The Cordele dispatch. (Cordele, Ga.) 19??-1971, 1917-01-14
WESTERN Mines PAID
MILLIONS IN DIVIDENDS

washington, Jan. o.~AcA iAAhoo III
Arizona paid $34,OOO,O00 in dividends
during the past year. Adding Utah,
Montana, Nevada and Idaho dividends
to those of Arizona, we have a total
of over $1OO,O00,00O in dividends paid
out of the mines of these five western
states in single year.
These are some of the impressive
fact brought out by the report OF the
Geological Survey to Secretary Lane
Just made Never before" said Mr.
Lane, "has so large draft been made
as during this year, and never before
have the metals been extracted from
these ores with less waste or utilized
to better advantage in advancing the
general prosperity of the country.
Even as written in the plain figures
Of 1916 production the wonderful rec
ord of our mines sets forth a degree
of national industrial independence
only hoped for few years ago.
again copper stands out as the
best illustration of how American
mines can meet world demand. The
output of nearly two billion pounds
of the red metal is double that of ten
years ago and it's value is twice that
of the copper produced in 1915. Add
to this the fact that in value copper
now contends with iron for first place
among the metals and that together
the amount of these two metals pro-
duced last year had value of more
than one billion dollars and we have
measure Of what this country can
contribute in useful metals.
The output Of zihc from domestic
ores increased last year $4,000 tons,
which makes a new record tot that
metal, the total vaite Of spelter from
United States ore. being $50 million
dollars. Lead also shows large In
crease, the 75-million-dollar output be.
ing a gain of more than 80 per cent.
with all this activity In metal pro.
duction the coal mines have had to
meet heavy demand, so that the bit
luminous coal output has now passed
the Naturalization mark, an increase
of 1912 per cent over the previous
year. Coke production increased 80
per cent and it is gratifying to note
that by-product coke made the largest
gain, which means corresponding
gain in benzol and other valuable by
products.
again the oil wells have given q
new record for petroleum yield, the
estimate of marketed production OF
crude petroleum for 1916 being 292
million barrels, or II million barrels
more than in 1915.
| Another mineral product which
furnishes an index of business condt
lions is cement, the 1916 production
/ of which is estimated to be s million
barrel in excess of the output OF the
previous year, while. the shipments
were even greater, ,aggregatjnS 94,5O0s
600 barrels with the outlook reported
as good for the new year.
"The reports received from the Sur
vey's western officers contain most
significant mining records. Every
| western state shows large increase
in yield Of metals, Arizona leading
with a gain of 100 million dollars over
last year, while Utah and Montana to-
gether report another 100 million dol
lar gain. Alaska also had its best
year, contributing a total value oil
a total Of three billion dollars"
"These advance statements not only
show that 1916 marks new advance
for the mineral industry Of the coun
try but this remarkable increase prom
+; ises to be approximately IS per cent
over thg 1915 production so that we
may expect the final figures TO shoa
more than s5oseeO 600 this year; oil
over S percent in excess of any pre-
vious year.