Gilpin observer., 1918-12-12
GOVERNMENT SHOULD CONTROL
THE SMELLING INDUSTRY

, ore dump until little puffs Of dust rose
from 1t when the wind whistled past.
Jim told the teamsters, when they came
at last, that II they hadn't come his
ore would have all blown away. The
teamsters "hefted" some Of the Jumps
Of galena admiringly. mo danger Of
that blowing far" they said
He Makes Plans.
During the ten days while he waited
| for his check Jim planned ways to
spend the money in developing his
! mine. horse and whim to replace the
F, back breaking windlass, some new drill
| steel and a few hundred ore sacks were
down on his list. to be purchased when
he received his returns.
Let us leave him here while we "go
see" what happens to his ore. After
laying on siding for a week the car
containing it was brought up to the
crusher and a gang of huskies shoveled
the ore in, while an automatic sampler
dumped a fractional part Of it on the
floor above What mysterious rites the
assayer performed is left In doubt.
4. Makes a Mistake.
I However, Jim's assayer must have
been mistaken. since the smelter man
found only 25 per cent of lead In his
ore. Not 30 per cent as reported by the
independent assayer. One other thing
he found was enough moisture In his
sample to reduce Jim's 20 tons to II
TONS And Jim had been afraid of it
f, blowing away, 1t was so dry. Jim was
due to learn many things.
He learned, for instance, what a sim
| pie process 1t was for the smelter to
reduce his ore and the size of his ex-
pected check. simultaneously and at the
same time. as one might say. After all
1t was only a mistake OF arithmetic,
mainly subtraction.
The Method Used.
Here is the method: The shipper of
lead ore is paid for 40 per cent Of the
the "quoted" price. And. gentle reader.
this quoted price" is not the market"
price listed in the financial papers, but
a price set by a certain Metal Buyers
association who practically monopolize
the trade. Hence when St. Louis quot
ed iedt at~$s.o6 per 100. -Jims custom
smelter quoted 1t at 1925.
So Jim was paid for 25 per cent lead,
| or 500 pounds to the ton, only. remem-
Der. he was paid for 80 per cent. or
$50 pounds. at IA cents per pound.
Therefore, he received l-2 cents per
pound for $50 pounds of lead. which
equals. let's see. s24.75. doesn't it.
Hold on a Minute.
DID I say he received s24.75 per ton
for his ore? l was mistaken. First
there was IS deducted for TREATMENT -
then 81 for freight. then 81 for war tax
and then $1.75 for strange item en-
titled freight on bullion to New York.
which. returning to our good old sub
traction system. left him s16 net. Net.
get that? A net is used to catch fish.
Since Jim had lost three tons Of ore
by evaporation he was paid for II tons.
One day Jim got very nice letter
from the manager of the smelter, tell
ing him how glad they were to have his
custom, and to please "come again."
With the letter was a neat little sheet
Of paper containing n lot Of figures and
pinned to 1t was Jim's check for S272.
Jim spent an hour deciphering the fig
ures. then NE rose and dropped the neat
little sheet. figures and all. into the
fire. AS he watched it disappear Jim
addressed some unseen person In the
tones OF one who has been the goat
"Reduction work is right" said he.
] Back to Kansas.
/ Jim gave his creditors IS cents on
the dollar. sold his tools to a green
horn Swede, and took the first train
back to Kansas. At last accounts Jim
Partisan league and married red-hair-
ed girl who shutters.
The method portrayed here is the ac-
tual system In use today among the
smelters Of the 5000. 10000 smelling
trust with It's 10000 employees. which In
1916 had total receipts Of S346. .602, ,s66
from sales OF metals and manufactured
I products.
Some years ago read an article.
in which he sought to explain the rea-
son for these various deductions. A
certain percentage goes for storage, for
freight. for protection against a drop In
prices, etc 1t strikes me that II a bus
mess is SO inefficiently managed as to
necessitate the expenditure OF such an
enormous percentage for overhead ex-
pense. 1t is high time Uncle Sam took
a hand to help them out
Othora Win Triad
Producers OF other metals than lead
meet with the same thing. know OF
one man who shipped a small lot of
copper ore. He received 15 cents per
pound, when Independent buyers In New
York were offering 35 cents. Govern