818 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IV. No. 101. 



by Mr. Stanton, Treasurer of the old Cen- 

 tral Mine. This mine has been in opera- 

 tion many years and has continuously sup- 

 plied the market, in competition with the 

 Calumet & Hecla and other more favored 

 mines, with almost uniform profit; notwith- 

 standing all the fluctuations of business 

 during its now long life. The statistics are 

 published in The Iron Age, in a late issue, 

 and may be there consulted for details. 

 The general facts are that, in the words of 

 the 'modern version,' above mentioned, 

 " increase of demand has been accompanied 

 by the decreased costs, due to increased sup- 

 ply and improved methods." 



The older version reads: "Increased de- 

 mand produced increased prices; increased 

 supply gives lower prices." The fact has 

 come to be, in all the great fields of indus- 

 try in which, as now, ample capital can 

 always be secured for any legitimate enter- 

 prise, and especially in those in which in- 

 vention and the mechanic arts play any 

 large part, that " Increased demand and an 

 enlarged market, like inventions and discoveries 

 and improved methods, by permitting more 

 economical operation of the system of production, 

 decrease prices.'''' 



A contract for ten newly invented sew- 

 ing machines could only be filled to-day, 

 with profit, at a price, we will say, of $100 

 each ; a contract for 10,000 could be filled 

 probably at $10 each. A mine raising 100,- 

 000 tons of ore annually must charge more 

 per ton, or accept lower profits, than if its 

 production were a half- million tons, the office 

 and general expenses being then assessed 

 upon the smaller quantity. The fact above 

 stated with reference to copper is true of sil- 

 ver, of gold in less degree, of iron, and of, 

 in fact, all the products of mine and factory, 

 and even of the soil in the long run. 



The most generally illustrated action of 

 the law of supply and demand, in recent 

 times, would seem to be the following : De- 

 creasing cost of production gives larger de- 



mand and stored capital permits larger sup- 

 ply. This reduced cost is also an element 

 of the change in the case of copper produc- 

 tion, which is more influential in causing the 

 curious and interesting economic results ob- 

 served, as above, in the case of copper, sil- 

 ver and other metals, than is any other. 

 By improved processes and recent inven- 

 tions the cost of production of the metal 

 has been brought down to about one-half 

 the figures of a generation ago, while the 

 productiveness, and therefore the market 

 value, of the labor engaged in this more 

 efficient production is at the same time in- 

 creased. 



These facts are also shown in the accom- 

 panying diagram, which is reduced from the 

 figures of the Quincy mine. It is seen that 

 the introduction of improvements of meth- 

 ods and economics in various directions 

 has produced a constant and a fairly steady 

 diminution of prices in the copper market, 

 while the resultant increasing demand has 

 been met by a steady increase of supply — 

 both measured by the production curve. 

 Meantifiie the wages paid have been increas- 

 ing as steadily throughout the period ob- 

 served. 



Prices are made in the general market and 

 indicate the progress of the average of all 

 mines in reduction of costs ; for the market 

 Xjrice, in all open business, is costs plus, in 

 the long run, a fair business profit. Costs 

 are determined by the conditions of the 

 particular case, the progress of improve- 

 ments and the influence of new inventions 

 and discoveries. If the costs are not so far 

 below the market price as to permit a fair 

 profit to be in the long run made, the busi- 

 ness languishes or expires. If the profits 

 are abnormally large, more capital at once 

 goes into production and reduces the excess 

 by increasing supply, widening the market 

 at a lower price. 



During the past generation, and partic- 

 ularly the twenty years preceding the com- 



