Montana labor news., 1932-04-28
More Montana Copper Tariff Details
CONTINUED from page one)

thorough and canoused manner to weaken and destroy virtually all domestic
tariff barriers.
Evidently these short-sghted domestic internatonahss do not fear the
entrance of Jacobinic and Communisdc ideas as to property rights and
fnancers, along with the flood of pauper labor products they are trying to
force past u protective boundary.
The destruction of protective equities forty years ago. after nearly a half
century of protection, was brutal compensation for the copper miner who
had revouionized the development, mining, milling and metanurghal de-
tails of our domestic copper industry during the area of protection.
Protection within the domestic copper mining industry should have been
maintained continuously just as it has been maintained within the iron,
lead, zinc and countless other domestic industries during said years.
The domestic copper miner should have had rigid control of the domestic
market for disposal of his product all these years and if this essential
equity had not been taken from him, his industrial compensation would
not alone have been vastly greater, but he would have avoided the economic
difavor now envelopng him.
Tariff Argument.
The domestic copper miner is entitled to a commodity price domedicany
whether he has an expOrtable surplus or not The only way he can secure
this commodity price is through the medium Of an adequate tariff.
The domestic copper miner is entitled likewise to furnish the total cop
per requirements Of ur domestic market, and the only way he a do so
is to prevent the importation of foreign copper through adequate tariff
duties.
An adequate copper tariff will therefore not only afford a commodity
price for the domestic copper miners product, but will also afford rigid
sale control Of the domestic market.
Listening to the portentOus sophbtries of the dual controllers and their
followers that an adequate domestic copper tariff is a dangerous expert
ment, it appears that the best way to refute Their specious soloctude is to
review the economic history of the domestic copper mining industry prior
and subsequent to thu passage o the adequate copper tariff o 1868.
It is difficult, if not impossible, to secure rigid data pertaining to average
domestic copper costs and profits per pound of copper just prior to 1869
and a few years subsequent thereto.
There is, however, data, available a to the total dividends paid by the
Lake Superior copper companies for several years prior and subsequent to
1869. The average dividends per pound Of copper paid over a span Of
years should parallel and contact very closely with the average profit per
pound of copper during said years.
The Lake Superior district during the years just prior and subsequent
to 1869 mined more than eighty per cent of our domestic copper, hence, said
district data should approximate very closely tat Ior the total domestic
copper production.
w find that during the fou-year Civil War period, 18e218e5 the aver
age dividend per pound Of copper paid for said period equals 5S cents.
we also ascertame ma SUBSEQUENT u M val PERIOD me 70 Tn end d
1868 for the three-year period l866-1S68, the average dividend per pound
of copper for said period equals O73 cents.
1t was ascertaned that for the year 1869, when the tariff became effec-
tive, yet not benefciany operative the average dividend per pound of
We further ascertained that for the intervening fourteen year period,
when the 1869 tariff was operative, from 187O-18sS, the average dividend
per pound of copper equals Sd cents.
From the foregoing data, W e note that the copper producers during the
Civil War period averaged a dividend profit of SO cents per pound.
Cubeoonant To ta NOR and duino ta vaarc1 Q6G Q67 md QQ ua &c
certain that the average annual dividend profit per pound of copper was
1923 cents, O6S and DAT cents, respectively for each of said years.
This rapidly descending dividend profit per pound of copper, for these
three years, clearly indicated the motive actuahng the domestic copper
producers request for a copper tariff.
The copper producers began to ask Congress for a copper tariff in 1867
A determined demand for a copper tariff was begun in the summer Of
1868 and continued until granted by Congress February "a. 1869. The
copper producers stated in 1868 that they were entitled to the home
market for disposal of their product, but were unable to control same, due
to the excessive importatons of foreign copper in ores, regulus, bars. pigs
and ingots.
We note aforegong that the average dividend per pound Of copper for
the total fourteen year period when the 1869 tariff was in effect from
1S7O-1SS9, equals sd cents. This nearly comedies with the four-year war
dividend, which equals SO cents and seven times the three-year average
for the low copper tariff period of 1s66-1s68.
The foregoing analysis certainly proves that a copper tariff aided the
domestic copper producer as of 1858. During said year their average age
dividend had dropped to only DAT cents per pound. During the next four
teen years the dividend earnings averaged 5A cents per pound, n thirteen
times the dividend average for 1865.
tw as also ascertaned that during this fourteen-year period when the
copper tariff act of 1869 was operative, we exported an average of about
fifteen per cent of our total domestic copper production We further note
that during the five-year period, 1s751S79, we exported about thirty per
cent thereof. It was further ascertaned that this export was sold at
prices ranging from two to five cents per pound less than the price re-
ceived within the domestic market. Notwithstanding this large percen-
tage export of domestic copper dumped" abroad at lessened prices during
these fourteen years, the domestic copper producer received dividends
averaging Sd cents per pound.
We also note that the domestic copper production of 1868, amounting
to 26OOO,OOO pounds, increased to about 116OOOOOO pounds as of 1888, a
$50 per cent increase during these fourteen years.
A copper tariff mdenaby aided the oppressed copper miner of 1869,
and in view of this proven fact it is certainly fair to assume that an AIDE,
quate copper tariff will operate equvalently during the present depressed
copper era and the years to come.
Tariff Plea.
Economic intelligence DEGREES that a domestic commodity price, which
can only be obtained through adequate tariff protection, should be received
for every pound of copper mined within and depicting the industrial re-
sources Of our mineral area.
Securing a commodity price for copper provides maximum compensation
for all the human, community, district, state and national factors involved.
Furthermore, a commodity price for copper will salvage untold quantities
of copper which under free trade conditions would be termed industrial
waste.
A maximum and efficient operating copper mining industry from ore to
ingot stage is a national requisite and will undeniably prove of vital i'm
portance during wa as well as peace.
All that we of these domestic copper areas need do in order to witty and
stabilize III most important mineral industry is to follow the broad protec-
tive way initiated BY our forebears in 1889.