Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1942-04-03
CUT RED TAPE
MONTANA MINE
OPERATORS URGED
GREEN LIGHT ASKED FOR STATE
PRODUCTION AT HEARING
CONDUCTED IN BUTTE

=
Mining men of the west are as an
xious as the folks in Washington to
win this war, federal government rep
resentatives were told at Butte BY
Montana mine operators. who urged
in the matter of priorities:
Give us a green light"
After hearing Oscar L. Chapman
assistant secretary Of the interior, as
sert that he did not think mines pro-
ducing any appreciate amount OF
strategic materials would be closed"
because of priority problems Of equip
ment, the operators in informal hard
rock talk presented their views.
Some of them were:
Remove as many restrictions as pos
sible from the mining industry and
trust us as honest American citizens
who want to do their part in an all
out war effort
Eliminate red tape and "let us get
the rock out" Eliminate delays on
reconstruction finance corporation
loans which would permit many addi-
uonal operators TO salvage idle mine
and milling equipment and get it work
ing on properties producing strategic
minerals.
Establish in Butte a federal bureau
where mine operators in this section
could obtain prompt response to their
questions and problems instead Of los
ing time, and to centralize response
bility in the major Montana shelters
for prioritieS.
One miner declared these smelters
know what kind OF ore they want to
buy. who produces it, and what the
| demand is. Let them tell the miners
who should operate"
| Gov. Sam c. Ford appeared to sum-
Marie the sentiment of the meeting
at which more than $50 registered,
/ when he said:
I'VE in Montana are impatient.
When we have a job to do, we believe
in doing it now. We want the depart
mentS in Washington co-ordinated.
We want to know where to go and
where to write.
Without coordination we can't do
the job. We can't win the war while
we're bound up in red tape"
/ In answering questions regarding
| priority rulings for mines primarily
gold and silver producers. Chapman
at one point said:
Il have confidence in the integrity
of DR.. Wilbur A. Nelson" who has
/ charge of the mines division of the
war production board. II think he has
a different picture since his trip west"
Earlier, a proposal to solve threat
ened shortages of strategic minerals
was presented by R. D. Leisk, Sunshine
/ Mining Co. manager Of Kellogg. Idaho.
who suggested federal "grubstaking" OF
exploration work in conjunction with
private operators.
/ Leisk said that silver, chief product
Of his firms operations, brought with
1t byproduct in appreciable guam
| titles OF anthony and other stra-
logically important minerals.
/ He said that before the war is over.
silver itself may be regarded as "of
much more strategic Importance than
now" because industrial consumption
of silver already has almost doubled
in recent months as a substitute for
tin.
Discussing shortages in strategic
minerals, DR.. R. S. Dean of the United
States bureau OF mines labeled the
manganese problem primarily psy-
Geological"
I'VE can lick this problem" he said,
we can mill manganese the same as
We mill zinc, and we can substitute
manganese for lot of materials we're
short Of"
Regarding chromium. Dean said the
greatest help toward self-sufficiency
is the Montana deposits"
The bureau of reclamation is ready
to go ahead tomorrow" on projects
which would produce power, E. B.
Debler, reclamation bureau represent
tative from Denver told the meeting.
Debler linked power with the develop
ment OF mineral resources, and cited
the southern California aircraft in
dustries as result of the availability
of Boulder dam power.