IMPORTS AND EXPORTS OF IMPORTANT AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS, 1909-1919 (Yearbook of the Department of Agriculture) IMPORTS (000 omitted) Total, excluding Forest Products $638,612 $924,247 $1,189,705 $1,404,972 $1,618,874 $1,782,436 Animal matter: Cattle 1,999 18,697 15,188 13,021 1,888 Sheep 502 532 918 857 675 1,089 111 268 Silk 79,903 100,930 142,421 131,137 AVERAGE PRICES OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS, 1909-1919 3 Wholesale prices at prime beef per 100 lb. 1 Average farm prices Dec. 1. 2 Wholesale prices at Boston. New York. 4 Prices Nov. 15. 5 Wholesale prices of inferior to at Chicago, for the year. 6 Wholesale prices of creamery butter at New York. 7 Wholesale prices of average best fresh eggs at New York. 10.40 8.76 15.92 13.30 34.4 41.9 52.7 60.0 43.3 55.0 61.9 XVII. THE MINERAL INDUSTRIES MINING AND ORE DRESSING CHARLES E. LOCKE The Mining Industry.-The year | Government relief through the 1919 has been one of reconstruction medium of the War Minerals Adjustand readjustment after the war, with ment Board is being afforded to those conditions remaining in a somewhat operators who embarked on new enterunsettled state at the end of the year. prises following the Government's Costs of operation still remain on a appeal for production of certain war war basis although prices of products minerals. Taxation in all its various have been reduced. The signing of the forms is an unfair burden on the armistice and the cessation of actual mining industry from which the hostilities left the country with large miner is entitled to prompt relief. stocks of many metals on hand and The removal of all Government resimultaneously shut off the demand strictions, together with a plan for for materials for warfare. This, the gradual marketing of the Governcoupled with the lack of any European ment's war stocks, practically restored commercial demand and the existence the operation of the natural law of of a large unknown amount of scrap metal in the fighting districts, could only lead to the result of reduced prices and curtailed production. Taking shipments of Lake Superior iron ore as an index, the tonnage from Lake ports in 1919 to Nov. 1 was 43,978,414 tons or about 13 million tons less than in the year 1919 (see also Iron and Steel, infra). It is only fair to say that over 5,000,000 tons of this decrease was due to a dockmen's strike in August (see XV, Labor). Copper production was cut very nearly in half (see XII, Economic Conditions). Mining of some of the so-called war minerals, such as tungsten, chrome, pyrite, manganese, and quicksilver, ceased almost entirely owing to the great drop in prices. supply and demand. Prices of most metals declined during the first half of the year and picked up again in the autumn. Pig iron around $30 per ton in Jan. declined to $25 in the spring and rose to $27 or $28 in the fall (see also XII, Economic Conditions). Similar figures for copper were 20 cents, 15 cents, and 22 cents per pound (see ibid.); for lead, 5.5 cents, 5.0 cents, and 7.0 cents per pound; for zinc, 7.5 cents, 6.5 cents, and 8.0 cents per pound; for tin, 71 cents, 72 cents, and 55 cents per pound. Platinum, which had been held at the fixed price of $100 per ounce, climbed to $140 after the restriction was removed, and likewise silver, held at $1.01 per ounce up to May, climbed to $1.35 in December. In other lines small mines, plants A new silver camp has been disfor retreating old tailings, and low-covered at Divide, Nev., not far from grade producers, such as the large Burro Mountain mine in New Mexico, suspended operations. Others have continued at no profit, or even at a loss, in the hope that conditions may improve. Gold miners are still with out any relief from a condition in which their costs have about doubled whereas the price of their product has remained fixed (see also Gold and Silver, infra). Tonopah, which gives promise of becoming an important producer. New gold finds have also been reported from Canada, but development has not progressed sufficiently to make any real estimate of their future value. The old Comstock mines in Nevada report finds of high-grade ore. The high price of silver has rejuvenated some of the old silver mines of Colorado and led to a boom in mining in that state. The country has experienced a tremendous boom in oil, and speculation has run wild. Curtailment of production and demobilization of the Army have eased the labor situation so that in some districts a temporary surplus of labor occurred, but many parts of the country still report a shortage of miners. In general, operators, confronted with lower metal prices and reduced metal demand, cut off war-time bonuses to labor and attempted to go back to prewar wage schedules. This effort was not entirely successful, and toward the end of the year some operators in copper districts found it advisable to restore war-time wages on account of the continued high cost of living and the betterment of metal prices. Strikes of greater or less duration have occurred in many places, including Cobalt and Kirkland Lake, Ont.; Butte, Mont.; Grass Valley, Cal.; Coeur d'Alene, Idaho; Ely, Tonopah, and Divide, Nev.; Oatman and Jerome, Ariz.; Garfield and Park City, Utah; Leadville, Col. The steel strike came in the fall, followed by the culmination in the country-wide coal strike in November. An analysis of these strikes shows that they were due either to general labor unrest, or to activities of agitators and radicals such as the I. W. W., or to a disinclination to accept any wage reductions from the war basis, especially as long as high living cost continued. In practically all cases the strikes failed completely or were settled with only slight gains by the strikers. (See also XV, Labor.) tions in 1919 have allowed the ore dresser breathing time to make necessary repairs and replacements and to take up again investigations looking toward improved operation. In the field of coarse crushing large breakers are noted, but in the field of fine crushing the best practice as to the use of ball mills of various kinds, pebble mills, and Chilean mills is still a subject of discussion. Ball mills are favored almost everywhere, but there appears to be a growing belief that it may be a mistake to use these machines to reduce ore from 12-in. size to 50 mesh in one step and that graded reduction using two or three steps may be preferable. No special change is seen in the application of screens, classifiers, jigs, and jerking tables or in the use of gravity concentration, amalgamation, magnetic separation, and electrostatic separation. The revolving circular slime table has been pretty well abandoned except in the dressing of native copper ores at Lake Superior, and even there the Calumet and Hecla Co. discarded them in 1919 coincidently with the starting of their new oil-flotation plant for slimes. The possibility of future exhaustion of the richer Lake Superior iron ores is already turning attention to the beneficiation of the lower-grade ores of this district. The flotation process continues to receive wide application for simple sulphide ores, but the problem of its general use on oxides and complex sulphides is still unsolved. Flotation litigation was marked by the decision of the U. S. Supreme Court in the Butte & Superior case in June that the use of mechanical agitation with less than one per cent. of oil is an infringement of the Minerals Separation Co. patent. The Miami case, involving the use of the Callow pneumatic flotation process, is still pending. All unlicensed companies that have been using mechanical agitation with under one per cent. of oil would appear to have no alternative but to settle with the Minerals Separation Co. A suit looking toward this end has already been started by the Minerals Separation Co. against the Nevada Consolidated Copper Co. and Silver, infra.) Mining Methods.-Under practical mining should be noted increased development and construction which had been held up during the war; increased use of labor-saving devices, such as mechanical shoveling and motor haulage, to save high labor costs; more attention to the Safety First movement, which is continually reducing the accident rate in mining; and increased application of cement and concrete for grouting and fireproofing mine shafts and for many other uses in mining. Ore Dressing. During the war period the pressure for maximum production held back technical progress in ore dressing. The changed condi (See also Gold |