Montana labor news., 1936-01-09

sell for $3.50 a ton but when two tons
OF il, say SIS worth, are made into steel
the value increases to between $50 and
500, perhaps 500 on an average, before
it ven leaves the steel mills as a raw
material for manufacturing industries.
Further fabricated into an automobile,
its worth grows to $500 or more and
perhaps some OF it may be fashioned
into a watch spring worth 2 billions OF
dollars a ton. The further a mineral
raw material gets from the mine, whe-
Their in degree of fabrication or physical
distance, the more its value grows. To
make the value grow, however, more
work has to be done upon it or it has
to be carried by train, truck, or ship to
some other place.
Products OF mines and crude oil af-
ford well over one-half the tonnage OF
revenue freight handled by our rail-
roads and if we add to this the tonnage
from smelters and ~refineries and the
products of cement, lime, and brick
works, we would find a huge traffic
indeed. Even casual analysis will show
that the wages and dividends paid in
many industries would disappear from
our national income were it not for the
mineral raw materials that furnish the
broad basis Of their employment.
In normal times, at least a million
men work in our mines and q~uarries
and the mineral industries give direct
employment to 100000; around 100000
OF them actually work underground
This is a fairly large payroll but it gives
scarcely a hint as to the number Of
people who depend upon the mineral
industries for their livelihood. Even
though we consider that the miners
have families at least as large as the
average American family of 49, persons,
say 7,500,OOO altogether, we still fail to
grasp the significance Of our mining
population in national affairs. Wholly
apart from the fundamental but rather
intangible fact that a continued flow OF
essential minerals must be maintained
to preserve II national and industrial
integrity, people are beginning to learn
that the mining industries provide the
real source Of subsistence for a very
large and representative cross section
of our population.
A striking reminder OF the relative
Importance of the mineral industry in
the National economy is afforded by a
recent survey, summarized in a read
able little pamphlet entitled what
Mining Means to Utah" and sponsored
by the Salt Lake City Chamber of
Commerce, which shows that more than
10 people are employed 0 or less
directly to serve one miner. In addi-
ton, the labors Of nearly 4 more are
required on farms to grow the food for
those that depend, in the first instance,
their livelihood or one man employ
ed directly in winning minerals from
the ground. This painstaking and
thorough study of the economic depen-
dence OF the population of the State
upon its mineral raw materials revealed
in Utah, while only 10000 mine
employees and their families were dir
ectly dependent upon mining in 1880, |
they were served by an army of $4,000
nominally dependent upon trade,
manufacturing, service industries, and
professions and that $1,000 farmers
we're engaged in growing the food re-
1uired by these various classes Of work.
ers and their families. While less than ]
! per cent of the population was on the
nine pay rolls, over half the people Of !
he State derived their economic sub s
iistence from coal and metal mining s
within its borders. +