Show RADIUM AND conservation the committee on mines and mining of the house of representatives has been holding hearings on the bill authorizing the president to withdraw lands from entry which are thought to contain radium ores chairman foster of the committee and secretary of the interior lane are both very much in favor of the bill mr foster says in view of the tremendous humanitarian problem involved I 1 cannot believe that the good people of colorado will oppose a plan which seeks to stop the terrible ravages of a disease that is levying a toll of human beings every year in the united states I 1 find it impossible to believe that any considerable number of the citizens of colorado can be back of any such movement unless they have been woefully misled by a few the deaths from cancer each week in the united states represent a tragedy as great as the sinking of the fifty such tragedies in a years time we could not save the victims of the titanic but colorado has within her boundaries on the public domain a mysterious magic power that gives every evidence of its ability to stop this continuous and ever increasing death roll from cancer some of those who are opposing the withdrawal of the land declare that suffering humanity will not be deprived of this great boon if private parties exploit these ores well we can only judge from what has happened it was less than a year ago that the bureau of mines made the discovery that tons and tons of this precious ore had been shipped from colorado to europe and that no radium had ever been made in the united states in the year 1912 sufficient of this ore to make nine grams of rad radium iuni the cream of the deposits was shipped to europe while the total radium in this country at the present time is less than two grams we shipped this wonderful at iron ore prices and then our surgeons bought the radium back at diamond prices we are now making radium in the united states but I 1 understand that most of this too is going to europe I 1 have just heard of a contract with an american firm for six grams of radium for europe to be delivered a gram a month in the meantime the surgeons of this country who have some radium are forced to the awful alternative of selecting between the patients on whon whom it will be used the case of my honored colleague robert G bremner is a most pathetic appeal for more radium I 1 am told that his cure would be far more certain it if dr howard A kelly had ten grams ot of radium at his disposal rather than one gram and while we have been planning what best should be done to protect american interests properly radium has gone up in price from a gram to 1 I am not appealing that all the radium should be retained in the united states that would be as selfish and inhuman as the opposition of some of the people of colorado appears to me I 1 am simply pleading that a very limited acreage of the public domain in colorado containing ores be set aside not for reservation from use but for immediate development to insure the american people getting the radium they need at the least possible cost and with the least possible delay I 1 1 I am told that an additional half gram of radium will mean the saving of a human life every day in the year that worth striving for some of those who are against the withdrawal of these lands are saying that it is another plan of the conservationists it means the locking up of the lands the killing of a great industry the only conservation involved is th the conservation of human lives in a yeara time the conservation of lives yearly in the state of colorado instead of the locking up of the land and the killing of a great industry the plan means the immediate development of the land and the fostering of an industry not a great industry f for or the mining of will never amount to that no I 1 cannot believe that any serious opposition to the withdrawal of a few acres of lands will come from the people of colorado instead I 1 expect that they will soon realize if they do not now that they have the greatest humanitarian opportunity that has ever been given to a state in a reply to a protest against the proposed legislation allowing withdrawal of public lands known or believed to contain radium ores secretary lane states the issue as one which is believed to be that of life and death to hundreds of thousands of americans the apprehension seems to be the secretary states that vast areas in any part of colorado are to be closed to entry on suspicion and thus prospecting not only for radium but for the precious and semiprecious metals as well will be stopped these fears are not well founded the distribution of radium bearing minerals as now known in colorado is fairly yell well defined and there is no intention in the interior department to apply withdrawals outside of the relatively small areas known to contain these minerals the pitchblende of gilpin county is already entirely owned by individuals and corporations po rations and a single american company now controls more than claims the radium product from which will be sold to the highest bidder in P any country the deposits which it is now proposed to devote primarily to the use of the american people are known through investigations of the united states geological survey to be for the most part confined to particular beds of rock the official statistics of 1913 as to our exports of uranium and vanadium ores carrying radium indicate a larger content of radium in the colorado ores shipped to europe than in the somewhat greater ton nages of ore treated or kept in this country the jo joint int resolution submitted by tho the secretary for the consideration of congress contains authority not only for the president to withdraw radium lands from further private appropriation but also for the secretary of the interior to lease these lands or otherwise provide tor for the mining of the ores so as to secure the needed supply of radium for the government and hospitals of the united states the vigorous administration which such a law would deserve by reason of the urgent nature ot ol the matter would demand that there be no delay in opening the deposits to purposeful utilization the object of the proposed legislation is not reservation from use but rather development under conditions not only favoring but even forcing the best use of this valuable resource which has no value except as it is mined and used the effort of the federal government should be and secretary lane states that he believes it will be directed to the pro motion of all mining of radium ores in colorado and utah in any and every way conducive to the protection of americas interest in the product early exhaustion of these deposits in the sense that we speak of exhaustion ha of other mineral resources is something which need not be feared the radium once extracted from the ores becomes available for continued use without appreciable loss and becomes a permanent addition to the needed supply the same radium that is placed at human itys service today may be used by our children for many generations whatever the percentage of american mines in private ores now exported from ownership and largely under corporate control it is in secretary lanes opinion only equitable and humane to assure america preferential rights to the radium on land still in public ownership it is for control to this end that the legislation is proposed and such control is to be secured through the immediate opening of mines and the prompt extraction of the radium from the ores mined opposing the proposed withdrawal commissioner of mines henahan of Color colorado aclo has been very urgent and appears to be backed by the claim owners of that state as well as the governor in a letter to governor ammons of colorado secretary lane has tried to set them right he says in part the withdrawal PC policy licy will wil I 1 not aff affect act existing claims or entries legally initiated and maintained in good faith nor indeed would the withdrawal of the vacant and land which prospectors have not seen fit to enter either contemplate or involve a cessation of mining activity or the ruin of a great industry in its infancy as you fear moreover the proposed legislation is not noi mandatory but simply authorizes the president in his discretion to control the disposition and utilization of radium bearing lands it is thus possible to 1 limit or modify any withdrawals and it would be my intention to recommend the exercise of this power only to the extent of retaining in public ownership a sufficient acreage of lands believed to be valuable for their radium content to insure the american people getting the radium they need at the least possible cost and with the least possible delay I 1 feel that our citizens have a right to demand this preferential consideration 1 I am glad to assure you there therefore fore that all fears of the checking of a possible mining revival in colorado or of the of an infant industry are based upun a mistaken theory of locked up resources and no reaction need be expected by reason of the proposed legislation the real purpose of my policy as a public officer Is to open up the radium resources of your state that have thus far been overlooked by our prospectors and are as yet untouched by private initiative and by leasing or otherwise facilitate the mining and extraction of these ores under such conditions as win will enable the flie government to secure from its own lands radium for the use of its public health service without being at the mercy of speculators or foreign dealers these quotations express well the argument of those favoring the withdrawal and no comment is necessary the management of the standard chemical company through its representative before the committee offered to provide in the next five years grams of radium for government use at a gram and stated that a philanthropist had offered to endow twenty hospitals throughout the country with ten grams of radium each this company owns about claims at the present time and has just taken over 1060 acres of claims near hanksville Hanks ville utah it has a plant in pennsylvania where it is producing radium and by the first of mare march h claims that it will produce one grama gram a month |