File No. 763.72112/312
The Perth Amboy Board of Trade to the Secretary of State
[Telegram]
The Board of Trade of Perth Amboy, New Jersey, an organization representing the business interests of the greatest copper-refining center in the United States, respectfully begs leave to enter protest against the action of Great Britain in detaining neutral vessels bearing cargoes of copper from the United States to other neutral countries, and we further protest against the action of Great Britain in placing unwrought copper in the list of absolute contraband goods, as only 10 to 15 per cent of the copper that is exported is ever used for military purposes, the balance being used in industrial enterprises. We hold that Great Britain is not warranted in interfering with the transaction of business between neutral countries, and we ask the support of the United States Government in this contention. The copper industry in the United States produces about 1,200,000,000 pounds of copper annually. This is valued at about $180,000,000 and involves an annual expenditure for wages, transportation, and supplies of about $120,000,000. Perth Amboy and the entire state of New Jersey are vitally interested in the copper situation, as nearly 75 per cent, or about 900,000,000 pounds of the copper produced in the [Page 279] United States is smelted and refined in New Jersey. As above, 55 per cent of this copper is exported under normal conditions, the industry is absolutely dependent upon the export market and interference with this export business has a most disastrous effect. It is estimated that more than 1,000,000 people in the United States are interested in the production of copper, and it is in the interest of this large number of citizens that we bespeak your aid in seeing that the commerce in unwrought copper is not illegally or arbitrarily interrupted. The use of unwrought copper in industrial arts is so much out of proportion to its use for military purposes that we contend that there is no sound reason for interference on the part of any warring country with exportation of the metal. When the European war began, it was necessary to curtail copper products in the United States about 50 per cent, and this action threw thousands of men out of employment. If the threatened cessation of the copper-exporting business becomes a reality, it is probable that in a brief time it will become necessary to close the refining plants entirely, as copper cannot be produced profitably at a rate less than 50 per cent of the capacity of the refineries. If these plants are compelled to close entirely, thousands of other men will be thrown out of employment and the industrial life of the entire nation will be seriously affected.
We, therefore, ask for prompt action on behalf of our Government, in an effort to clarify this situation so that steamship owners will not continue to refuse to accept shipments of copper to neutral countries, because of the enormous expense to which they are put by detention of their vessels and because war risk insurance has increased beyond a reasonable figure on account of the action of the British Government.
Very respectfully yours,
By