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Show NO EASY TASK TO REGULATESWIELTERS Smelter Side of Controlling the Industry Is Worthy of Consideration. Scarcely a biennial session of Western legislatures passos without a spasmodic effort being made to "regulate" the companies com-panies engaged In treating custom ore. Some of the proposed legislation has been well meant, but futile, while more of it lias been inspired by political motives and without regard to tho welfare of metallurgy. Hitherto smelting companies have maintained an active opposition to this sort of activity, nt tho expense of time and money, and have anticipated the necessity of combating adverse legislation leg-islation with each recurring biennial period, pe-riod, says the Metallurgical and Chemical Engineering Journal. The latest attempt to control ore reduction re-duction Is tho passago of a bill by tho Colorado legislature submitting to the people a constitutional amendment which, If adopted, declares all smelters, mills, reduction plants, and ore-treatment works of all kinds to be public utility corporn-tldns. corporn-tldns. and. as such, amenable to legislative legis-lative regulation and control as. regards the tariff charged for their work. Aside from being poorly drawn as to exact wording and meaning, and leaving out of consideration the fact that the people of Colorado will scarcely adopt the amendment, tho bill possesses certain potential features which are undesirable. If the amendment should bo adopted, future legislatures would be empowered to regulate ore treatment rates. In tho smelting business particularly this. Is a technical matter, owing to tho necessity of having the proper variety and quantity of ores to mako suitable smelting mixtures. mix-tures. In chlorlnatlon and eyanidatlon It Is frequently necessary to discriminate In favor of clean ores and against those containing an undesirable element or substance. In all ore treatment the gross value of an ore affects treatment rnies and recoveries. Considering these things It will be apparent ap-parent how difficult It would be to regulate regu-late rates ior ore treatmont. save through tho medium of a board of experts who would have to be as competent technically technical-ly and as well Informed commercially as the custom companies themselves. In other words, In order to act competently such a board would have to bo In possession pos-session of all the professional and business busi-ness knowledge of the companies, and this Is obviously impossible. Further. It would be Incumbent on such a board to reconcile the differences of mining companies In different districts, producing produc-ing ores of diverse metallurgical character charac-ter and justly subject them to discriminating discrim-inating rates of treatment. Jf it Is not clear now that the entire procedure would result in a hopeless tangle, the fact will be appreciated when the attempt is mado to put the law into effect. The mere adoption of the amendment, however, would be a menace to metallurgical metal-lurgical progress even though future legislatures leg-islatures did not use their powers and try to regulate rates. New companies contemplating entering Colorado would hesitate about engaging In an Industry over which hung a possibility of disturbance disturb-ance and interference. |