The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1914-01-20
FEDERAL CONTROL
OF RAD|UM DEPOSITS
Especial to the Silver state.)

WltnuraW from 1urtner appropriation
the radium- bearing lands upon the
Ipublic domain within that state is
hardly credited by Representative
Foster, chairman of the house com
mittee on mines and mining. 1t is
the purpose of the. government to have
the carnotite ores in these lands min
ed and the radium extracted for the
treatment of cancer and other malig-
nant diseases in the hospitals of the
country. The fear is expressed that if
this step is not taken, these deposits
will become the basis of private
speculation and that the radium,
when obtained, will be sold at al
most prohibitive prices. This is is
claimed, has been the manner of ex-
ploitation so far, and the result is
that the United States, although hav-
ing almost a world monopoly of the
radium-b barring ores, has less radium
for the treatment of its hundreds of
thousands of sufferers from cancer,
than any prominent country of
Europe.
In statement issued today, Mr.
Foster said: "In view of the tre-
mendous humanitarian problem in
volved, I cannot believe that the good
people of Colorado will oppose a plan
which seeks to stop the terrible raw
ages of disease that is levying a toll
of $4,000 human beings every year IN
the United States. I find it impossi-
BILE to believe that any considerable
number of the citizens of Colorado
can be back of any such movement,
unless they have been woefully mis-
led by few.
"We all remember vividly the
sinking of the Titanic with its loss of
1900 | ives and how the great,
sympathetic heart of this republic
beat faster in those anxious days. At
that time, any demand for relief that
might have been made would have
been overwhelmingly met, by Colo
RADIO and by any other state of the
Union, for a great calamity knows no
state lines
''The daths from cancer each week
in the United States represents a
tragedy as great as the sinking of the
fTitanic-ffty such tragedies in a
years time. We could not save the
victims of the Titanic, but Colorado
has, within her borders. on the public
domain, mysterious magic power
that gives every evidence of its abil-
ity to stop this continuous and ever
increasing death roll from cancer.
Some of those who are opposing
the withdrawal of the land declare
that suffering humanity will not be
deprived of this great boon if private
parties exploit these ores. Well, we
can only judge from what has hap
pened. 1t was less than a year ago
that tn eBureau of Mines made the
discovery that tons and tons of this
precious ore had been shipped from
Colorado to Europe and that no
radium had ever been made in the
United States. In the year 1912, suffi-
cient of this carnotite ore to make
nine grams oil radium, the cream of
the deposit, was shipped to Europe,
while the total radium in this coun-
try at the present time is less than
two grams. We shipped this wonder
ful carnotite at iron-ore prices and
then our surgeons bought the radium
back at diamond prices. We are now
making radium in the United States,
but | understand that most of this
too is going to Europe. T have just
heard of a contract with an American
firm for six grams of radium for
Europe, to be delivered a gram a
month. In the meantime the surgeons
of this conutry who have some radium
are forced to the awful alternative
of selecting between the patients on
whom it will be used. The case of
my honored colleague, Robert G..
Bremner is most pathetic appeal
for more radium. I am told that his
cure would be far more certain if DR..
Howard A. Kelly had ten grams of
radium at his disposal rather than one
gram. And while we have been plan
ming what best should be done at pro
tect American interests properly, ra-
dium has gone up in price from 500
600 to 100000.
81 am not appealing that all the
radium should be retained in the
United State. That would be as sell
fish and inhuman as the opposition of
some of the people of Colorado ap-
pears to me. / am simply pleading
that a very limited acreage of the
public domain in Colorado containing
carnotite ores be set aside, not for
reservation form use, but for imme-
date development, to insure the
Aemrican people getting the radium
they need at the least possible cost
and with the least possible delay.
81 am told that an additional half
gram of radium viii mean the saving
of human life every day in the year.
Isn't that worth striving fort
''Some of those who are against the
withdrawal of these lands are saying
that it is another plan of the conser-
vationists; it means the locking up of
the lands; the killing of a great n
dustry. The only conservation in
volved is the conservation of $4,000
human lives in years time; the con-
servation of the 600 lives yearly in
the state of Colorado. Instead of the
locking up of the land and the killing
of a great industry, the plan means
the immediate development of the
land and the fostering of an industry