Mohave County miner., 1910-12-24
Importance of Mining Industry Shown by
 Analysis.

The mining industry is the second largest in the United States, being ex- ceeded only by agriculture. The lat ter contributes annually 7,500, 1000, ,000S worth of wealth to the nations, while the mining industry contributes 2,0O0.- 000,000S worth 9 year. Mining fur nishes 65 per cent of the freight traf- fic of the United States, and 3,OO0,00 persons out c' an adult population at the last G usus of 21, ,OOO, 900 are engag- ep in the york of mining, hauling and treating the mineral products of this country.
 This brief survey of the magnitude of the mining industry of the United States gives an idea of how important an aid to commerce the newly created Bureau of Mines can be.
 The West is studded with idle mills and smelters. They are found in every mining district and stand as monu- ments to ignorance and folly in min ing, each a record of savy financial losses to investors. The Bureau of mines does not hope to galvanize all of these abandoned plants into activ- ity, but it does expect to work out the problems of mining to an extent that will prevent future waste and loss in this industry from causes arising out of insufficient light on this complex subject. It proposes to change the character of mining from a wild gam ble to a condition of safe and legiti- mate investment. It proposes to do this by lifting some of the less under stood departments of metallurgy from" their present partially under stood reactions anI haphazard appli- cation to the domain of something like an exact science"
 Valuable discoveries have been made in recent years in the methods of trea- ting minerals, but the applications of the new methods to different types of ores is little understood and the experi- ments made ID the various parts of the rajning regions by individual concerns have been costly, wasteful and often unsatisfactory in results. The Bureau of Mines proposes to bring to this in industry an equipment and a talent that will solve these problems of con- centration, separation and smelling of ores, which in the present uncertain state of things spell ruin to investors. Such an achievement would put on the market many low-grade ores and in crease the value of that part of the nations resources.
 Another work upon which the Bu- reau of Mines is already engaged in it's investigations of coal with a view to treating noncoking coals so that they can be used in mining, and with a view to utilizing for commerce the lower grades of Ignite. Goals abound in the mining regions, but many will not coke, and thereby prevent fuller metallurgical development. The bu- reau is undertaking to supply better knowledge of these coals; why they do not coke and what can be done in the way of treatment that will overcome the difficulty.
 ''Not only mining" says Dr. Holmes, the head of the bureau, "but manu- featuring, which throughout the West must forever be based upon mineral products, will be enormously infuenc- ed and benefited by the development of efficient methods of using the low grade coals and Ignite found so abun- dantly in that region, and still largely owned by the government. This work. like the coking investigations, was be- gun by the United States Geological Survey few years ago and important progress was made. The work was suspended, but as a matter of funda- mental importance it will be taken up again and carried forward"
 The most substantial result that is expected from the Bureau of Mines is the checking of the enormous waste of our mineral resources. In this respect the United States is said to be the most profile nation in history and what is really serious about the matter is already the most essential of mineral resources are threatened with exhaus- tion, and the county is yet in its in- fancy. It has been pointed out that, unlike the water supply, which comes and goes, and unlike agricultural pro- duction, which can be raised from the ground at will, the mineral resources