The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1918-08-15

address by w. Il. ingalls,, editor @
the Engineering and Mining Journal
before the American Zinc Institute il
st. Louis, July 20. 1879.
The American zinc industry ha
been historically characterized by al
alienation of ups and downs whicl
often have been sudden and sharp
For more than year its forture
have been going down. Recently, witt
spelter selling at about 6A cents
there was a nadir of expression. Their,
is something grotesque in thinkin,
and talking Of spelter as being phe
when only four years ago VIC Otter
saw 1t at cents without complaining
and even did not become very nlucf
worried until the price fell beloN
Az cents. But since then economic
conditions have changed fundament
ally. There have been introduced new
factors affecting all commo lities
which factors find expression in in
creased costs and increased prices. Al
the beginning of this year the general
ratio of increase in prices was about
1.S, as compared with those prevail
ing just before the war. Upon such
an assumption, and 1t can not be far
out of the way, the recent price of
6A cents for spelter was equivalent
to about 3A cents before the war.
do not need to tell you how that
would have hurt. In order to have
the equivalent of cents speltec be-
fore the war, we should need to have
something like cents now, and for
the equivalent Of 5A cents, that we
used to regard as a normal average,
we should need to have about az
cents now, if the physical conditions
of our ore resources had remained
the same. However, the physical con-
ditions have not remained just the
same, for there has been the exploit
tation of new, rich ore bodies in Ok
lahoma besides important develop
these new factors have come into
play, and have permitted so low, rel
atively a price to be recorded as we
lately witnessed while a large produc-
ton was still maintained, but that
perception does not alleviate the pinch
and the pain that are felt generally in
the industry or alter the recognition
that the situation has been danger
Gus, and still is dangerous.
In fact, we have witnessed during
the last IL months a general closing
down Of smelling works. Many Of
the smelters who grew like mush-
rooms in 1916 have gone out of bust
ness forever. Such as now remain
are those who intend to stick to the
business. They have capital invest
ments that are too large to be lightly
thrown away. But even those smelt-
ers, possessing total about 10000
retorts on July /, 1918, had in use on
ly 10000. In other words, only about
60 per cent of the live distilling ca
pacity Of the country-I am not in
GLIDING the electrolytic capacity
was In use at the beginning of this
month. There were only three smelt-
ers operating at full capacity at that
time, and only one of them was an
important concern. Many Of the 9TH
er shelters, including some of the
greatest metallurgical companies,
were reduced to basis of only 40 per
cent, or less. This has not been a
time of the strong profiting at the ex-
pense of the weak. The strong have
been blighted as well as the weak.
Not only is there this great setback
in the smelling industry, but also
there is the same thing in mining. If
the smelters can not easily sell their
product, they can not take ore from
the mines, and the latter have also to
curtail, accept very low prices, and
struggle to make both ends meet. In
the zinc industry, as in others, smell
tiers and miners are in the same boat.
There is not one party that lives in
the cabin and the other in the fore
castle, but rather Is the smile that
each is pulling an oar, one the star
board and the other the port, and In
order to make the boat go ahead they
have got to pull together. In the past
they have not always pulled that way,
and the boat has gone around in
circle Henceforth your common in
spiration must be to pull together,
steer a straight course and get ahead.
1t is unnecessary for me to review
the causes that led the zinc industry
into its present state. What was go
ing to happen was evident almost
from the beginning. The experience
of this free, unorganized and highly
competitive business during the last
three years has been so true to form
that its record may we'll be cited as
enc Of the classics Of economics.
There Is no use in going into the his
tory Of the past except in SO far as 1t
may afford teachings for guidance In
the future. For the very reason that
the recent history of zinc has been SO
true to form, do not think that there
is much, not previously known, that
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