Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1917-11-02
CONNIE RCIAL NEW 81

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luton for handling the country's cop
per production steps fatty upon the
sherman law. The exigencies Of war
nave neeessitated the practical abro-
CATION OF the famous statute for the
tlme being, and copper men are won
derlng whether some lasting effects
VIII not remain after the war. The
pooling arrangement for domestic and
foreign business comes well within the
class OF business phenomena which
the courts froWned on severely not so
long ago. It is hardly to be expected
that copper pool for home business
VIII be tolerated when the war ends
and the need no longer exists for
careful apportionment of supplies, but
pool for foreign sales is another
matter. ~. ~. ..sss g.
Before the United States entered
the war bill was up before congress
having as its purpose the legislative
sanction of cooperative agreements
between exporters for sales abroad
Copper producers had high hopes that
they would be permitted to control
the tonnages and prices of metals sold
to foreigners, and now they have the
opportunity ahead of getting practise
along this line. AS the manufacturers
OF brass and copper goods in England,
France, Italy and Russia, who are do
ing war work for their governments,
will make their purchases through the
American war industries board and
the copper committee they will learn
the possibilities of controlled copper
market in this country.
The after-war market is, however, a
matter which is receiving secondary
consideration among copper producers
just now. The economic problems con-
tanned in the fixing Of one price to all
buyers are enough to keep them busy
for some time. =. ..*
THE vital NATTER says the Engi-
neering and Mining Journal, in discus
sing the situation, is the reiteration
OF the theory of one price for all and
the threat of force unless it is granted.
1t is said that the producers agreed to
this. We may imagine their assent as
being given while they were under
duress. They could readily agree to
keep copper out of the hands of spec
ulators, for they do that anyway, it
having been an ancient policy of lead
ing producers to sell to none but con-
sumers. But how can~they give cop
per at the same price to everybody
IF they have not the copper to give?
What is the manufacturer of electrical
apparatus, of lamps, CT pins, of tacks,
nf riN re hf RI no cly
for copper at 23h cents and is told
there is none for him?
Some in Unfortunate Position
Suppose he says that he will give
"a, %, 26, or even 80 cents if some can
be diverted to him, and the producer
replies that it cannot be done else his
mines will be seized. But suppose the
consumer goes to a seller Of copper
from mines. in Cuba, Peru, Chile, or
Spain, what will Washington do about
Selling those mines? Or suppose he
goes to a seller of copper reclaimed
from scrap and there are no mines to
be seized? How are consumers who
happen to be oversupplied going to be
prevented from resel1ing at their own
price. Fortunate will be those manu-
facturers who have provided for their
requirements by average price con-
tracts. Unfortunate will be those who
have contracted to deliver finished
goods at prices based on the quoted
price for copper and have not provided
for their raw material.
The government did not need any
promise from the producers that they
woul maintain maximum production
They would not be so unpatriotic as
to curtail production out of pique, and
they would naturally produce all they
could so long as they did not. incur
loss. Let it be quoted, however, that
the negotiations, studies of cost, ETC..
have been confined to the large pro.
ducers and have taken no account of
the position of the scores or hundreds
of small producers whose copper, con-
siderable in the aggregate, passes
through many hands.
They are supposed to follow the |
lead Of the big fellows. The question !
is: Can they? And if they cannot, |
their men will not necessarily become |
available to the more economical pro- |
ducers, for the latter may not have /
the plan in which to use them. The !
wiseacres who figure the margin be- |
tween market price and bookkeeping !
costs overlook that what seem like |
stupendous profits have gone to |
large extent into plants to supply tie |
production that is required |
and that such outlay may have to be |
amortized 100 or so per cent. which |
makes the real cost of production a
very different thing from what it ap-
pears on books kept in the ordinary