| OCR Text |
Show METAL MEN LAUNCH FORMAL PROTEST AGAINST PRICE FIXING Appeal for Correction of Excess Profits Tax Law; No Action Taken as to Lead and Zinc; Permanent Per-manent Committee to Be Formed With Headquarters in Washington. A "lOnOl'S protest afralnst gov-I gov-I erjiment price-fixing of silver for othyr than patriotic reasons and an appeal to congress for correc tion of inequalities in the excess profits tax law were embodied In resolu- tions unanimously adopted yesterday by metal producers from sis western states in conference at the Commercial club. After some consideration by a special committee and limited discussion on the floor, the convention voted to ta.ke no action with reference to lead and zinc until such a lime as the government attitude at-titude indicated that the fixing .of the ( prices of these prod nous was under con-; con-; templation. The sense of the, meeting ! was that should sutdi an occasion arise ! the convention would favor action sinii-lar sinii-lar to that recommended in the resolution ! bearing on the silver question, i The convention voted to form a permanent perma-nent committee, composed of two or more delegates from each western state interested in-terested in the metal industry, to present the metal prod ucens' case before the proper auihori lies in Washington on December De-cember 14. The delegates are to be appointed ap-pointed by t he mining organizations of the st;ites represented nl the conference, and other western slates will he invited to take similar action. The committee is to make its headqunrters at the, quarters quar-ters of. the American Mining congress in Washington. At h meeting of the I'tah chapter of the American Mining congress, held immediately im-mediately following the close of tho conference con-ference yesterday afternoon, C K. Allen. W. U. Walla.ce and A. tl. Mackenzie were selected as the I'tah members'of the committee. com-mittee. Mr. Wallace will represent the oil as well as the metal interests on the committee. Other states have been instructed in-structed to notify the local chapter of tiieir selections for t he committee. McAdoo Informed. A telegram was sent to Secretary McAdoo Mc-Adoo at the close of the conrence setting set-ting forth briefly t lie action taken by the convention arid advising him that the committee would be in Washington on December H to discuss the matter fully. The highest degree of par riot ism was expressed by the mining men in both resolutions reso-lutions in the suggestion that I he metal industry of ihe west would accept without with-out a murmur burdens whh h literally meant confiscation if such action tshould be necessary to bringing the war to a successful conclusion. The idea suggested in 1 he resolut ion adopted by the Idaho Mining association that the excess profits tax law be revised re-vised on the principle of the law in effect ef-fect governing individual income taxes was carefully sidestepped in the resolution indorsed by the convention. The principle prin-ciple of an excess profits tax us one means of bringing the war to a successful success-ful termination was indorsed, but it was ttrged that the burden of taxation should be equitably distributed. In this connection, some general exceptions ex-ceptions were taken to the law In its present form, and likewise the appeal for relief was in general terms. That part of the resolution follows: Whereas, this convention unanimously unani-mously indorses the principle of an excess profits tax and declares that the mining' industry should bear its full proportion of such tax, a careful examination of the recently enacted war excess profits tax law, however, reveals that its provisions will, in a very large n amber of cases, cause discrimination in favor of excessively capitalized companies as compared with those conservatively capitalized. Among the obvious defects disclosed by analysis, we point out the limitations limi-tations imposed by sections UU3 and ! 207. which are particularly ohjee-i ohjee-i tionable, and which, when graphically illustrated, prove that inequality and injustice will result from the application applica-tion of the law 0 6 enacted. Now, ! therefore, -be It j Resolved, That this convenlion re-I re-I spectfully appeals to the congress to correct the manifest inequalities of the law as it now- stands, and that copies of this resolution be sent to the president of the I'nited .States, the members of the cabinet, and senators sen-ators and representatives in congress. Producers Patriotic. The discussion of the silver question indicated in-dicated a general opposition on the part of the metal men to government price fixing, but as lrvin Ji. Rockwell of Idaho put it: "The most vital problem confronting con-fronting this convention and the nation is the demolition of tho German steam rollers." Witlr this in view, the convention conven-tion was inclined to qualify to the extent of sacrificing their personal beliefs and possessions to meet patriotic necessity. The resolution pertaining to silver follows fol-lows in full: The mine operators representing a great majority of the silver mtnea In the United States, in conference at Salt Lake City, having seriously considered con-sidered the announced intention of the government to llx the price of silver at approximately : Its present market vaUie, which value is the result re-sult of adverse governmental action and not of the free play of supply and demand, respectfully declare their feelings and convictions in this, to them, most important matter to be as follows: First If the contemplated action of the government is based solely on patriotic necessity or the needs of our allies in the war we are waging with them, the silver mine owners of the United Slates have no word of protest pro-test to niter and no favors to ask, beyond be-yond expressing the earnest hope that all the results of the proposed action be most -carefully considered. So far as winning this war is concerned we are with the government to a man and to the finish. Second If, however. - the act Ion proposed Is based purely on economic grounds, we respectfully call the government's gov-ernment's attention to these pertinent perti-nent not es: The present market vnlue of silver at t cents per oune as fompared to the prbe of ,"9 cents obtaining immediately prlc to tho war, re ;i csr nl s an in.:rca;-e of IS per cent, while the increase in the. custs of supplies and lat-or required in silver mining has been not less than 7C per cent. The production of siiver at present pru-e and tost represents rep-resents a less proiit than when silver sold at fs cents per ounce. The proposed pro-posed action by the gov-vnmenl will hold t he price at t he rela lively low increase of 4t per cent, while the unregulated un-regulated costs of lahor and supplies are increasing day by day and will no doubt mount from lo per cent to Put per cent, and e.en more. 1-ibor in the mines, as in ihe trendies, must be, young iHhor to be efficient, but our oung men have gone to the war. All the coudii ions surrounding mine operations op-erations have become increasingly distressing and discouraging: and if the government desired lo curtail the ouipm of silver at ihe present time no tetter method could he devised than to keep the market price at Us present figures. If, then, the government's govern-ment's pi-oposed action he based on economic grounds alone, we declare our turn conviction that it will prove-a prove-a ital mistake for the government, us well as for t he producers, and against it. on eronomic grounds, we enter our most earnest protests. And. further, we request that if the giirveriimcnt deems it necessary to tlx the price of silver, the silver producers pro-ducers be given the same opportunity before liual action is tn ken to place before the proper officials the data showing t he presen t 1 in Tensed cost of si Her production as was afforded to (lie producers of coal and copper, to the end that a fair and reasonable price sluill be decided upon which shall not discourage production. "Wild Cat" Promotions. Th a attention of the government was called by John D. Burns of Denver west ern secretary of I he American M In trig congress, to the activities of the American Ameri-can Defense society on behalf of legislation legis-lation prohibiting tho issuance of new-securities new-securities without government sanction nr license. H was pointed out by Mr. Burns that such action might go extremely ex-tremely hard with legitimate development develop-ment of western mines and oil fields if ths matter was left in the hands of eastern east-ern men who were not familiar and not in sympathy with western conditions. Mr. Burns suggested that legitimate promotions were necessary lo the development devel-opment of the country, but expressed the opinion that it might be well to regulate in affirmative manner rather than a negative, nega-tive, that is, lo restrict the issuance of misleading literal nre or statements by promoters which could not be substantiated. substan-tiated. In this connection, J. C. Howard of the Utah Oil Refining company suggested that the matter probably could be bandied much hetter by state boards or committees commit-tees appointed by the federal government, govern-ment, inasmuch as the committees would be familiar with conditions In their respective re-spective states. He suggested that a body similar to the California corporations corpora-tions commission would offer an efficient remedy to .the illegitimate or "wild cat" promotion evil, A resolution to congress asking that affirmative af-firmative methods of regulation be adopted adopt-ed was presented by Mr. Howard, and the resolution was referred to the general gen-eral committee which Is to represent the industry at Washington. Likewise a resolution asking for a reversal of the ruling received recently by the Goddard-A-bbey company, which classed as income the funds received by companies from sales of stock to acquire money for development, de-velopment, purposes, was sent to Uie committee. com-mittee. Thanks Senator King. The convention unanimously adopted a resolution expressing appreciation of the action of Senator William H. King in deferring de-ferring his departure for Washington so that he might meet with the metal men to learn their desires and properly and intelligently present their case to the president and to congress. The convention conven-tion also gave a. vote of thanks to Governor Gov-ernor Simon Bamberger and Mayor V. Mont Ferry for their participation In the conference, and to the Commercial club for Its hospitality. Prior to adjournment, Mr. Burns explained ex-plained briefly the programme outlined by the American Mining congress to unify the mining and oil interests of the nation. Fie explained that a campaign of reorganization was under wav throughout through-out the west to solidify Ihe mining and oil interests, with a view to obtaining representation in the president's cabinet for those industries. Mr. Burns explained that one of the biggest problems facing the mining and oil industries was that of obtaining labor In tills connection, he said, the Mining congress was arranging to open labor recruiting re-cruiting stations in the bigger cities of the east, with a view to procuring the labor necessary to the proper development develop-ment of tho mines and oil fields. The visiting delegates to the conference were the guests of the Utah chapter of the American Mining congress at luncheon lunch-eon yesterday noon at the Commercial club. Following adjournment yesterday afternoon, the majority of the visiting delegates arranged to leave for home last nighl. but it is probable that some including in-cluding Senator Ravenel Macbeth, secretary secre-tary of the Idaho Mining association will' retna-ln in the city a day or two in conference con-ference with local mining men on matters mat-ters pertaining to the work to be undertaken under-taken by the general committee at Washington. |
