Evening star., 1917-05-25
SPEAKER CLARK INJECTS
SOME POINTED QUESTIONS
Discusses Alleged Activities OF Bar
ney Baruch in Lowering the
Prices for Copper.

During the debate in the House yes
terdAy afternoon on the food prodao-
Non bill the talk turned upon the 40
ttvfties of Barney Baruch. one OF tns
council Of national defense, ana Speesk- *
er Clark, who participated In the de.
bate at intervals, interrupted Mr. Lunh
.You say that Mr.. Baruch got .
price Of Is cents for copper. DO gov
know that the Utah Copper company,
in Its report to its st. stosanOiaefs senO.r a 3
the cars at 5ls cents a poundr
aIf that 10 a fact-and do not desire
to question the statement made ny Sne
gentleman from Missouri. sela erar,sn. r.
dous mistake in our revenue oiiI tnat
we did not put on an excess. pron5ss ths ths
that would have raised nearly all the
II think that, too" said Speaker
Clark ~But the Utah Copper Company
made a report to its stockholders tnat
1t could put copper on board cars e
thinks we have brought It down to 16
cents"
ssBut without Mr. Baruch we would
have been paying 30-odd cents pound,
II will ask you another question.
said the Speaker. why does not the
Attorney General Of the United States
hop onto those fellows that put 1t up
to 80 eentst 1,,n am wiiitnE II dowo to fTom geve
80 cents to 16 cents. but he did not pull
IL down far enough, and the Attorney
General could put every one OF those
rdaw npbe Wo 2a Kept the n1 price @
Mr.. Miller of Minnesota said:
'I know something about the cost OF
producing copper. and happen to have
some personal knowledge OF the way in
ernment, by which the government Will
receive the copper, upward OF 50.oo0.o00
pounds. for about Is cents a pound. l
want to state fairly and squarely and
had nothing whatever on earth to do
with 1t. He is entitled to no more
credit for It than the man In the moon.
The offer on the part Of the copper
government for 16 cents or thereabouts
was really a voluntary one on the part
of the big producers OF copper Many
of the big producers of copper have en-
riod Of this war. There IL not . shadow
Of doubt about that They have enjoy
ed profits that exceeded anything they
had ever dreamed of. Not very long
and IL cents pound. although in 1907
1t is true that it went up to % or Is
cents pound These men. who have
made enormous profits in copper, real1z-
ing the exigencies OF the si,uation, oio
have patriotism enough in their hearts
to make this voluntary oner to the gov.
ernment. and they should receive such
credit as is their due"
did not Mr.. Baruch call their atten-
ton to that factr' asked Mr.. King.
Mr.. Baruch did. but long after they
had volunteered 1t in the beginning. As
to V cents pound being the cost OF
producing copper In Utah by the Utah
Copper Company. that Is probably true.
The Utah Copper Company. I am in
formed. can produce copper more cheap
Iy than it can be produced by any other
company or men in the world--yastly
cheaper. I think the testimony usually
has been that It costs on an average
somewhere around IL or II cents 3
that the Utah Copper Company can pro-
duce 1t for. I have always heard was
around z or & cents. It 10 altogether
likely that they have been able to pro-
ducs it more cheaply by perfecting
their system"