BAIN.] 
LEAD   AND    ZINC    RESOURCES    OE    UNITED    STATES. 
261 
Production  of  lead  in  the  United  States,  1896-1904,  with  average  yearly  price  of 
lead  and  silver. 
Lead. 
Silver,  aver- 
Year. 
Quantity. 
Average  price 
per  pound  in 
New  York. 
age  price  per 
ounce  in  New 
York. 
1896 
Short  tons. 
« 188, 000 
a  212, 000 
a  222, 000 
a  210, 000 
« 270, 824 
a  270, 700 
a  270,  000 
a  280, 000 
a  313, 553 
Cents. 
^2.98 
l>  3. 58 
&3.78 
M.47 
M.37 
M.33 
&  4. 069 
&  4. 237 
d  4. 309 
Cents, 
c  67.  5 
1897 
c  60.  4 
1898 
c59 
1899 
<^  60. 1 
1900 
1901 
c62 
c  59.  5 
1902 
1903 
^52.7 
^53.5 
1904 
^57.2 
a  Mineral  Resources  of  the  United  States,  1903,  p.  242. 
&The  Mineral  Industry,  1896  1903. 
c Report  Director  of  the  Mint,  1903,  p.  312* 
tf  Engineering  and  Mining  Journal,  January  5,  1905. 
Since  the  minimum  of  1896  there  has  been  a  total  but  not  uniform 
increase  in  price  for  lead  and  a  slightly  variable  but  general  increase 
in  production.  In  the  meantime  the  price  of  silver,  the  production 
of  which  is  so  intimately  connected  with  that  of  most  of  the  American 
lead  output,  has  fallen.  For  the  period  as  a  whole  the  relations  of 
production  to  price  have  been  general  rather  than  specific,  as  might  be 
expected  in  view  of  the  time  and  expense  necessary  to  open  up  any 
considerable  additional  producing  territory.  For  the  last  three  years 
there  has,  however,  been  a  much  m  >re  direct  relation  of  lead  produc- 
tion both  to  the  price  of  lead  and  to  "that  of  silver.  The  industry  as 
a.  whole  is  now  so  closely  controlled  that  production  follows  price  in 
normal  sequence.  The  quick  response  indicated  by  the  figures  for 
the  last  two  years  can  only  be  interpreted  to  mean  a  considerable 
reserve  of  ore  already  developed  and  ready  for  mining.  The  Ameri- 
can mines  arc  abundantly  able  to  care  for  the  American  consumption. 
That  a  considerable  amount  of  foreign-mined  lead  is  marketed  in  this 
country  therefore  means  lower  mining  costs  at  some  of  the  competing 
foreign  mines.  The  lead-smelting  capacity  of  this  country  is  beyond 
its  present  needs,  and  the  building  of  new  furnaces  is  an  expression 
of  the  attempt  to  realize  the  profits  of  better  localities  or  of  new  in- 
dustrial combinations. 
