The weekly Alaska citizen., 1917-10-29


 directly or indirectly interested Be sides, if such work were done by 1 each ot the several States, there would be d serious duplication ol cost and labor and with varying results. If it were done by the pri yate mine operators. there would be still greater variation in the re suits. and both the public and the miners might not have entire con udcnce in the data obtained More. over, by whatever agency the work is done, the consumer of the min 1 eral products, representing the citi. zenship of the country, will bear he cost T. therefore seems proper that ihs york be conducted by the 1 National Government under such conditions as will command the max. mum of public confidence, and rep resent the minimum of duplication of labor and cost
 Furthermore, it la easier for the Federal -oyelHMcut than for the III. diy.duM States ol private companies to obtain information rmbody ms the results of similar inquiries and n. yastgations both in the United States and .n the different foreign countries where mining operations are carried on.
 In one respect at least the con sideration of mineral waste has a basis quite different from the con sideration of agricultural waste. Our crops represent an annual produc- lion from d reasonably permanent soil; our forests may grow again, housh much longer period is re- luired; and the soils themselves may be reproduced from the subson and he rock beneath. But ot our min nrdl resources We have bat one supply. Inis supply IB to con siderable extent destroyed in use; t the present increasing rate at which We are using and wasting 1t cur one supply of q number of these fe oulces will be either exhausted CT largely depleted while the nation ia yet in it's youth.
 An interesting comparison between t1ese two basic industries of the country, made in 1914 before ab- 1rmal war conditions affected them ja any way, shows the following I gures:
 Agriculture, Including Forestry Number of employees ...13,000,0o0 }ear1y value of products ......
 .................. $10,5OO.0OO.OQO contribution of each worker to
 national wealth yearly $500 What industry contributes to
 freight tonnage of the coun-
 try yearly, per cent ..,....22
 Mineral Industries
 Humber Of employees 2,300,00 Yearly value Of products .....
 ................... $4,600, 0,000, ,000 Contribution of each worker to
 national wealth yearly ..$l,S00 What industry contributes to the
 freight tonnage of the country
 yearly, per cent ..............6O
 Agriculture is much the larger of the two industries; it embraces a sarger number of persons. more widely distributed, and each acting us an independent agent Its pro duets, supplying the country with food and clothing, bring this indus try even closer to the lives of the people than does the mining indus try, but the latter supplies them with the fuel that cooks their food, heats and lights their homes (which are largely built of mineral pro ducts) operates and supplies a large share of the materials and all the machinery of their factories, con ducts and operates largely their ia cilities for transportation and com munication, and supplies more than 60 per cent of the total freight ton mage of the country. Indeed, the mining industry is in a large mea- sure the real basis of our modern civilization and national life.
 But mining is sometimes regarded as an industry comprising the opera tion of a few large, highly profitable properties, such as the Old COmstock mines in Nevada, the Treadwell mine in Alaska, or the Homestake mine in South Dakota It is usually con- sidered, by those who see the in dustry only from the outside, to be an industry controlled by a few par ties, who would gladly unload or he National Government the cos