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Show Crucial Decision: ft. 6? Who Gets The Riches In Great Salt Lake? dramatic hearing last week, the State Land Board faced a decision which could be the most crucial in its history and will have a permanent effect on the welfare of our state. The Great SaltLake.it seems, is loaded with mineral riches. Now, the land board must decide whether to assure exploitation by extending exclusive or whether to open the treasure of mineral rights to a single consortium but interested corporations. wealth to other The complexity of the choice deceives the casual observer. Its importance to the people of Utah eludes many. However, in 15 to 20 years experts will In a Editorials ... late-comi- Decemiter 10, 1961 i"e I ng "chew over ""whatever the six man board. decision is made, weighing its wisdom. We do not envy THE DISPUTE UNFOLDED before a gallery of interested parties On one side were the Hogle-Kearand financial writers. interests linked 18 an to 49 year extension of its excluwith National Lead Company asking for sive contract to process and sell magnesium chloride recovered from the Great ns Salt Lake. This agreement now extends until 1969. On the other side were a variety of firms seeking a share of the pie. Vtealth Alnayn There The background is intriguing and will weigh heavily in the eventual decision: Men have known for years that the Great Salt Lake contains an abundance of valuable products including magnesium and its components, chlorine, potash fertilizer, lithium, bromine, and others. But until this decade no one undertook a practical program to extract them. The concentration of salts of these minerals plus the climate in Utah will enable someone to retrieve the valuable minerals at a relatively low cost, it is believed. Intntit To Pioneer John W, Gallivan, representing the Kearns Corporation, and James E. Hogle commenced planning the means to extract and process the minerals. They were aware the road ahead would be difficult and costly. It was a pioneering effort. For this reason the land board agreed to reward their initiative. The combine was granted exclusive rights to process and sell had magnesium chloride, the most important product, until 1969 providing they 1966. invested $2 million in the project by In late 1963, National Lead Company offered to join Hogle and Gallivan in the In 1961, project. During 1964, they saw greater technical difficulties than anticipated. In addition National Lead Companv surveys indicated that markets would not support more than one producer. These two factors led Corporation and National Lead to ask for an extension of their exclusive rights for a minimum of 18 years and a maximum of and dont necessarily add up to the truth. All parties were advocating their own viewpoint exclusively. Now the land board has the precarious job of shifting details to find the truth. and free enterprise Platitudes dont help. Phrases such as monopoly relate but only when culled to specifics. ' The only criteria for the board is the benefit of the people of Utah. D. M. Bray 678 Redonda Avenue Max Stevens 1659 Blaine Avemue Retired Photographer THERE IS ONE MAJOR factor in favor of extending the exclusive rights: The land board will at least have positive assurance that development will take place, a plant will be built, royalties accrued to the state and Utahs economy will benefit. If exclusive rights are not extended, National Leads board of directors might pull stakes, other contenders might cool off and the state could be left with OPINION PLEASE nothing. Thats They should be kicked out Give them no alternative them out Conflicting Factors What do vou think should be done about Russias refusal to pay her United Nations debts9 (asked of Sugarhouse shoppers) the gamble. petition) If MAJOR FACTOR to support denial of National Lead decides to continue the project anyway and one or more of the other contending firms also invest in plants, competitive factors will tend to increase the aggressiveness of both . . . bringing even greater rewards to Utah. There are several unkown factors: 1.- ) Will National Lead pull out if the extension is not granted? The land board tried to find out last week with little success . . . perhaps they dont know themselves. 2.- ) Are markets for the products accurately stated by National Lead or are there unforseen factors which could lead to greater consumption. 3.- ) Will Lithium or Signal or Kaiser or Stauffer or Dow or any other companies a really go ahead with substantial investment under any conditions? The board has assurances that they will . . . but theres a wide gap between assurances and action. THERE IS ONE H-- Ks Heres IXhy! Deny ... H-- K 49 years. however, other large firms had become interested in the lakes treasures including Lithium Corporation, Signal Oil and Gas, Dow Chemical, Stauffer Chemical, Kaiser and others as well as another early pioneering group including Dlx Turnbow, Nicholas Morgan Sr., and Virgil Peterson. On December 1 and 2 of this year, the contending parties presented their views to the land board and the Great Salt Lake Authority. By 1964, Bait Dangled Heres what they said: Corporation et al told of plans to invest $17 million in Utah in a plant to produce 30,000 tons of magnesium annually , with further proccesing in the Pacific Northwest. This, they said, was the maximum their surveys showed the market could absorb even at a possible lower than current price. H-- K Their opponents, mostly Lithium Corporation and Signal Oil and Gas, argued that markets were really larger and to exclude other producers is against public policy. At the same time, Lithium Corporation proposed producing a wider variety of products from lake water than K had discussed and dangled plans to spend with the possible help of Monsanto Chemical Corporation with $30 million which it has had conversations but no definite arrangement. This skims the surface. There are other complexities but they are not basic. H-- WHERE DO WE STAND NOW? 1969. The state has a contract with K giving H-- facts last week ... but facts and the courage and tenacity of Hogle and Gallivan interests but we believe their petition shoiild be denied. 1.- ) Market surveys, no matter how carefully conceived, can be misleading. The classic example is the Edsel. Companies use them to reduce investment risks but reliance on them to determine public policy would, in our opinion, be a mistake. 2.- ) A monopoly in magnesium now virtually exists. Any production on the lake Yet industry has learned, particularly in metals, that woyld help compete. severe competition leads to an aggressive search for new markets. If the steel and aluminum industries had always produced to their capacities the fight for container markets, for example, would never have happened. Such battles almost always benefit the consumer and usually render long-ranbenefits to the competing firms. A favorite corporate technique is to set up separate divisions competing with each other to stimulate the market. K To lock Corporation with National Lead into an exclusive position for two decades or more would, of course, put them in a highly desirable position but would it be the best public policy? 3.- ) If the potential of the lake is really substantial, investors will come. If it isnt, an exclusive agreement will help us not at all. 4.- ) The government of this state would jeopardize efforts to attract outside capital when it protects local investors with exclusive rights to its natural Mrs Jay Simpson Princeton 953 Avenue Housewife go as long can, so well have to pressure them Theyll let it as they Robert Tomlin 250 North 9th West Truck Driver Definitely think something must be done, but just what I dont know ge H-- resources. Is a compromise possible? H-- them exclusive rights until K contends it will take at least that long to get into real production. We this commitment by the state should be honored. agree What then? Both sides presented We admire dont pretend to know what it might be but we do believe the utmost benefit to all Utah Interests can be realized by finding one. We Geon 36 1 e B1 South 1 uk 1th East Chef statistics are tricky They must do something away with We all have to pav our It. debts, Russias no exception cant let them get Washington Beehive (Continued from page 1) more than a simple expansion of an on going program. It will mean a change In the entire nature of the plan. For Impacted aid, It would Involve an attempt to change the clr-ter- la s o that more money would be channeled to rural areas suffering from poverty and urban centers blighted by slums. POVERTY INDEX The number of unemployed on relief or the amount of aid to dependent children might serve as keys Something like this Is now being done In the District of Columbia, which was Included in the impacted program for the first time this year. District school officials intend to allot funds to the seperate schools on the basis of a poverty Index. But education officials In Washington view the problem of more money as only one aspect of the countrys school problem. They are convinced that In addition to more money there have to be changes In goals and methods of American education to make It more meaningful in the highly specialized increasingly complex society in which we live. The administration Is looking for waysln which to Increase research on educational alms and methods, and families ways to get these Ideas Into operation In the schools. One area being explored Is the possibility of creating extensions of land grant colleges which would provide service to urban areas. This would be an adaptation of the successful program of agricultural extension started more than a century ago under President Lincoln. Other areas which may be explored are a restructuring of concepts andcurriculums In vocation education, development of aid to community colleges, and Increases In aid to needy post-hischool students. ' UTAH posals. Senator bennett, who Is opposed to general federal aid to elementary and secondary schools but has supported the Impacted aid program, will ee undoubtedly adopt a attitude over any revisions In exlsltlng prowait-and-s- grams. Senator Moss, a storng sup- porter of general federal aid, will probably vote for any administration proposal designed to attain this end. thats how So chances are strong that President Johnson, who described the 88th Congress as hte EducatlonCongressbe-caus- e It passed expanded national defense, education and Impacted aid bills, will have to coin an even more comprehensive phrase In praise of the eighty-nintIt may really be a Education Congress.. h. Rocky Mountain REVIEW Published by Great Western News, Inc , 2265 East 4800 South, P O Box 17377, Salt Lake City, Utah 84117, Phone 278-28Member of Utah State Press Association. MANAGING EDITOR JOHN B. LUNSFORD Entered as second class matpost office at Salt Lake City, Utah, under the act of March 9, 1878. Published every Thursday. ter at the SUBSCRIPTION RATE OUTSIDE CARRIER DELIVERY AREA - - - -- 35 00 per year SUBSCRIPTION RATE WITH-ICARRIER DELIVERY AREA- - - - -- $3 00 per year N But how Utah representatives vote will probably not you dont vote, so It should be The char- dont pay, cation. VOTES Interesting thing to watch next year will be the way Utah legislators here vote on Johnson education pro- Kick them out you ter says if be crucial. The obstacle to big, new education programs during the Kennedy years was In the House and most of the new Democrats will vote with on eduthe administration gh One Riley Norton. 964 E ast 5290 South Salesman Mrs Jamss Wright Mrs. Gary Howlett 1745 Blaine Avenue 2991 South 6th Teacher Housewife We cant force them to pay, they may drop out then where would we be. But If they get away with everything Its a poor situation and should not be allowed to happen. It will take a lot of diplomacy dont think its right. radical, but I personally feel they should pay up or get out. Theyre just trying to to East I Its use the U N. for their own advantage. settle. Lucas To Judge Holladay Tree Trimming Contest Will Lucas, KALL Radio personality, will make a personal In Holladay Friday, December 11, 11 A.M. contest sponsored by Holladay Hell judge the Village merchants. Several different groups have decorated trees, supplied by Holladay merchants, competing for a grand prize of gift certificates negotiable at Holladay Village stores. Judging will take placeat 11 A.M., Friday, December 11. appearance tree-trimmi- ng , |