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WPB at long last is ready to put the profit motive to work to get the big copper companies to increase their output of this bottleneck metal.

When OPA and Metals Reserve Co. offered a 5-c- premium over and above the 12-c- ceiling for increased copper production last winter they deliberately set the base quota on which no premium will be paid so high that they not only froze out the big three (Anaconda, Kennecott and Phelps Dodge, which produce 85% of U.S. copper) but also froze out all but one of the other 15 companies which with the big three produce 98 1/2% of U.S. total.

Every cent of premium money has been paid to microscopic concerns, while the important producers have been expected to take an actual loss on as much as 30% of their production, on the theory that they could make up this loss out of profit on their low-cost mines.

First WPB moderated this anti-bigness policy, allowed Calumet & Hecla to charge 17-c- for whatever it could take out of an abandoned, high-cost pit. Last week WPB went further, let it be known that henceforth it will allow all the big companies to negotiate prices on a mine-by-mine basis, will give them a fighting chance to get in on a bonus by stepping up the output from individual shafts.

The higher prices will not cost the Government much because 90% of the money profit it creates will come right back to the treasury next year in excess-profits taxes.

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