down. Manufacturers to whom
the government is allotting zinc sup
ply are protesting against being billed
for 1t at the government price, when
they could buy it in the market for
less. OF course, that j. a sort of baby
talk of the order of What / might
have done but didn't" However, 1t is
an indication to the government of
the advisability of letting things alone.
The government has been buying
lead at cents per pound, but has so
stirred up things by its mischief maxi
ing that II has paid considerably high
er prices In purchases for the allies.
Now the lead market is declining and
may possibly go below the price fixed
by the government Eve do not say
that it will, but. supposing that 1t does,
We may expect to hear OF more squeal-
ing and reputation by the govern
ment, which does not appear to be in
fluenced by the ordinary business
ethics of facing the music) In the
meantime. the difficulty of making an
equitable allotment at what are sup
posed to be bargain prices becomes
increasingly evident, Not long ago,
the Deseret Evening News, of August |
23, 1917, reported dis follows:
"At the meeting of the lead pro-
ducers of the state, in the offices of /,
the Utah chapter of the American !
Mining congress, it was decided yes
terday afternoon that on account of
many of the producers representa-
tives being out of town a committee
be appointed to draw up a statement
Of the many complaints that are made
rs to the present method of the gov
eminent in demanding portion of
he lead production The latest re-
quest is IOI I'll VI llle ledu OUT
tut of the mines for August, Septem-
Der and october, (. o. b. East ST.
.ouis, at cents per pound. while the :,
ocal settlement price is III cents, !.
1T was pointed out that lead was
he only metal that was being treated
n this way; that the market should be
eft free and government purchases {
hould be made in the open market as "a
; being done with other metals; that r
he government could fix tax that =
fould be better than fixing an arbi- t
rary price, that the little operator p
Nth hand-to-mouth existence would o
e hurt by giving up one-fifth at the F
overnment price; and that the pres T
mt method tends to breed uncertain n
y and tends to hold back the develop p
1ent OF lead-silver mines. b
"One point that was brought out
ather forcibly was whether II was not
ecessary to present the matter of v