r the three years preceding, the average price
for 1886 being but 5.50, while for 1887-8 it is 6.58. This is a rise of
no small importance, and the way it is maintained seems to give evidence
of restriction of competition among producers.

But the striking fact in the above table is the evidence it presents of
the work which has been done by that most gigantic and daring
combination for the suppression of competition ever organized, the
French Copper Syndicate or _La Societe Industrielle Commerciale des
Metaux_. This syndicate of French capitalists began operations in 1887,
with the intention of "cornering" the tin supply of the world. The rise
in price which was due to their operations is shown in the above table.
But before completing their scheme they relinquished it for a grander
enterprise, which would embrace the copper production of the world. They
made contracts with the copper-mining companies in every country of the
globe, by which they agreed to purchase all the copper which should be
produced by the mines for three years to come at the fixed price of 13
cents per pound, and a bonus of half the profit which the syndicate was
able to make from its sales to consumers. In effect this move killed the
competition in the copper trade of the world, and placed every consumer
at the mercy of this Paris syndicate. The advance in tin was of short
duration, and those who suffered by it were speculators rather than
consumers; but the advance in copper, as shown by our table, is still
firmly maintained, and its effect on the industries using copper has
been seriously felt all through 1888. In October, 1888, the _Societe_
extended its contracts with several mining companies to cover a period
of twelve years, and advanced its price to the producers to 131/2 cents
per pounds. At the same time, to avoid the accumulation of stock, which
the diminished consumption consequent upon the increased price had
caused, and which it had been generally predicted would finally be the
cause of the _Societe's_ downfall, they arranged for the restriction of
the production of the mines. If the _Societe_, which is backed by the
heaviest capital, and managed by the shrewdest business skill of France,
does what it intends to do, and its tributary producers are faithful to
their contracts, for ten years to come, yes, for all years to come--for
it is not likely that an enterprise of such golden returns will ever be
abandoned if it can once profitabl