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Show S. U. 3 BUREAU OF MINES HEAD MR. rl. U. OF U. -- CITY LAKE VALLEI SMKLTEK SALT W ESTEEM FKU'KM iia GOLD 2IBT0 UIMEKAL SVEVEX IJNt LEAD, par papal COFFEE .. . : ....ll.TiSc E(N SILVER (per os. new mind) SILVER (par m, apat) la iaratai ta thr miaiap aal an Inluatrica of Utah and thr Woal. A rraamr af tbc outstanding S.tSCt n.Mt . 17.22c it carried each week. Features Mining, Oil, Financial VOL. 14, NO. 17 Solt Lake City, Utah, April 23, 1943 $2.00 Year, $1.00, 6 Mos. mail Mining Mm Discuss War Problems Scrugham Conducts S. L. Hearing Small mining; men of Utah, Idaho, Montana and Colorado aired their problems and grievances before a special Senate subcommittee in Salt Lake Wednesday and it was quickly seen that there were .both problems and grievances in. abundance. .United States Sen. James C. Scrugham of Nevada and W. C. Broadgate, chairman and special technical consultant respectively on the mintc the minerals Industry of the ing and U. S. Senate Special Committee to Study the Problems of- Small conducted Business Enterprises,' the hearing, which lasted some five hours, and will take back to Washington a full record to be studied by the entire committee with a. view of getting effective action to meet the problems involved. The hearing was the next-to-laof a series of 12 held, throughout the west, in recent weeks. Other hearings have been held in Phoenix, Tus con and Prescott, Ariz.; Riverside, Los Angeles and Sacramento, Calif.; Las Vegas, Pioche and Reno, Nev., and Grants Pass, Ore., and the final one will be conducted in Demming,' N. M., iturday. . Testimony" of" more' than a dozen small mining operators showed that the men shared the same problems In nearly all 'cases, the principal of which .grouped themselves into the following, classifications: Red tape: this difficulty spread through any number of fields, hampering the operators at every turn as they try to get anything from the simplest of equipment to RFC loans to finance 'Operations. Food rationing: Several operators testified that men working in underground mines 'cannot possibly get along on the ration points alloted to the. ordinary civilian and declared that they could not hold men and continue ' operations unless something is done to allow more food for the men. Tax difficulties, in that, the present, mines tax structure makes no. allowance for the risks involved in mining enterprises. . Financing of. mining ventures. It was pointed but that restrictions placed by the Securities and Exchange Commission have all but eliminated the movement of private capital into new mining ventures. Senator Scrugham and Mr. Broadgate indicated that similar testimony had been heard at nearly all other points where hearings have been conducted and promised to do his utmost to obtain adjustments on the major points at issue. The senator stated that it was being strongly urged that the minerals coordinator, Howard R. Young, be given full broad powers such as coordinators in other fields now employ, in which case the mining men might much better be able to ob. tain necessary changes. High point of the hearing came with the testimony of A. E. Riley of Colorado, representing the Centennial States manganese pro-- , ducers, when Mr. Riley directly charged that Andrew Leith, assistant director of the ferro alloy branch of the steel division of the War Production Board was deliberately holding down the producers pf domestic manganese and demanded a congressional Investigation of Mr. Leith and of the ferro alloy branch. "Mr,. Leith was formerly with thc Steel Institute, and after seeing his actions we feel that he Is still with those interests, Mr. Riley charged. The Coloradoan declared that the manganese men of his state, . . sub-committ- - st - . . . - . . As Small Mining Men Presented Their Problems S. Sen. James G. Scrugliam of Nevada, right, listens to the testimony of small mine operators of Utah, Idaho, Montana and Colorado in Salt. Lake Wednesday. W. C. Broadgate, center, Is technical advisor to the Senate committee on small busi-nes- s. Ora Bundy, left, of the Utah Publicity and Industrial Development Committee, conducted the preliminaries. IT. whom .he - was - representing - at. the hearing could easily' produce "at least 500 tons a day of manganese ore if It were made financially feasible. With conditions as they are at present, however, he said most of the manganese men had been forced out of production and he expected to- be forced out himself if some action is not soon taken. ' Mr. Riley specifically requested e the creation of a stocks pile in: Colorado; pointing out that a tremendous amount of manganese ore running about 30 per cent was being wasted because- it was . not economically feasible to ship it to. the near--, est low grade stockpile, in New - low-grad- Mexico. Paul H. Hunt of Keetley, Utah, mine manager for the Park Utah Consolidated and also representing San Francisco interests holding a large number of small claims in the. Beaver, Utah, district, was the first witness to testify at the. hearing, presenting a very thorough analysis of the. mines tax situation and inserting into the record a considerably fuller report than he gave verbally. "You could not find men less fitted to write mine tax laws than the men of the Treasury Department, Mr Hunt declared. "Treasury Department men and mining men just cannot understand each other. The treasury men are invesemtn bankers, who feel that any business which needs more than four per cent a year earnings in order to exist is nothing but a. gamble and that it can well be done with, a. - tax- - on venturecapitay!Mr. The Huntsaid.' As' a result, "venture chief factor - the SEC-restrklion- -are- In preventing the flow capital Is passing out of the pic- of private capital into mining. ture and the small mines are no Mr. Bowman urged two changes longer being financed. Ray Weber, manager of the Mackay , Exploration Company, once leading copper producer of Idaho, reported that Inability to e ore was forcing ship his companjr, potentially a heavy contributor,' to the war effort in copper as well as gold and silver, into inactivity. Harold Bowman, chairman of the mining committee of the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce, attacked .the SEC setup and asserted that: low-grad- , - in the current Securities and Exchange law: Raising the exemp- 0 tion from registration to $1,000,-00from its present $100,000 and exempting officers, directors and sponsors from the requirement that they report every sale of stock made. Carl J. Trauerman of Montana upheld the SEC,, declaring that by elimination of shady, stock practices it had done much for the mining industry. Mr. Trauerman arose again , - See HEARING on Page 8 . out." Mine tax laws never have taken into account the high risks involved in mining ventures and so make no allowance for basic factors of the problem, Mr. Hunt pointed out. Furthermore, the present Income tax structure is keeping private capital from going into mining channels. The man of middle means, who formerly turned all or part of his surplus capital to mining ventures, now finds himself in the surtax income brackets, so that if he risks money in a mining veture and loses, he gets nothing jack and, on the other hand, if the venture succeeds it only pushes him into a higher surtax jracket and actually taxes the money which he put into, the venture. The way it now operates, it is not an income tax at all, but Bank Deposits Hit Peak or per Total assets rand deposits of 91 cent, the 13,317 insured commercial and amounted to $40,712,000,000 banks were higher on. December on December 31, 1942; 3. Investments in obligations of 31, 1942,. than on any. other call $19,001,000,000, date during the existence of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Chairman Leo T. Crowley. announced today. Total assets amounted to $95,458,000,000, an increase of $18,627,000,000 ,or 24 per cent over the figure for . December 31, 1941,' notwithstanding the- elimination on the later date of $525,000,000 of reciprocal states and political subdivisions on December 31, 1942, amounted to $3,533,000,000, a reduction of $118,000,000, or 3 per cent during the year period. Investments in other securities declined by 7 per cent and amounted to 83.099,000,-00- 0 . Report Out Information for the producers and consumers of strategic materials is given by the Bureau of Mines in a new detailed report on monazite sand, a mineral used in comparatively small quantities but essential to the war effort. Dr. R. R. Sayers, director . of the bureau, stated to- day. Prior to the United States entry into the war, half of this minerals consumption here wras used in the manufacture of arc lamp electrodes, a fourth In pyrophoric alloys, and the remaining fourth in mildew proofing, , cer. amic, and miscellaneous uses. Monazite sand,- the only source of rare earth elements and thorium, in recent years has been imported from British India. Netherlands Indies, and Brazil, for there has been no domestic production since the last war and no substantial production since' 1909. North and South Carolina, Florida, and Idaho once produced monazite, but at current prices operations are not feasible economically, the report sa3rs. - on December 31, 1942; J 4. Loans and discounts amountThe major source of. the to $18,906,000,000, a decline interbank demand balances with ed worlds 11 of or $2,357,000,000, supply of monazite has percent banks in the United States. three times since 1894, reduccharged December! from last The The comparative statement of tion in loans over the from the United States to Brazil was year assets and liabilities of all into now it appears tp and India, alconsumer in loans, sured commercial banks issued chiefly business loans also de- be changing this time again, though by the corporation also revealed clined; back to Brazil. the following significant items: Derived from the weathering 5. Excluding reciprocal Inter1. .Total deposits excluding reof pegmatites and adjacent rocks, bank demand the banks balinterbank demand deposits ciprocal ances of $525,000,000. amounted reported cash, reserves, and funds monazite is a phosphate of rare to $87,819,000,000. The deposits due from banks of 827.593,000,-000- , earths with thorium and is gen with heavy on December 31. 1942, an erallv associated were higher by $18,398,000,000, or 26 per cent, than deposits, in- increase of $1,801,000,000. or 7 black sands, principally illmen-ite- , zircon, and rutile. Mining the since December 31. 1941; cluding reciprocal balances, re- per6. cent is simple, for the monazite ore Of assets the held insured by ported a year ago. The growth in deposits reflected chiefly the commercial banks on December sands are scooped up from the tidal or ' purchase by the banks of U. S. 31, 1942, 29 per cent were cash, shores or dunes where Government obligations offset in reserves, and funds due from wind action has concentrated were securi- rich layers, but separation and part by withdrawal of currency banks, 49 20.per cent were loans concentration processes cent by elecinto circulation. Expenditures by ties, and per and ' elctrostatic tromagnetic the Treasury of funds obtained and discounts. 7. Total capital accounts of the equipment require : skilled operfrom the sale of securities to the banks served to increase the de- insured commercial banks In- ators. Thorium, used principally, in posits of individuals, partner- creased by $211,000,000 over the electron emisive elements, is Their increases and year period, reflecting ships, corporations. and tung. demand deposits with the banks in surplus, undivided profits, and employed in radio-tub- e - - . . - - , were $47,128,000,000. or 29 per cent larger on December 31, 1942, than a year ago; - 2. Investments by the banks In United States Government obligations and obligations guaranteed by the United States Government increased during the year by reserves, which more than offset retirements of preferred capaccounts ital. Total capital amounted to $7,056,000,000 bn December 31; 1942. equal to 7.4 per cent of book value of assets, compared with 8.9 on December 31, 1941. sten lamp filaments, gas mantles, high temperature refractories, y targets, and as a catalyst. Cerium, the report says, is the elemost important rare-eartment from point of usage, and Draseodymium, neodymium, and lanthanum follow in that order. X-ra- h |