Montana labor news., 1935-01-31
URGE GOVERNMENT
SHELTERS In
MONTANA
WOULD OPEN WAY FOR
MINING.

Without any intention whatever to
disparage either present or future bene-
fits to accrue from the building of the
great Fl. Peck dam, it will be apparent
to anyone who gives the matter the
slightest consideration, that incom-
parably greater and more lasting and
statewide aid would come through the
loosening Of the s%trangling grip now
and for some years held on the entire
state by the Smelter Trust.
The heavy hand OF the American
Smelling & Refining Company, the
United States Smelling, Refining &
Mining Co., the Anaconda Company
and its subsidiary companies, together
with two or three other allied reduc-
ton concerns, lies on the neck Of the
metal mining industry from Mexico to
Canada. In view of this admitted fact
it may safely be predicted that no real
or substantial improvement in the in
terest of the thousands of small indie
pendent miners and mine owners will
ever take place unless or until some
system or plan is worked out to give
them some sort of a square deal.
In several Of the western mining
states public sentiment is being aroused
to the situation, and it is understood
that Senator James E. Murray is Civ
ing intensive study and consideration
to the whole matter with a view to re
lieving a flagrantly unjust and intol-
cradle state of affairs. The efforts OF
such friends of the independent min
ers and p%rospectors as Senator Murray
must, however, be earnestly and vigor-
ously backed up by all independents,
by the small business men, and espe-
cially by miners and communities de-
pendent upon mining activities. Mon
tana is an empire Of limitless possibili-
ties in many ways, and certainly among
the first of these is the development
and putting to human service OF III
undisputed treasures Of underground
wealth. In the vast mineralized area
comprising practically the entire west
ern hall Of Montana, two, and only
two, giant concerns operating in ap-
parent perfect agreement, stand grimly
and inexorably in the pathway of any
possible recovery Of independent min
ing. These two concerns are the Ana
conda and the American Smelling &
Refining Company, still functioning on
THAT simple rule-that good old
plan,
That they shall take who have the
power,
And they shall keep, who canl"
Upon the reduction plants of these
two companies the Independent miners
and mining companies of Montana
excepting only the very few able to
finance their own plants) must abso-
lutely depend now for an outlet for
their ores; in other words for their
very existence. And in what manner
do these concerns, monopolizing as
they do the entire field of this rich
territory, meet the responsibilities Of
the situation and the necessities Of the
struggling independent miners scat
tered over more than twenty counties
thousands of square miles-in Mon
tana? The monotonous story of
burdensome restrictions, unreasonable
regulations and classifications, extor-
tionate treatment charges, and grossly
unfair deductions and penalties i'm
posed by these twin units of the Smell
ter Trust, comes almost without a
break. One shipper who protested to
the manager Of the East Helena branch
of the Trust over a particularly bare
faced skinning was CURLY advised to
ship elsewhere in future. And else
where, of course, meant simply to the
Tacoma or Salt Lake unit Of the same
concern that owned the East Helena
plant. In the language of the street,
thousands of miners in Montana and
the mining states of the West are "all
dressed up and no place to 60"
The inevitable conclusion must be
reached by any fair minded investiga-
tor that it is the deliberate purpose of
the Smelter Trust to obstruct and dis
courage the development of the mineral
of Montana, excepting only
as that development may be owned
or controlled by the Trust. The re-
morseless assimilation and elimination
by the Smelter Trust of every COM
petitor and every custom smelter in
Montana has left the metal mining in
dustry of the state wholly to the ten
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