White Pine news weekly mining review. [volume] (East Ely, Nev.) 1910-1920, 1916-07-09
NEvAOA|NOUSTRY
IS MENACEO BY
REVENUE LAW
COPPER PRODUCERS WILL BE
HARD HIT If PROPOSED PRE-
PAREDNESS BILL NOW BEFORE
CONGRESS- rs ENACTED.

A very serious menace to the pros
perity of White Pine county and to
one of the chief resources OF the
State of Nevada is threatened by the
proposed enactment of the new rev.
enue Law reported by the Ways and
Means Committee of the House of
Representatives.
Word comes from Washington that
by this new revenue measure it Is
proposed to single out the copper in
dustry and the munitions factory in
dustry tlargely centered in the New
England states, as the two indus
tries which shall be bled for the pur-
pose of raising the additional revenue
required to fulfill the preparedness
program. The bill. which according
TO reports will be voted on in the
House OF Representatives tomorrow.
of copper smelters and copper refin-
cries of one percent of the production
between a quarter and one million
dollars per annum, two percent on
the receipts between one million and
ten million, and three percent on the
receipts above the last named figure
This is an enormous tax and very
yitally affects the leading industry
OF White Pine county II is an enor-
nous tax by reason of the fact that
the proposed bill aims only TO raise
the required revenue from the spe-
cified industries instead of burden
ing the duty of paying this excise on
all industries alike
IL should be well known TO Wash
ington. as IL is generally throughout
she commercial world, that copper Is
not the only metal the price of which
Eas enhanced within the last two
years as the result of the war. for
zinc, silver, lead and iron also have
Increased enormously in market val
ue. SO, too, should Washington know
that the increase in value OF the prod
net. from which Improvement in tho
industry follows, is not limited to the
metals. but that wheat. wool. meats
and food products generally have
likewise enjoyed a period of prosper
ity; and hence they. with great
many other branches of American
enterprise. should share this burden.
Indeed one can hardly think OF any
commodity of necessity used in these
times the price of which has not in
creased at least substantially as the
result undoubtedly of the European
War. Why then should Washington
administer this blow to an industry
which in some seven or eight of the
states. principally western. are inter-
ested?
The citizens of Nevada. although
their state is far within the United
States borders, north. west, south
and east, have never taken a pro-
vinciai view of the preparedness
question and so far from decrying or
opposing those who have contended
for the necessity OF preparedness
such as the citizens and representa-
tives of some of the states likewise
remote from the exterior boundaries.
have done--have always taken the
broader national view and favored
preparedness in reasonable and
adequate measure. II the time has
come, however, when those In
charge at Washington can settle the
cost of such preparedness upon cer-
tain industries to the exclusion of
others. 1t is certainly in order for
the citizens of this state and its
representatives In Congress TO arouse
themselves and oppose such a vicious
measure by all means in their power.
II copper can today be singled out
as the object of such a nefarious rev.
enue raising law. the silver industry
may be 80 individualized tomorrow
and honored 90 by a corresponding
enactment
The interests in the western part
OF the state are alive to the posi-
bihties OF such injurious legislation
and the Commercial club of Reno.
which Ia practically the State Cham
her of Commerce, we understand has
voiced itself In clear and emphatic
serms to our Washington representa-
tives. Action has also been taken
by the Nevada Mine Operators Asso-
cistion at meeting Just held In Ton
opah. In the debate on the meas