Gunnison news-champion., 1918-11-29
SMASHING BLOWS FOR
TWO OF THE TRI SITS

Denver Mining Record
L.-lyuu- 10, rested IN tho mining
udUztt, has reason to be clalnd over
the two smashing blows dealt 10 the
mUI trust and 10 the -mrItcr trust by
[ mel. Sam within the pa, fortnight.
Tho American Sm,Itor & Refining Co.
aft.r strangIUE q. competition ~ the
past. ha- been brought up with Il
quick jerk, evidently By the attorney
general Of the United States. During
the past week. just when tn" Minerals
Separation Corporation had fought its
way 10 the point where il seemed sure
that u would take i continuous toll
from tho hundreds Of operators using
the hOtatIOn process, the Federal
Trade Commission called halt and
summoned the six concerns claiming
TO own the process TO appear before
the commission and answer the charge
OF practIcing unfair and destructive
methods of competition in the Amcri-
can market aimed at monopOllzing
the Anne rIcan minerals separation in
dustry. There is no question but that
the so-called smeltcr trust has had a
stranglc hold on the miner of the
Rocky Mountain country for the past
quarter of 4 century or more. What
the American Smelling & Refining Co.
gained thru the power of money prop
erly, or we might say improperly, ap-
piled, the Minerals Separation crowd
has tried to accomplish thru the
courts.
Just what pressure was brought to
bear upon the Guggenheims and the
smeltcr trust to save the Bunker Hill
from the monopoly and the smelter
industry of the Coeur d'Alene district
OF Idaho from the same fate can pos
sibly only be learned from the files of
the Department of Justice at Wash
ington. The smelter trust will say
nothing. 1t seems quite certain that
the Department of Justice made per-
emptory demands upon the officials of
the smelling trust to discontinue any
further efforts to hold Bunker Hill &
Sullivan to the twenty-five year smelt-
ing contract of 1905, and thus further
cement its monopoly by closing the
smelter at Kellogg. The minority in
terests at Bunker Hill fought long
term contract and evidently the De-
partment of Justice believed in the
rights of the minority. 1t was fine
victory for the mining industry as
against an organization that has fore
ed an unfair toll from mine operators
for years.
1t is estimated that all of 10000 900
tons of ore were treated by the fiota-
ton process in the mining centers of
the United States last year This pro-
cess is stated to have been discovered
by Carrie Everson, a Denver woman,
while washing ore sacks. Her discov-
cry was the beginning of the present
elaborated process which has proved
the savior of many a mining and mil
ling project. Butte & Superior has
given the mill trust fight all the way
up to the Supreme Court, and this Co.
is more or less responsible for the
breaking of the strangle hold that
Minerals Separation was securing on
the entire mining industry. From the
special bulletin received by the Record
from Washington we are led to believe
that the control of the companies
claiming exclusive rights to the pro-
cess rested with the great German
metal interests. If this is the case
| it is to be hoped that the Federal
Trade Commission will prove the con-
spiracy and return the flotation pro-
cess to the ownership of American
mining and milling men where il
should rest by right of discovery.