The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1919-03-06
.HECLA COMPANY PAY
DIVIDEND IS CENTS
Retains Large Sur.
plus to Pay
Tax
MEETING ON APRIL 9th
Much Interest in Annual Re-
port of Company Covering
Tax Question
ON APRIL 9th

~ N MARCH l the Hecla Mining
company announced a quar-.
terly dividend of Is cents per
share, payable March 2S.
amounting to $150,000. 1t is estimat-
eo that this is little less than the
actual earnings Of the company at
the present time. due to the low price
of lead and the continued high cost of
mining. Silver Is the salvation of the
Hecla at this time, the steady demand
and high price of that metal making
a proht possible which justifes oper-
alton under the present adverse con-
ditions. The company Is not crowd
Ing production and the force employ.
ed Is considerably less than that OF
normal times. Both the Gem mill
and the leased Federal mill are run
ming as usual with no indication Of
further curtailment or shutdown. Last
Friday the mine was forced to sus-
pend on account Of ore congestion. the
railroad company being unable to
move the ore from the bins to the
mills on account OF the heavy fall of
snow The situation was relieved by
Monday, when the track was opened
and operations resumed
The payment of the dividend this
month will bring the total dividends
paid by the Hecla company up to ST.
100000. Last year while the earnings
Of the comnany wera proho1>l,, ,,..u
above a million and half, the com.
pany paid only $350,O0O in dividends.
This was due to the uncertainty of
the amount the company would have
to pay under the excess profits law.
In anticipation of this and in order to
be prepared for whatever tax payment
was required, the company discontin-
ued dividend payments after the jan
uary disbursement of S cents Der
share. Up to that time the company
had been paying monthly. On Sep
tember l announcement was made
that dividend Of Is cents per share
would be paid on September 2S and
that thereafter payments would be
made quarterly instead of monthly.
The same disbursement was made on
December 2S. In the meantime the
company rendered the government
$12S,OOO income tax for the year 1917,
but no formal acceptance was made,
and the amount due for that year and
also for the year 1918 Is still awaiting
adjustment The company Is still "up
In the air" regarding the amount the
government will finally demand, but
the surplus on hand is ample to meet
1t whatever the amount and still leave
a comfortable balance on hand. Ac-
cording to current reports the sur
plus in the Hecla treasury is upward
Of $2,000,000.
The annual meeting Of stockholders
Of the Hecla company will be held IN
Spokane on April s. Unusual inter
est is taken in the meeting on account
OF the controversy with the govern
ment regarding the construction Of
the excess profits tax law, a subtec.
that is expected to be covered by the
annual report of the company. The
company Is capitalized for $3.50 900
having 100000 shares of the par
value Of 25 cents. While there are
numerous features of the excess pro-
fits law subject to various construc-
tions it Is understood that the issue
between the company and the govern
ment turns chiefly upon the question
Of what constitutes invested capital as
a basis for computing profits for the