Evening star., 1930-10-30
COPPER INDUSTRY
FACES GREAT ODDS
Kongo Producers Are Under
selling U. S. Companies in
Duty-Free Market.
BY JOHN F. SINCLAIR.

j announced IN JIllS Column last
May that Katanga, the big South
African copper company of the Belgian
Kongo, had withdrawn from the Copper
Exporters, Inc, and thus caused a
breakdown in the control of the world
copper situation, the statement was pri-
vately challenged, but never publicly
denied
Now F. Pisart and Camille Gutt of
the Katanga company have arrived In
New York Ito confer" with American
and Canadian copper producers, with
a view of seeing what can be done to
meet the disastrous conditions III the
copper industry.
"not so hot" Low prices and over
production continue. Still, American
producers must have been surprised to
read the challenge of Mr.. PiSart in the
press
I'VE can still manage to produce cop
per in the Belgian Kongo at low cost
and, with effective economy TO help,
keep the price down" he said. we
can continue to go along as we are and
rived at for the benefit of the industry
must be wholehearted and include all
the world producers in order to nave
our support"
Make money? Sure Katanga can,
even with copper selling at ga cents
pound. -.
a., cents pound, as against an aver
age of 10 to IL cents for copper pro-
di,ced in American mines Cheap labor
and high-grade ore in the Kongo as.
sure this. Katanga pays its unskllleo
laborers from 81 AS to $7.29 montn
with rations, which amount to only 80
q month. p
Comuetes With United States Products.
Copper so produced can and does en-
ter the United States duty Tree, ana
this PLAYS a large part n demoralzlng
and disorganizing the purely American
copper mining industry.
According TO the last report OF the
company. F. Pisart and Camille Quit are
not Katanga directors. So plainly they
are authorized only to hold "conversa-
tions" with American producers,
Mr.. Pisart has announced that MS
company will not curtail production
"without the sanction of the Belgian
government or the owners OF the prop
erty'
This is a very involved statement
difficult to understand
Sir Robert Williams of London is the
head of Katanga, but he has not seen
uI 10 COIIlG 10 lIlG OL41S0 obnbSo'
On its face, it looks as though the Ka-
tanga representatives have no inten-
ton of doing anything but confer"
They are in a dominating world posi-
ton for the first time in the history OF
the copper industry and they intend to
hold that position as long as they can.
The vast curtailment of copper pro-
duction in United States mines ana tne
ruinous conditions American producers
are facing have had no effect in the past
and will have no effect in the future
upon Katanga policies.
This copper situation presents an un-
paralleled crisis in the industrial af-
fairs of the United States. From the
Katanga point of view, Katanga Is
right Why shouldn't the company sell
its product in the best copper market of
the world-the United States? For one
should not forget that 60 per cent of all
copper used in the world is consumed
In the United States
And yet the United States continues
to allow cheap foreign copper to enter
duty free, running American copper
mining. and throwing thousands of
American working men out of work,
with u an official word of protest.
It's {. business paradox in American
life hard to explain.
Price Declines.
Some confused thinking Is going on
right now regarding the drop In retail
and wholesale prices.
Some people think that retail prices
should drop as much and as fast as
wholesale prices. But the retailer has
much the larger overheads to reckon
with.
"a drop of 40 per cent in the whole
sale price of certain commodity might
mean in equity drop of is per cent in
tbs vefaif Y1riroc cofd T Eri nf
the National Dry Goods Association to
this writer in discussing the matter.
So retail distribution costs must be
aGded to the wholesale price And re-
tail distribution costs are generally the
larger end of the stick.
That's why w. j. Wollman. New York
banker, stated recently that while the
purchasing power of the dollar is in
creasing, the wholesale value of the dol
lar is much larger in proportion than
the retail value of the dollar.
While the retailer will probably do a
much larger volume of business on a
smaller unit profit Should prices con-
tinue to go down his total profit should
at least be equal to that resulting from
a smaller volume at the present prices.
And with increased sales come greater
employment and greater sales of raw
products" said MI. Wollman.
Here's the road to prosperity as Mr..
Wollman sees it:
THE only way to cure unemployment
is work. The only way to create work
Is - increase consumption. The only
W. to increase consumption is to re-
due prices on all things to fair and
equitable basis, bringing up the pur-
chasing power of the dollar, and bring
ing prices down to a level sufficiently
attractive to consumers TO impel pur-
chases on their part"
nFnf L.
dropped about Is per cent in the last
year. Is that not enough? No, Mr..
Wollman, unemployment needs a far
different t$atment to effect a cure
Right now stable price level is far
more important than a lower price
level. and central banking policy must
play vital part in it.
Southern Conditions.
"The entire South and my own State
OF Texas in particular, is in far better
shape than is popularity supposed" said
Jesse Jones, outstanding lawyer and
flnancier OF Houston. Tex, generally
credited with securing the Democratic
National Convention fer that city in
1928.
Cotton has come back to IL cents,
and while at that figure a cotton
planter cannot grow rich, he can at
least maintain his integrity and that
Is more than a lot of industries ara
doing today. And that leads me to say
that conditions as a whole are better
in the country than many people would
have us believe, with business recov-
cry already on the way"
Jesse Jones, 81, well over feet in
height. iron-gray hair, broad -shoul-
dered, is a giant of man. He speaks
with Southern dialect having been
born in Tennessee After graduating
from the public schools he entered the
lumber business and from that spread
out into hankinp real estate and nuh.