The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1933-09-08

Inc matter OF extending the term of
the leases should be taken up by the
1885 Session of the Legislature so as
to give ample time for protecting the
states interest. The engineers for the
Department of Conservation have done
considerable work along the line of
securing necessary information needed
when this proposition comes up. There
are many angles yet to be considered.
A suggested plan would be to have the
Legislature submit to the owners of the
present leases the offer of a plan
for extending such leases at an in
creased rate of royalty based upon the
advantages and disadvantages of the
conditions prevailing at each mine.
Taxation.
There are two sources in cost of
mining. First. the expenses in search
! ing for, mining and removing the ore
from the ground, and second, which
has developed into one of the most i'm
portant, is the matter of taxation. The
operators have heretofore by mechani-
cal research very materially reduced the
cost of placing the ore on cars. 1t may
be wise for the people of the State of
Minnesota to consider carefully the
matter of reducing the second cost if
this can be done without serious injury
to the state or the local communities
AS fast as new ore bodies have been
demonstrated to be merchantable by
research, such tonnages remaining in
the ground automatically enter the ad
valorem lists This operates as a
penalty upon research. A suggestion
that might be worth considering is to
provide by law that after a given
date all low grade ores discovered to be
subject to benefication shall not be
placed on the ad valorem tax roll at
their full and true value but shall pay
tonnage or severance tax when mined
This rule might also apply to any new
iron ore fields of whatever grade dis
covered in the state. The net result
would be that the operators would then
be justified in developing means of
benefication of the low grade ores on
the three ranges. Every one would be-
come interested in discovering new iron
ore fields.
At present the discovery of mer-
charitable iron ore field outside of the
three ranges at some distance would
mean that the owner. if an ordinary
farmer, would lose his land under tax
alton unless he could secure some lessee
with sufficient capital to carry the
same for long period of time In
such cases his lease would carry ridicu-
ously small royalty.
Lands
Until the last days of the Legislature
| it was thought that several million
acres of land would revert to the state
because of the non-payment of taxes.
The Legislature, however, extended the
period of redemption for two years
hence that problem is one to be de-
ferred for that length of time. In the
meantime plans will be developed by
the Department of Conservation for
handling such lands when they do &C
tually revert to the state. Little ex-
cept the task of working out general
plan can be done for lack Of funds.
Regarding the matter of state-owned
trust fund lands all allotments from
the government to the state from early
date are to be checked to see that the
state has received it's full share of such
lands. This is done from time to time.
The sales of state-owned lands are also
being examined to see that no pieces
have escaped the payment of interest
on the unpaid balances for any con-
siderable time. Those delinquent in
the payment of interest in the several
state forests and game preserves are
being reappraised and will be offered
for sale at an early date so that the
full title to such lands in the state will
be completed. AS soon as offered at the
sale, the offer is withdrawn before
bid is accepted.
The classification of all state lands
as forestry, marginal and agricultural
lands, will be pushed as rapidly as
possible. No lands that are not suit
able for agricultural purposes or those
that are in isolated portions of the
state, will be offered for sale except so
far as necessary in order for the state
| to repoSsesS itself of the title to such
lands.
When the depression begins to wane
there will be demand for cottage sites
in northern Minnesota. In anticipation
of this demand every suitable OPP
portunity for plating lake fronts will
be taken advantage of so no delay will
be experienced when the call comes.
There are few funds available for adj
vertising these summer cottage sites or
for marking their location so that
customers may readily find them. The
terms of such leases do not permit the
cutting of trees or doing anything that
would create a fire hazard. AS no
business may be conducted on the lands.
the states entry in this line of ac-
tivity does not seriously compete with
private land owners.
Some forty thousand acres have been
under hay stumpage lease to farmers in
northern portions of the state. This
has greatly assisted those who have not
had sufficient food for their stock. The
rates of rental while low. because of
the times, have returned to the trust
funds of the state several times the cost
of attention.
There are many angles to the work
| of conservation. Time is needed to
review all angles to each project. No
one man or group of men possess all
the knowledge necessary for formu-
lating final policy on any one of the
undertakings. Speed is not always an
evidence of progress, so the Conserva-
ton COMMISSIONS proceeding with as