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Show Murdock Tells of Work In Behalf Of Extension Act The News is in receipt of the following letter, copies of which no doubt have been sent to others I interested, in which Abe Murdock of Beaver, representative in congress con-gress from the First Utah district, tells cf his work in behalf of the bill to extend for 60 days the requirement re-quirement for labor to be done on unpatented mining claims: "For about seven years, congress has been granting a moratorium on mining assessment work. Last ytar we were able to bring about the enactment of such a law by promising that we would not again ask for it. This year, while many letters came to western congressmen congress-men asking for another moratorium, morator-ium, we knew that it would be impossible im-possible to get the approval of the secretary of interior, and, as a group, the western members of congress decided not to ask for the necessary legislation. However, about two weeks ago, a press release re-lease from the department of interior in-terior was given to western newspapers, news-papers, indicating that mining assessment as-sessment work must not only be begun by July 1, but that it had to be completed on or before that date. Realizing the injustice of such a construction of the law, and the confusion and consternation which w-ould necessarily arise therefrom among miners of the west, I decided that it was my duty to relieve the situation in some way. I therefore drafted and caused to be introduced the bill, H. R. 6977, to grant to all holders of unpatented mining claims an ex-( ex-( Continued on last page) M Murdock Tells (Continued from first page) tension of 60 days within which to commence their assessment work for the year ending at noon, July 1, 1939. The extension made possible pos-sible under this bill gives claim holders until noon, September 1, within which to begin work, which, after commencement, must be prosecuted pro-secuted to completion with reasonable reason-able diligence. "1 think the passage of this bill through the house and senate is almost unparalleled in congress. I was able to get the speaker to recognize me to move the immediate immedi-ate consideration of this bill before it had even been referred to a committee. 1 had the stage all set, however, and there was no objection ob-jection to my request. After getting get-ting the bill through the house, I then had to assume almost the exclusive burden of securing its passage through the senate. After this, I followed ' it through the bureau of the budget and the interior in-terior department to the White house, where it was approved by the president on June 30. "1 hope that my efforts in behalf be-half of the miners of the west will give them sufficient time to properly pro-perly protect their interests, j "Sincerely, "ABE MURDOCK" Ml |