IMPORTS AND EXPORTS OF IMPORTANT AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS, 1899-1913 (Yearbook of the Department of Agriculture) Total, excluding Forest Products.... $355,514 $461,434 $638,612 $680,204 $783,457 $815,138 Animal matter: Cattle. 2,320 310 1,999 2,953 4,805 6,640 2,007 Sheep. 1,200 815 502 Other animals including fowls. Total, excluding Forest Products.... 792,811 859,160 903,238 1,030,794 1,048,433 1,123,021 2,178 7,008 12,999 9,293 18,544 11,358 IMPORTS AND EXPORTS OF IMPORTANT AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS-Continued (Yearbook of the Department of Agriculture) (000 omitted) 1 Average farm prices Dec. 1. 2 Average wholesale prices at Boston. Average wholesale ices at New York. Prices per head, Jan. 1. Average wholesale prices of inferior to prime ef per 100 lbs. at Chicago. Average wholesale prices of extra creamery butter at New York. Average wholesale prices of average best fresh eggs at New York. XX. THE MINERAL INDUSTRIES MINING AND ORE DRESSING The Mining Industry. In spite of Public Finance), the workmen's comsome earlier predictions to the con- pensation acts (see XVII, Labor Legtrary, the year 1913 has been very islation), the proposed law against satisfactory for the mining industry. gold dredging on agricultural lands Prices for silver, copper, lead and in California, the suits for damage by zinc, while not reaching the high level farmers against smoke and fume proof some previous booms, have never- duced in metallurgical works, the theless mostly been above averages Government suit against the Southern taken over a series of years. Higher Pacific Railroad for alleged fraudu prices have been obtained for Lake lent possession of oil lands, the lack of Superior iron ore, and shipments have a definite understanding regarding the again been very heavy, while the iron holding of mineral deposits on Govand steel production for the first ernment forest lands, and recent court half of the year again beats the rec- decisions affecting the interpretation ord over any previous first half of of the existing Federal mining law. the year. Statistics of the Copper Regarding the last, prospectors hardProducers' Association have shown an ly know where they stand and they almost continual decrease in stocks of make complaints that between the copper on hand. This has been due Government bureaus of geology and largely to decrease in production ow- forestry they have received manifesting to strikes and other causes and ly unjust treatment. Congress has only partly to increase in consump- failed during the year to make any tion. Toward the end of the year a provision in the way of mining laws feeling of pessimism was apparent in for Alaska, and the development of some quarters and the year closed the rich mineral resources of that terwith matters in a rather unsettled con- ritory is still held up. The last step dition with some uncertainty as to by the Government has been the withwhat 1914 will bring forth. The new drawal of all the potash beds in tariff and other legislation are fac- California which had been located untors that will cause some readjust- der placer provisions of the existing ment. Basic industrial conditions ap- mining law. The time appears to be pear to be sound, however, and it ripe for the enactment of a compreneeds only a reëstablishment of confi- hensive mining law which will remedy dence to lead to continued prosperity. the deficiencies of the existing law (See also XIII, Economic Conditions and allow mining development to proand the Conduct of Business.) Iceed without the possibility of Government interference or of outside litigation. It is interesting to note in this connection that in South Africa a system of letting the Crown Lands has been recently introduced in which the rent is figured on a sliding scale based on the net profit Mining Law.-Additional burdens have been placed on the mining industry by legislative and administrative action. Some of these are undoubtedly for the general good but are not always viewed in that light by the mine owners. Among them may be mentioned the state laws lead- of operations. ing to a more equable valuation and Working of Low-Grade Deposits. taxation of mining property (see XIV,-In regard to new discoveries it is inevitable that as time goes on the possibility of discovering new mines must grow less. Future gains will come largely from improvement in methods which will render profitable the operation of properties which will not pay at present. As illustrations of this may be cited the recent formation of the Alaska Gold Mining Co. and other neighboring companies to work large and well known lowgrade gold deposits near Juneau, Alaska; and the Chile Copper Co., which proposes to apply a leaching process to a large body of oxidized copper ore at Chuquicamata, Chile, which has long been worked in a comparatively small way and by uneconomical methods. This deposit is reported to contain 100 million tons of ore containing about three per cent. copper. A really new discovery is that of the Rochester silver camp in Nevada. cations are that it will be fought to a finish in which case the strikers can hardly hope to win. At the Butte Ore Dressing. The increased application of the oil flotation processes stands out preeminently in the record of progress in 1913. and Superior mill the Hyde flotation process raises the zinc extraction to 90 per cent. against 70 per cent. by wet concentration alone. The building of the Inspiration copper mill in Arizona has been held up pending experiments with the flotation process of the Minerals Separation Co. Other of the so-called "low-grade porphyrycopper mills" are experimenting with flotation on their slime tailings with promising results. The Sherwin Williams Co. has installed a flotation plant for zinc ores at Magdalena, N. M. The Atlas mill near Ouray, using the Minerals Separation Co. process, marks the first flotation plant in ColImprovements in Methods. -Im-orado. An extraction of 65 per cent. provements in mining practice have is reported by it on a very difficult been in the increased use of the oneman drill, in the increased development of hydro-electric power for mining and transportation, and in some attempts to apply the principles of scientific management to underground work. The development of electric power on the Missouri River near Great Falls, Mont., is a noteworthy example of the second item. At Cobalt, Ont., the draining of Kerr Lake has been accomplished, thus rendering accessible the underlying ore bodies. The U. S. Bureau of Mines is continuing its good work. In addition to the mine rescue cars in various parts of the country, a new departure has been made in an automobile fitted with rescue apparatus which has been installed in the Lake Superior iron district. Work under way includes an investigation into improved metallurgical processes for the treatment of ores. Labor Troubles.-Omitting the coal regions two large strikes have occurred, that at Porcupine, Ont., in the Winter of 1912-13, and that of the Lake Superior copper mines in the Fall of 1913. Both were due to agitation by the Western Federation of Miners. In the former the mine owners were victorious, and in the latter, while still unsettled, the indi copper sulphide ore. Constant improvement is being made in Australia, the home of flotation, and the zinc extraction is continually on the increase, accompanied by a better elimination of the lead. Ån Elmore flotation plant is being installed at a cupriferous pyrite mine in Quebec. Unfortunately litigation has started in the United States, and the Minerals Separation Co. has secured a verdict against Hyde in a lower court for infringemnt of patent, but it is to be hoped that the growth of flotation will not be hampered by endless lawsuits. The problem of losses in the slimes in wet concentration has been attacked by the Anaconda Company at Butte by the installation of the Laist process to save some of the copper and silver losses by roasting with salt followed by leaching. Another novel installation for treating slimes from Butte ores is a round table having 20 decks one above the other, each deck being 18 ft. in diameter. The continual striving for additional savings has led the Copper Range Co. to follow the lead of the Calumet and Hecla Co. at Lake Superior in installing a regrinding plant in which tailings which formerly went to waste are reground in Hardinge conical peb |