Bisbee daily review., 1919-04-06
COPPER SITUATION TO SHOW IMPROVEMENT
 WHEN BUILDING BEGINS
Passing of Dividend of Calu- met and Hecla Reflects
 Dull Market

No incident in the copper situation has given a better idea Of the actual condition in the copper metal mark ct than the passing of the Calumet & Hecla quarterly dividend, says the Boston Financial News. The an- n0uncement came out of blue sky, for while it was thought that the dividends would not be as large as $15, the two last previous declara- tions, nobody looked for an entire omission. The action is undoubtedly a .ocrrect reflection of a very dead metal market with the price of copper not only below the current cost of production but actually away below the current cost of production but ac- tuany away below the cost of the cop per now in transit from the mines or held in storage.
 What makes the Calumet action the more prominent is that the export committee which went abroad to learn the condition of the copper market evidently found the situation a very poor one, and as President Agassiz was a member of that committee the passing of the Calumet dividend must have been due largely to the infor- nation which he gleaned on the other side.
 Market Saturated
 Despite the fact that copper is be- ing offered at under the cost of pro duction, consumers are slow to take on any lareg tonnage. But this is probably not due to the belief that the price is going lower but rather to the lack of new orders for goods in which copper is used. Consumers probably feel that it is cheaper to let the producers carry the copper through the transition period. especi- ally since all the mines are producing, although at a reduced rate. Yet even at the reduced rate of production there is more copper comining out ot the ground today than is going into consumption. The market is satur- ated and it will not be until the con sumption begins to use up the metal faster than it is being produced that there will be an improvement in the price.
 But on the other hand the large producers are not offering the metal at under 15 cents and it is doubt ful if they would sell much at that figure They cannot afford to dis pose of copper at this price as there would be a loss on every pound sold They wilk undoubtedly sell some at that figure with the purpose of en- couraging the buyers to come into the market and thus make a basis from which to work. Copper producers are not in the market to sell their com modities at a loss. All must have a profit or business will cease.
 Profits Steadily Decline
 The chief load about the neck of the copper situation is the large supp ply of government copper, both here and abroad. How much there is of this metal is not known definitely, but it is sufficient to operate as a dampeT on the entire copper market. Although the producers enjoyed hand. some profits during the first two years of the war. if the present condition prevails for long their average profit will steadily decline. They are the one class of interests who have been hit particularly hard in the postwar pc riud.
 Copper is down to a pre-war de preston price, but no other com modity has dropped to such a level. Steel has come down but not to the peare level. Neither has cotton nor grain, ncr leather, etc. It will prob ably be the last to recover for as pointed out above, the surplus is large and there is no pressing de- mand.