The Washington herald., 1919-01-22
COPPER MINING
NEEDS CAPITAL
Holland Believes South
America Will Furnish
Much of Supply.

oOuie time Inls week one OF NA4S
greatest of American industries will
be represented by a group of leaders
in that industry, who, as a body, act
ing in cooperation, will be on their
way to Europe. there TO remain until
some vital questions associated with
this industry are studied and, If pos
sfbie, an answer to these questions,
now Unanswered, is reached. 1t is the
copper industry This Is now ranked
with steel, cotton, oil and food among
the five leading American industries
which must be the first to establish
readjustment conditions il there is to
be general Industrial prosperity in the
United States.
The excursion to Europe and the
sojourn there do not represent recrea-
ton. but instead business, financial
and industrial activities which will
entail intense concentrations of the
minds of these leaders upon the sub
Ject- A few years ago d. c. Jackling.
with few guests, went to South
America. sailing upon Mr.. Jackling's
yacht. That excursion combined both
recreation and Investigation. Mr..
Jackling, who is esteemed one of the
leaders in the COpper-mininE industry.
was anxious to learn what the outlook
for a large copper production in South
America is. Not curiosity, but an eye
TO the future. led Mr.. JaCklin- to en-
bark upon the ocean with copper pro-
duction in mind. He is understood to
have returned to the United States
persuaded that South America can
furnish no small part of the needed
supply of copper as that will be in the
future. and he is reported to have
been favorably impressed with the
copper r-producinC resources of Bolt
via.
object of Trip.
Al OF the great corporations en-
gagged i'm mining or marketing copper,
1 with possibly single exception, are
represented in the group which. with
Yin a few days, will disembark from
the steamship, either at an English
or French port The members of the
group go collectively and what they
decide upon. so far a. copper exports
are concerned. will be sustained by
law, because the Federal Statute per-
mits trade agreements. cooperation
and unification so far as exports of
American products are concerned.
First Of all these copper men desire
TO gain information by actual observa-
tion aud study respecting the copper
situation in Europe. They want to
md out what. approximately. the Eu-
ropean demand for American copper
Is to be They want to learn what are
the conditions in Europe upon which
the collective European copper buyers
are now hasinS their proposition that
the American copper men sell copper
- haw Of ID. I'll
tatiye price does not meet the views
Of the American copper producers
They are confident that they should
have more money than European COP
per combination suggests as a fair
price. Therefore no agreement has
been reached and tho situation is
deadlocked.
Europe Needs Copper.
That Europe will need copper In
enormous amounts for the UpbuiId-
ing OF devastated lands. the restora-
ton of her Industries and for various
other purposes is beyond any Ques-
ton The European copper buying
combination admits this TO be true:
the American copper producers know
| II is true. Various factors. however.
inter into the general question which
must b" properly solved before Eu-
rope begins to buy and our producers
begin to sell copper. One Of these
factors is the labor situation. which
today is not very favorable. Another
IL the price. which stands today en-
Itirely in a fog. Still another, although
somewhat remote factor is the con-
tinued productive capacity OF the
great American mines
Are some OF the greater American
copper-mining properties in danger of
Exhaustion? Not this year or next or
perhaps for Some years. but at a
time which is not in the distant fu-
ture. Deeper and deeper the miners
at the. Calumet and HecIa properties
are cutting into the bowels of the
Earth. There arc faint indications
that they cannot so much deeper
without discovering that the deposits
are dwindlinE away So also the
miners in some Of the great copper
properties Of the far West, which
have been shown in the past to be
the greatest producers in the world
are exploring more and more iowa I'd
he center of the earth. and this deep
iigging. several thousand feet below
he surface, begins. it is said, to re-
zeal evidences that the miners are
approaching the geological formation,
far below, in which there is no COP
per American copper resources con-
-fnue to be very great. But it IS the
apprehension that We may be grad
1ally drawing near the time when
mining must be abandoned, since