Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-12-29

'eopyrlght. l9lS. by Frank @. Carpenter)
WRITE OF King Copper as one
OF the live working monarchs
In the rehabilitation of peace.
For four years his efforts have
been devoted to the waging of
war. He has been vital part of every
engagement and has largely aided in
defeating the kaiser. The shortage of
copper In Germany began six months
after the German invasion. Prior
to that time the Germans had
consumed about three hundred thou
sand year. and only one-tenth of this
came from mines within their own
boundaries. Later the domestic prod
uct was slightly increased and the
government tried to piece out the
balance by stripping the metal from
the roofs of their houses, by robbing
their churches of their bells and by
collecting from the people kitchen
utensils, copper and brass lamps,
locks, knobs and hardware of every
description. They did likewise as to
all invaded territory. France and Bel
sium were skinned of all the copper
in sight and the same was true of
Austria Hungary, Serbia. Rumania
and some parts of Russia. In many
or the conquered cities the electric
copper wires We're stripped from the
trolleys and replaced with iron wires.
AT the same time the domestic mines
were worked to the utmost and a few
thousand tons were imported from
Norway and Sweden. The total sup
ply, however, was nothing in COM
parison with the needs Of the war,
and at last much of the war machn-
cry broke down through the famine
in copper.
* I;
copper Is used In most war mate.
rails. In connection with zinc it forms
brass, the most important of all metal
alloys. Hundreds Of thousands of tons
of 1t are consumed in this way for
cartridge cases and shell fuses, and it
has Its place in every big gun and
ALMOST asa1 every weapon Of war. 1t is
and 1T is almost Indispensable for
electrical and thermal transmission.
1t Is estimated that every mile of
trolley line In the United States re-
quires two thousand pounds of copper
for power transmission alone. and
ABOUT ten years ago the American
Bell Telephone system had in use
more than 400,000,000 pounds of wires
MADE or copper 1t was used for tele-
graph and telephone lines on the bat
tlefelds. and the ocean cables, of
which there are now over 100000
miles. eat 1t up by the thousands Of
tons.
Copper is used largely in shipbuild-
ing and In the past the wooden ves-
seis We're often copper bottomed. 1t Is
employed in making machines of all
kinds, and it Is a part of the founda-
Ito nor modern industry as we'll
as modern warfare. Take the in
significant matter Of the pins you
use for fastening your clothes. We
use millions of pounds of copper for
that purpose alone. There Is one firm
in Connecticut that uses 10000 pounds
of copper day for making eyelets
and .vamps for shoes. The eyelet
metal has to be rolled out so thin
that the pieces do not vary in thick
ness more than one-flfth of the
breadth Of the human hair and the
metal Is such that 1t can be shaped to
the finest degree of accuracy. For
this reason it is important in the
making of scientific instruments. In
fact 1T Is difficult to carry on any
great industrial machine without cop
per. The need for it will grow great
er and greater during these days of
reconstruction and the government is
urging the increase of our output in
every possible way.
The amount Of copper required in
modern warfare has been surprise
to the world. When the war in Eu-
rope broke out it was thought 1t
would have a disastrous effect on the
copper industry. The mining produc-
ton fell, and In 1914 1t was almost
100000, 900 pounds less than in 1915.
1t increased in 1916, and by the end Of
that year had reached the enormous
amount of 3,000,000,000 pounds. which
was over 1,0O0,00O.000 pounds mere
than 1t had been in 1914. Since then it
has been steadily rising. and we are
now getting moro copper out of the
earth than ever before. The price has
gone up with the increased demand.
In 1913 refined copper was selling in
London at an average of about Is
cents a, pound; the. following year,
when the war broke out. 1t dropped to