The Alaska daily empire., 1918-01-22

that while there was no spot copper offered in the open market, he Cthe
 broker or speculator) might manage
 to secure some resale metal. The copper. the consumer would be in formed, was held by some one who had bought more than he needed at
 the moment; he would be sufficient
 ly oblging, however to part with
 some of it at the price he paid for
 it. which was invariably above the current market. The consumer was supposed to accept the proposition
 with grateful thanks. and very often
 le did, because there was nothing
 else to do, though it is doubtful that he thanks were always sincere. Juggling of the copper market in var time, when demand for national purposes was enormous. had been stopped in England by the establish nent of fixed price, but the year was more than half gone before any lttempt was made at price fixing in his country. Not until electrolytic
 ,opper was selling at 30 cents a lound, and promised to go higher lid the United States government ake a hand in it's regulation
 The allied nations had been taking arge quantities of copper, for which | hey paid 25 cents a pound. The ot l,A of ATn | ust previous to the entrance of the | Jnited States in the war, was g. | ents pound. Later the market ,egan to weaken somewhat and by July was down to a range of be ween 26la and 3012 cents.
 First Government Purchase Meanwhile the United States gov ,rnment, having become belligerent i vas intent upon preparedness pro gram which included. among other hings, at the outside 49 9,00000C pounds of copper. It had no inten ion of paying the market price md the producers were appealed tc )n the score of patriotism to make | fair price. A great deal of quiet lickering followed between Washing ton and New York and a cost inves igation was instituted, which estab lished the fact that copper cost something between s and 12 cents pound, according to the producer
 On the strength of this assumption m agreement was finally reached whereby this 49,000,000 pounds was sold to the government at 1867
 ,ents a pound.
 The effect was electrical upon the market. The large consumers oi copper in the United States objected ,trenuously to pay 30 cents for what ,ould be sold without loss at less han F cents. There was little use
 o argue that this was very spec
 ayl price and that it was made
 solely for motives patriotic. The
 consumers failed to see it in the
 ;ame light and the market began to weaken, until a 25-cent level for spo
 copper was reached.
 Supplying the Small Customer
 One difficulty arose in respect tc
 he plan. It was to supply the smal
 consumer who usually bought his
 conner in less than carload lots
 The main motive for the establish
 nent of the Copper Producers Com
 uittee was the elimination of al
 speculative buying, and one of the
 ,royinces of the committee is to see
 hat all the copper sold passes into
 he hands of manufacturing consum
 CTS For a time, it declined to rec
 )gnize the jobber at all, but, as II
 was not in a position to furnish tor
 lots to consumers, and as the latter
 had to be provided for in some way
 m arrangement was perfected, wltf
 he sanction of the government
 whereby jobbers approved of by the committee were allowed to purchase ,opper by the carload at the estab lished price of 23h cents, and distri 5ute it among their customers at ,ross profit of 5 per cent, whlcn made the price to the smaller con ,umers 2407k cents pound.
 In some way those dealers whc held contracts for copper at price
 ,boye 23h cents, and who could not dispose of it at the so-callef
 legal price without serious loss managed to get rid of it quietly though without direct permission, SC hat as the year closed, the marker was undisturbed by friction or irreg ,larities of any kind.