OCR Text |
Show AS TO SMELTER SMOKE. Pointed Statement on This Subject From Denver Mining Reporter. In the current tssuo of tho Denver Mining Min-ing Reporter Is found the following pointed comment upon the smelter smoke agitation: "In view of tho fact that In the worst cases the amount of Injury only amounted amount-ed to one-third of the crop, It Is suggested sug-gested that the value of the remainder of the crop Is greutly enhanced by tho population Induced to settle ncai the farms by tho operation of tho 6mclter so much so as to give the farmer a higher price for tho crop that ho actually obtains, ob-tains, possibly In excess of tho price that would huo been obtained bad tin: .smeller not been operating 'To 6hut down the smelters of I'lnh would bo to throw n large number of men out of work In the coal mines of the State, to iloso down Innumerable metal mines, besides causing severe Injury to tho business Interests of Salt Iike City. A presume It Is safe to say that be-tween be-tween fifteen and twenty thousand men aro dependent for their work In I'tah upon up-on tho continuance of the smelters In operation. The average wages earned by ihis large number of men will bo between be-tween $NJu and $kju a year. To close the smelters down would mean, therefore, a loss of about $13,000,000 a year. 'We havo no Information as to tho full value of the agricultural crop of tho Salt l..ik valley, but we can not Imagine that It reaches any such sum as $13,000,000 a year, nor can we believe that the farmers are really Injured to the extent of one-tenth one-tenth of Ihnt sum. To shut oft the earning earn-ing of $13,000,000 a year in order to save a possible loss of a million, seems entirely against public policy. Further. It might be suggested that the destruction of the market created by fifteen or twenty twen-ty thousand worklngmen would cause a fall In the aluo of the crops that would more than offset any possible damage by smelter fumes. The farmers might get larger crops without the smelters, but where would their markets be?" |