The copper era and Morenci leader., 1919-02-07
COPPER SITUATION FORCES REDUCTION
 IN WAGE SCALE

lN WhUC 0UAlt Will Become Effective in Arizona on
 Monday. February 1oth-Less
 Than Five Per Cent of Output Has
 Been Sold During Past Sixty Days.
 Effective Monday, February 10th. 1919 reduced wage scale will be effective in the copper mining dis tr1cts of the state, the Clifton.Mo- renci district included.
 The wage adjustment contemplated- : in the copper districts provides that the present rate of wages be taken as standard for copper selling at 2Sc, and that the present differentials win apply according as copper sells at a. price above or below 26c and down to 1Sc. The later figure will be the minimum for the present, whether copper is quoted below 1Sc or not.
 General Manager Carmichael, of the A. c. Co. Ltd., returned to Cliff ton this (Saturday) morning. follow Ing meeting with Arizona Mine Managers at Tucson on Friday. and immediately called a meeting of the Arizona Copper Company grieyancer- committees, to meet at his office Sat- urday afternoon, when the situation Tn the copper industry confronting the company will be outlined.
 Notices to the effect that wages will be reduced, effective February 10th, will be posted at once
 Since 1t is fact that there has been practically no copper sold since the close of. the war and there has been no quotation for copper publish ed in the Engineering & Mining Jour nal, 1t has become necessary to as- sume a fair price to govern February wages. This price has been set at zoc, while the probabilities are that the copper produced will have to be 'ure.
 |, At the present time miners waees Tn this District are based upon con- per selling at 35c or at s1.OO per dav nlgner than the scale calls for with copper selling at 26c. Under tbe terms of the present adjustment ttnls permium will continue to be paid in recognition of the present high cost of living.
 All classes of labor in the district will be effected by the reduction in- .cluding underground and surface em- 1ployes.
 For example, miner in the dis trlct now receives $5.01 per day. Un- der the reduced scale effective Mon day next miners will receive s4 Al per day, which is fixed on the selling price of copper at 200, plus the pre- mlum on account of the high cost of living. of $1.0O per day.
 AL present muckers are receiving S+.oo per day. Under the reduced scale they will receive $3.7O per day. and the same proportionate decrease applys to all employees. The COD per situation which has compeJIed this action by the producers is thor oughly explained and analyzed in a bulletin issued this week bv tbe De. partment of Labor at Washington. fol- lowing conference with representa- ,tives of the employees of the conner mlnlng states, and is as follows: Bulletin Issued by the Secretary of
 Labor
 Washington, D. C., Feb. 9Th. followmg statement was given out by the Department of Labor at a confer ence between labor representatives rom copper districts and the Denart. ment of Labor:
 Washlngton: The conference of the workers in the copper mines of Arlzona, Utah and New Mexico with the Secretary of Labor came to an end yesterday. and the representa- tlves of the men left last might to lay he results before the workers or their respective districts. Before leaving Washington the foliowine statement of the present condition oi the copper industry was agreed upon to be submitted to tke workers.
 NO market since armistice was signed: Sales for last 75 days don't amount to per cent of output.
 Copper stocks on hand at mill. shelter, in transit and at refineries about one billion pounds, represent Ing over S175 100000 tied up in stock.
 The seriousness of this surplus stock of this one billion pounds of copper is the fact that it was all produced on the maximum basis of cost with the expectation of realizing 26 cents per pound
 For every cent less that 26 cents the producers will lose 1O,OOO. 900. SO that Is cent copper means a loss of $SO.OOO 900, which is a very serious factor of demOrilization apart from practically no sales the last ninety days and little in sight. Stagnation expresses the market conditions to- day
 Copper production in 1918 averaged two hundred million pounds per month or about two billion five hun dred million pounds for the year against pre-war production of one billion five hundred million pounds. Normal consumption before the war about 125 million pounds per month divided nearly equal between home and export trade, the larger be- ing the export trade.
 When peace is proclaimed and the necessary foreign credits are estab- lished in this country to finance for eign sales the normal sales may he recovered and even exceeded, to say one hundred fifty million pounds per