Mohave County miner., 1918-07-06
WALKERS WEEKLY
 COPPER LETTER

It seems to be the concensus of opin- ion in producing circle that an advance from the present fixed price of 233A cents a pound will be allowed the cop per producers, to take effect within a week or two. Although advices to this effect come from some of those who are in close touch with Washington, there are certain other influences at work which seem not unlikely to pre- vent any immediate advance in price. The price fixing committee of the war industries board is most decidedly on record in favor of the maintenance of the present fixed price and it stands to reason that it will require a lot of convincing evidence to cause it to re- verse its decision.
 There is quite a little surplus of un- refined copper. It has accumulated through lack of transportation facili- ties to get the material promptly from some of the smelters in the west to the refineries in the east. Scarcity of fuel, delays in the delivery of supplies and shortage of labor have been inter ferlng more or less with the operations of the refiners and apparently the lat ter have found it rather difficult to put through the amount of copper they have been receiving.
 Of course the argument will be forthcoming that a higher price for copper would not remedy the condi- Fons described. It would not add to transportation facilities or make it possible for the refineries to operate more rapidly. Such an argument seemingly would prove conclusive, not withstanding the fact that supplies of refined and ready-to-use copper are decidedly low.
 If the price of coppe1 is advanced. and one report is that it will be raised immediately to 27 cents, a portion of the increased income of the producers undoubtedly will be paid to the re- flhcrs,- who will use it to quicken their operations. Of course transportation facilities can be supplied to bring the total output of unrefined metal from the smelters to the refineries. as com paratively few cars are needed to do this work. It takes approximately 90 days to convert the shelter product into refined copper. Therefore it IS
 desirable to increase the volume of re- tInery output immediately in order Uo avoid the possibility of a shortage oc- curing later on. There can be little doubt that the refineries are losing money a9 present and of course such condition cannot be permitted to ex- ist indefinitely.
 It has been suggested that the gov ernment assume control of the several mining companies which are now pro- duclng copper at a loss and guarantee them fair profit. Who is responsible for this recommendation is not stated. but nothing else than an abnormallv high price for the metal or the dan ger of a severe scarcity would war rant such action. It would add to the governments expenses, whereas an advance in the price of copper would increase the governments revenue.
 The feeling in producing circles that the fixed price of 231a cents per pound for copper is out of line with the prices established for other prod ucts has been referred to previously in these letters. During the 10 years which ended with 1916, this being the decade preceding the entrance of the United States into the war, the aver age price of electrolytic copper at New York was 16.404 cents per pound. The fixed price of 2315 cents, therefore, constitutes an advance of only 43 per cent from the pre-war average.
 The average price of bessemer steel billets at Pittsburg during the same 10 years was S26.l53 her ton. The fixed