The copper era and Morenci leader., 1921-12-09

stance our friend here, George, (Gamble) had arrived at the age oc discretion before 1 reached here, and Bill Kelly was just about cutting his teeth on alfalfa in Solomonville at the time. I came first to this dis trict on April 1st, '97-a little over 24 years ago. I lived here thres years continuously, and since then believe II have been here at least 2 or times year; so feel I am rather familiar with the conditions here and the problems.
 q can appreciate the fact that you are very much interested. and per haps little anxious, in connection with this very important change which has taken place recently through the purchase-I should say the amalgamation of The Arizona Copper Company with the Phelps Dodge Corporation.
 "The question of procedure, plans for the future and the organization have been given a good deal of con sideration since my first visit here l couple of weeks ago, and while sev- eral of the matters are still in abey- ance, others have been decided. As regards the organization, Captain Hodgson here. whom you know-he has been in the district some 2 or { years-will be General Manager, and MT. Saben will be his assistant ft is very gratifying to state that Mr. Carmichael has consented to accept a retainer of the Phelps Dodge Cor poration as Consulting Engineer for this branch. and therefore we are going to have the benefit of his ex- cellent judgment and advice in the conduct of the affairs and operations: and not only that, we. will be. able to continue the very pleasant rela- tions which have existed in. the past (Applause)
 For the immediate future. we ex- pect. to carry on operations practi- .cally as they have been in the past that is, on this present very reduced scale of work. We are contemplat- ing that we shall possibly increase the tonnage at the concentrator to about double the present amount In the meantime, and for the next few months, there will be some construc- ton going on there in that the flow sheet has to be changed. and others installed, and the capacity of the concentrator increased about l.oeo ~o>>S >~ NoJ- ASCyOA4 kil<tI tttQ I1LlLA- tenance and betterments there won't be very much going on.
 T presume you gentlemen are all familiar with the conditions up here. as this mining enterprise affects the general copper situation of the cour- try. This district is very low grade one, which means that it is what is known as high cost camp. The ores nave decreased in grade in the last 70 years to a point where they can only be profitably worked on a high copper market. Now, the consolida- ton of these properties. we think. is going to make it possible. by the reduction of overhead to operate. we hope. to operate on what might be called normal market, but those results will only be gained by thorough and consistent economy and
 the best possible efficiency. I don't know how familiar you are with these questions of cost but they have en- ormopsly increased in recent years
 In the old times We had high grade
 ore and very poor extraction. but
 other burdens were light: the wage
 scale was lower than it has been for
 the last or 8 years and we were not penalized so heavily by taxation.
 
 fuel. The increase in these 3. last
 items has been something like I5Oes {.
 in taxes it has been three or four
 hundred per cent; and that has ad-
 ded to the cost per ton of produced copper to such an extent that 1t is
 going to delay the resumption of
 operations in the low grade high
 cost camps of Arizona and of the
 whole West. Now, those difficulties
 can be overcome to a certain extent Eventually we are going to get cheap
 CT fuel, and lower freight rates. l hope The question of taxes is up
 to all of us. That does not mean that
 the mining companies are going to
 strive to get rid of any of their bur
 den in order to have other classes os property carry it. but it means we
 have to go to the source of expendi-
 lures to get them down to a reason , able basis.
 : Arizona is buriened with higher expenditures than she has ever been
 in the past, and during a period in which it is most difficult to operate. This comes heavy on the agricultural, cattle and copper industries, all of . which are operating at a loss. {. "'The object that we desire to at tam up Here Is tlat or re0ucfnS our costs. We cannot do that withou;
 the cooperation of not only labor, but
 of these communities-Clift and Morenci-and 1 hope we are goins to get that. I suppose this district has suffered more from labor troubles
 than any in Arizona for the past IS or 20 years. Now. that may have been partly the fault of the com : panies and may have been partly tho - fault of labor. but that is water over 2 the dam, and now what we are cofus . to strive for is to try to make ccndi l. tions such that if there is i'll fo,lirs l on the part of labor they can feel rres l to come, either through the ccmmuni t ty, or their representatives. to ths + fContinued on Page Two)