Show utah state utilities commission refuses to let railroads increase freight rates during jaw the past week some a of the ZW prominent mining operators 0 aw of utah wi appeared ew before the public i utilities coth mission at salt lake for the pur vi pose fj of protesting aff a alast the pro w posed increase vf in freight ayyar rates on bwy ore it was i ev through ww the efforts ww of these 1 men that the case was reopened and jaff the members of the 1 commission ei given ff figures eaf ww howing the ww serious fisch f e bwy of the yay situation aa As a result of this hearing the increase ff insofar as ir it applies to ore moving aw wholly with in the state ff has ff been denied aasi W air fitch returned to eureka fol lowing the if hearing and states that the mining industry v not only iw of but ff the entire state ip Is passing sf through azof its most critical period saw re w ports of various companies made e during the past few months 6 show a tremendous decrease in profits waff and in some aw instances api big mines have beba operated at a loss wotsy mr fitch s own company according faw to figures which he submitted to the utilities commiss on operated at an actual eky loss faw during april t may and v s june and if the additional ff freight rates had been afi in effect during those months tats loss fy would have amounted to nearly waw 1 per ton on all ore iw mined a and i shipped jav mining operators take the p s tion that u the iw present yiew freight wy rates are sufficiently high and that instead of increasing a jaff them the real roads could well afford aff haw in some instances a to grant 07 reductions 7 the owners of the mines also ia point olef to the fact Oy ef that the smelters ff W of this 22 state have time been operating on 7 such 3 a small marg n of profit that they must look to the mines for anything that Is added to heir running expenses and the increase a Aay in freight rates already 3 granted by the interstate commerce commission will make higher smelt ing rates necessary effective an august W all aesy wy freight business carries wf a higher rate but the endorsement of the public ww utilities afi commission was az necessary before the railroads could raise ake rates fi on fro 7 which aff originates and ends within ieffa the 7 state the fea refusal of the commission to grant the increase undoubtedly saved the day ji for the mines of gintic tintic utah mines are now operating un der a serious handicap and the added burdens ff of the th e smelters w which will be isy passed ff along aff to yay the aff mines be wisey cause the w smelters 7 y are in no coition poi tion ff to absorb the additional empens e will unquestionably 7 result in a much lighter ailS ft tonnage it it does not actual ay put some of tha mines out of bust ness if our public utilities adf commis avzi sion had failed to come to ay iy the rescue of the mining industry at this yaK time ws and us permitted 12 therall roads to advance rates on aisy the 7 haul beleen be teen mines and smelters the state s greatest industry would have ie been ruined but it bwy appears that ay the iy railroad men are but little concern vas ed when y at va a ff recent hearing they ah idere asked iffa by the chairman tv of the w commission gway if they ff would not pre f fer ff to grant the request ff ys fy of the mines waff for a afif continuation of the old aw rates ww if it ay was shown 07 that additional w vav freight on ore would result w in w the w closing fay of the mines they declared ff that they would not ny ww perhaps Is Is not generally known but WW the 07 freight charged ff vf Is based on the value of raw the ore the ff railroads chajin that it Is necessary f to charge higher rates on richer ores aw owing to the danber eyser of loss while the ore vv is in transit but there Is ia not a single mine 7 jaff in the ff state vy but what faw would af waive its ff right to damages TW resulting ff aw it w the a ore was accepted under the lower rate wr in his hv testimony before the com mission last week president fitch the s chief cons ww submitted 2 figures which a syr showed that his company fw had during ff the second quarter of the present f year shipped ore which had a gross yi jf value bwy of ww a 95 W which fay amounted to 39 44 a ton costs off had amounted to 39 76 drw per ton show off inea r kayu loss as ks yu stated elsewhere in this article at the present time it is 7 tin possible to if ship ores valued at less tey than 20 wi and the proposed increase liaf in rates wv would tzyy have wr effi prevented ftc ft the 7 shipment an of vast quantities of ore ws which even now fabay can fa be eay handled at vw a small j profit spay this testimony fiz a was corroborated afew by jackson aty chrystal J another gintic tintic operator and by barlous var lous jaff jf mining ff men of the state vi in order 1 to continue operating with W additional expenses awo mines i would be 1 compelled dav ff to take aw out only their 7 high grade ore waff and cut bof off development work and wy such y a policy aay would wv prove ww disastrous it bould u spell the ruination of the industry continuous development wi work ey being necessary aass sy to insure permanency had the bif raise vif of freight rates been made w effective wy it would fy have cost ff the mines a of this district aw alone af more pf apay than wp ay 20 per month aw |