The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1895-03-29

cred News. -, ---.-...7 = -,
ss>te Roy~lties--shall They BE- Re-
dueed.
Under the above caption we
find the following article in the
Duluth Commonwealth, of Wed.
nesday, and while We do not co.
incide in some instances with
the sentiments expressed, the
article as q whole is reproduced
without further comment than
that its perusal must prove pleas.
ing to any resident of the great
est iron range in the world:
Some if not many of the Leg
islators who were here about ten
days ago carried away the i'm.
preston that what Duluth want.
ed aud what, the iron men want
ed was areductiou Of royalties
on iron ore mined on state school
lands. They could hardly have
made q greater mistake. The
great majority of Duluth men
who are conversant with the sit.
uation want the revenue of, the
children of the state to remain
intact. The mines worked under
state royalties are few compared
with those in which the fee is
owned by private parties and
the men operating the latter ar.
que that it would be working q
disadvantage to them if state
royalties were reduced.
One well-known man interested
in state leases is against q re-
duction on highly patriotic mo
tives. He says the companies
owning the state leases can com.
pete with the best fee mines on
the range. The lowest lease
that has been made on private
lands, even in these hard times,
is p cents per ton.
The Consolidated, it is said,
will mine from their fee proper
ties and let their state lands lie
lille, except to mine the mini
mum, and keep doing this until
they force the state to lower
royalties. He answers this ar
gument by saying that the school
fund isn't so poor that it cannot
wait, and meanwhile theOre will
not burn up nor cost the state
anything for insurance or taxes.
Then the Consolidated would not
mine from fec land exclusively
long before they would find the
expense of mining so great that
they could we'll afford to pay 25
cents royalty. Again as the ore
is mined the value of the fee
mines depreciates and they can
not afford to throw away their
ore to bring the state to time
Lastly supply and demand will
cut some figure.
There's not much. danger high
grade ore becoming a drug. B. .
fore the Mesaba's discovery
there were only 10000, 900 gross
tons of bessemer ore in sight in
the whole country. Add to this
the Mesaba's total and you will
have a grand total Of $50, 600, 600
tons. In the. past there has
never been a scarcity Of timber,
but the fast disappearance of
our forests makes it certain that
we are just at the commencement
of the age of Steel The total
production of iron orc in the
United States in 1856 was onlv
1.579,318 tons, but chiefly owing
to. the use of steel for structural
purposes it had increased to H.. .
1885, in 1890, just double the
production of 1880. On a low
estimate the average annual con
sumption the next so years will
be Is, 900, 900 tons, or q grand to-
tai of !, 250, 600, 900. a.:5.
AS there is only $50, 600, 900
tons of high grade, orey IN sight
there is small reason to; fear that
the state ore will not. be con.
sumed unless royalties are re-
duced.
The state has, according to
this mans estimate, at least
100. 000,00 tons of ore on it's
school lands worth $25, 600. 600
Tho nu1uth M;ocoho A. Northowu
has invested in dock and road
about 81, 100000. 1t gets 80 cts.
q ton for hauling ore and makes
a profit of at least As cents out of
that. The Consolidated wants
to make As cents per ton on the
haul, and is not willing to let
our children have rs cents pr
ton, but wants to cut them to Is
n4~k., It'll