The Black Hills union and western stock review. [volume] (Rapid City, S.D.) 1904-19??, 1910-11-04

Steel corporation in asking that 1t
be made. Coal digger, coal produc-
er and coal burner, were all agreed,
and sent advocates and letters by
mail and petitions by telegraph to
the president in strenuous and ardent
support of DR.. Holmes. In trade
publications and among technical
men Dr. Holmes is already famous.
Doubtless he will be as widely known
as Clifford Pinchot before long.
Every body is directly and vitality
interested in fuel DR.. Holmes has
been studying the subject for years.
He has scrutinized mines in all parts
of this country and in Europe. The
whole purpose of his life may be
| put in four words--"1rhe prevention
of waste" The waste of coal, gold,
and everything of value found be-
meath the surface of the earth
! Half the coal in each mine is left
| in the ground. In the Joplin district
| of Missouri 81 $50, 900 in zinc is an
nualiy passed over for the cream of
"a 'pr veins Fourteen TONS "i
copper are daily carried away in the
| tailines of reduction mill in Arizo-
ma. At another mill in Utah the
waste amounts to $1,000 every TWEEN
| ty-four hours. Random instances that
could be multiplied many times.
Moreover, few Americans know that
coal and other mineral products ag-
gregate 65 per cent of the freight
| tonnage of the United States.
In appearance, Holmes resembles
Pinchot. He is tall, slender. and
gray-eyed. His father, born in New
York and educated in Tennessee, was
q Presbyterian clergyman in South
Carolina, marrying there, and inner.
iting through his wife a plantation
and fifty slaves. The civil war de-
spoiled the preacher and his family
| of everything but land Joseph Aus
tin, the son, was graduated as a
bachelor of science from Cornell uni
versity in 1881. He took care of q
building during his first wear ait col
le@e. Then he was put in charge of
the college grounds.
So he paid for his education in la
Dor as he went along. He was a pro-
fessor of geology and natural history
at the University of North Carolina
for ten years, and state geologist
from 1898 to 1901. In the mean
lime he took laboratory courses in
metallurgy and the chemistry of ex-
plosives and general physics. He or
ganiZed and managed the department
of mines and metallurgy at the
worlds fair held at st. Louis and
made some notable original tests q,
fuels. Since then he has been an
expert in the geological survey, ana
has come to fuller knowledge of
mining, perhaps, than any other man
in the country.
You have declared" said to him
that of the SO or Sc per ton paid
by the consumer for soft coal after
it had been brought to the surface,
only one dollar is divided among the
miner, the operator. and the owner
of the land. Who gets the other 50
or IS as the case may be-" The
transportation companies and the
middle men or agents, replied DR..
Holmes. II know of big mine that
is selling coal under contract of CT
cents per ton, loaded on the cars.
Operators in various parts Of the
country have lost money during the
past two years, and have only kept
| going through loans at banks. New
England is paying from three to five
times more for coal than it is bring
ing at the mines in Pennsylvania or
! West Virginia. We regulate freight
rates but but transportation is only
one of the factors entering into the
price of coal. 1t seems to me we mus,
go further and regulate ither things
besides freights stopping however.
/ before we reach the governmental
ownership of the Mines"
The small operators, you once
said, have been practically driven out
of business?"
THAT is so. The small operator
cannot stand the furious pace OF
modern competition Small men
unable to get accommodation at the
banks to cover present losses on such
business as is done, close their mines
There are 5000 coal mines in the
United States. Most of the big ones
as have said. are losing money
The little mines still in operation ar,
supplying neighborhood trade house
and shops near at hand, and are do
ing reasonably WELL Free competi
ton, and we preach it in this coun
try shuts the little mine, when tn
sale OF the product must be mad
away from home and carried in tn