The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1912-08-14

In their benefit to your State fully justify
I Utah's contribution to this work OF s24o
| position TO critlcise because OF failures OF
| the past. whether 1t be mistake In the
location OF the permanent home OF the
| Mining Congress or the pitiful contrlou.
| tion OF the State OF Utah and the stlll
more pitiful contribution or some other
States To this work.
| Let us forget the past, turn our faces
| to the future. and put our shoulders to
| the wheel In National effort TO upbuild
| the mining industry as a whole. and tu
prevent the progress Of the West from
reference to our public lands.
You urge "A State organization, L urge
State and National organization conf
bined.
Let us profit by the telegram sent In
response to an inquiry as TO whether tho
mothcr-inlaw should be buried or Gro
mated. The response was DO both
| Take no chances"
The form OF organization OF the Amer
ican Mining Congress provides for the
fullest liberty OF the State organization.
the two should go hand in hand
Tho twenty four members in the pres
ent House of Representatives from All the
d!stinct.vely Western States are scarcely
Illinois with twenty-five; Pennsylvania
with th!rty-,wo: and New York with
thirty-seven members. If the metaiiifer
GUS mining West is officially so weak I'm
the lower house of Congress. how can
Utah with one member. no matter how
able he may be, expect to make Itself
felt In matters Of National legislation
The writer is fully convinced that the
MINING Industry OF the West that Utah,
needs the assistance OF a strong Ma
tional organization which can combine
the influence OF every phase of mineral
production.
Very respectfully yours,
(Signed) j. F. CALLBREATH.
Secretary.
This is matter of the highest i'm
portance, and is timely subject for
discussion. The more light we have on
1t the better. Accordingly we well
come Secretary Callbresth s criticism
of our position.
Mr.. Callbreath is rather severe upon
Utah mining nien with respect to their
attitude toward the Congress. He
claims that Utah has not doue its
share of the general work, and he
makes statement Of the small con
tributions received by the Congress
from Utah. to which it may fairly be
replied, we think, that Utah has con
tributed fully as generously to the
work of the American Mining Con
gress as it has received or seen benefit
from that Congress. 1t is not easy
for people to keep putting up money
for any given purpose and see little or
no results from their contributions. In
this connection, Mr.. Callbre1th admits
the complete failure of the Utah
Chapter of the Congress, which might
suggest that any further attempt on
the part of Utah mining men TO act in
conjunction with that Congress would
also be a failure: for since the Utah
Chapter of the Congress has not been
able to get into action or effect any
results, it could hardly be expected
that any further cooperation with that
body would be of benefit to the Utah
mining interests.
Secretary Callbreath claims, or
rather suggests the credit for the Con-
gress of making a splendid exhibit
before the Senate Finance Commit
tee against, the cutting Of the tariff on
lead, for which, Of course, in SO far
as the Congress made that showing, it
is entitled to credit
ment of the Bureau of Mines is the di-
rect result of the work of the Mining
Congress. This is the first time that
we have heard that claim made; and
here again we are glad to give
credit TO the Congress for any good
work it may have done in that direc"
tiou. But, as matter Of fact, we un-
derstapd the creation of the Bureau of
Mines to have been very largely the
result of the activities Of the coal
miners and the politicians in the coal
mining regions of the East rather than
because of any representations from
the metal mining regions of the
West. In conformity with this view,
the work of the bureau has been chief
ly confined to life-saving devices in
case of accidents in coal mines. OF
course, we do not minimize the i'm.
portance Of this, and give such work
all possible credit. But the fact that
the Bureau of Mines operates in that
direction chiefly would seem to mill"
tate against the claim that the Ameri-
can Mining Congress was especially ct
fective in the establishment of this
bureau. And in so far as the appro-
priatiou OF 100000 or any other sum
for the work of that bureau is con-
cerned, it is fair TO assume that the
money would be expended chiefly IN
the coal mines Of the East.
Finally, Secretary Callbreath sug-
gests that Utah needs the assistance Of
a strong general organization to effect
National results. Practically con-
sidered, this is undoubtedly the case;
but the complaint OF Utah is that in
to work through the Ameri-
can Mining Congress heretofore, it has
not had such an aid Therefore, the
for independent action, since
the Congress through which the Ma
tional assistance might be expected to
be had has failed TO render IL.
The whole question is one of the
most interesting and important that