The daily Alaska citizen., 1920-01-28
OUTLOOK HOPEFUL

Writing to GONernOl RlSgo says that peO- pie on the coast are back of the proposition to put a bonus on newly produced gold and predicts the enactment of such proposal into law For interior Alaska the consum- nation of such a plan means much-prob- ably more than to any other gold produc- ing country under the sun.
 Here the main industry Is gold min ing. Our other forms of activity are large ly dependent upon this one for their con tinuance. Let the gold mining fail and disaster stares Us In the face. For the past three years ever-IncreaoIng costs have pro duced all increasingly serious condition. As the cost of operations mounted higher mine after mine was forced to close down until the greater part of the industry Is to- day stagnant. Valuable properties are Iy- ing idle awaiting the day that they can be worked at a living profit As long as these conditions confronted Alaska alone, hope for remedial legislation was based on de sire rather than expectation. But with every other gOId-prOducmg section Ill the country, in fact the gold mining industry of the whole world, now facing the same situatiou-eXtlncuOn on account of increaS- ed operative costs, with leading fmanclers of the world turning their attention to the subject, we can now hope with a reason able expectation of 1t being fulfilled that relief Is about to be obtained.
 To just what extent the attention ol the American banking leaders is being directed to relief for the gold mining in dustry Is indicated by an editorial in th. Mining Congress Journal for December, The Journal writer says:
 The facts concerning the monetary position of gold in the United States be- fore the National Gold Conference en- phaslze the importance of maintaining a normal production of gold. The very premise of the conference was the resO- lution unanimously adopted November at the annual convention of the Amen- can Bankers Association which called attention to the fact that the gold pro- duction of the United States was rapidly declining; emphasized the vital import ance to the financial and commercial life of the nation that the gold reserve be protected from depletion by other than monetary uses; and urged upon the gov ernment of the United States the de sirabihty of maintaining the domestic production of new gold in sufficient vol ume to satisfy the anticipated require ments for gold in manufactures and the arts.
 ''In confirmation of the action previ ously taken by the American Bankers Association, Mr. George E. Roberts, vice president of the National City Bank, who served as director of the Mint for so many years, made the following signifi- cant statements in his address to the Gold Conferences:
 "I recognize that the state of the gold mining industry is matter of pub lie concern and doubt if there is a gener- al appreciation of the fact x. It is fundamental to the re-establishment of the gold standard as a basis of world intercourse that gold mining shall go on at something like the normal rate 1 fear that low production of gold and an unfavorable outlook for the industry at a time when credit was being cur tailed and prices lowered would have the effect of reviving all the monetary heresies of the past. We want to stand by the gold standard; it is eet-anchor