Mr. LEAVY. Is the state of health of the natives worse than it was before the white man came?

Mr. DIMOND. Oh, unquestionably. That is, it is not definitely worse except for tuberculosis, and in some regions syphilis is prevalent. Mr. LEAVY. Venereal disease?

Mr. DIMOND. Venereal disease is prevalent in some places. That is not such a serious problem, though, as tuberculosis. Tuberculosis is the thing that threatens now to decimate, if not wipe out, the natives, unless it is controlled, and it could be controlled without any prohibitive expense by taking the tubercular patients, who usually show signs of the disease, and putting them in a hospital or isolating them in some other fashion and giving them treatment, right in Alaska.

Of course, it would not do to take them anywhere else; and they do respond to the treatment. I have known cases of tubercular natives who either had sufficient funds of their own or managed to get some money out of the Indian Service, and who were placed in hospitals, and I know several who apparently got all right. Then, of course, they did not infect the remaining members of the family as they would have, had they stayed in their own environment.

Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, from what I have said you will realize my concern that the amounts set up in the bill should in no event be reduced. There is $119,000 for schools. Even when that money is spent, there will be at least a thousand children who will have no facilities for education at all. They cannot even have a fair opportunity to learn the English language; and if this $186,000 is appropriated for hospitals, we will have a hospital at Bethel, where hospitalization is needed. And this matter at Point Barrow presents a situation which is entitled to special consideration, because the building that the Government had has been destroyed by fire, and on the ground of humanity it ought to be replaced to take care of the grown people as well as the children in the arctic regions. The neglect of the natives of Alaska, particularly as to the treatment of tuberculosis is shameful. The ravages of the disease are terrible, and nothing adequate is being done for the control of this awful affliction. Hospitals for the medical relief of the natives and particularly for the treatment of tuberculosis should be erected not only at Nome and Dillingham, and at Bethel which is provided for in this bill, but also at Ketchikan, at White Mountain, at Kodiak, in the KlawockCraig region, at Unalakleet, at Seldovia, at Seward, at Kotzebue, at Eklutna, and at Nenana. Dr. W. W. Council, the Territorial health officer, reports that 75 out of 107 pupils in the native school at Sitka show some sign of tuberculosis. Dr. Council says that it will be necessary to provide about 1,700 beds altogether in several hospitals at an expense of about $1,200,000 for buildings and equipment. Accordingly, the hospital at Bethel, while most desirable, will make only a modest start on the Indian hospital program for Alaska.

I thank you, Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, for this further evidence of your courtesy.

TUESDAY, APRIL 13, 1937.

BUREAU OF MINES

STATEMENT OF A. W. DICKINSON, REPRESENTING THE AMERICAN MINING CONGRESS

Mr. DICKINSON. My name is A. W. Dickinson; mining engineer. representing the American Mining Congress.

The members of the American Mining Congress are deeply interested in the work of the Bureau of Mines and we appear today to speak particularly of the appropriations for the printing of the many unpublished manuscripts of value to the mining industries.

HEALTH AND SAFETY OF WORKMEN IN THE MINERAL INDUSTRY

The work of the Bureau of Mines is carried on in studies relating to the health and safety of workmen in the mineral industries, ecoomics of production and distribution of metals and minerals, and scientific and technologic investigations of mining, milling, metalurgical, and fabricating processes. For this work an appropriation of something over $2,000,000 a year is made for the Bureau. The results of the Bureau's work, invaluable to the industry, are made available to the public through the medium of printed reports dis tributed to technical libraries and sold by the Superintendent of Documents.

INFORMATION DEVELOPED BY BUREAU OF MINES AND ITS USE

In order that the industry may use the information developed br the Bureau promptly and to the best advantage it is very essential that the reports be published as soon as the manuscripts are prepared. Such action will give the greatest value for the money expended each year. We find, however, in inquiring for reports requested by our members that many of these reports must be withheld or made available in a limited and unsatisfactory way by publication in abstract or abbreviated form in the technical press, because funds available to the Bureau for printing are not sufficient to meet requirements.

ELECTROLYTIC TREATMENT OF LOW-GRADE MANGANESE ORES

We wish to particularly draw your attention to a work in which the Bureau is making a notable success in advancing not only the commer cial well being of our Western States but in protecting the Nation in its supply of necessary materials in the event of an emergency. We refer to the electrolytic treatment of low-grade manganese ores which is being constantly improved through the use of the low-cost power of the Boulder Dam. Such manganese ores exist in Nevada, Arizona. South Dakota, and other Western States, and a power line is now under construction from Boulder Dam to Pioche, Nev., to make possible a manganese recovery plant in that area. This work ties in directly with the work of the Bureau of Mines on the metallurgy of the ferro alloys which is directly connected with the work of the Bureau on manganese and chromite ores. There is reason to hope that through

his work these alloys may be produced at points in the West where heap power will be available, thereby permitting their shipment to ndustrial centers or perhaps in the future bringing large industrial plants into the far Western States.

Further development of the mineral resources of the far West may be expected from the Bureau's work in the beneficiation of talc ores and in concentration of clays. The far West contains the largest leposits of these materials and is potentially the home of large ceramic production. There are also the deposits of the ores of magnesium which are becoming more valuable as the demand increases for the magnesium alloys for airplane and other lightweight construction.

THE CONTROL OF HARMFUL DUSTS

The control of harmful dusts, the mine-accident statistics, and safety work in all forms of mining and metallurgical production, including the prevention of mine explosions and the loss of men through inadequate ventilation, are activities of vital importance to the industry and to the Nation.

PRINTING OF THE BULLETINS, TECHNICAL AND ECONOMIC PAPERS

In all of the above activities and in many more, the real and valuable contributions being made by the work of the Bureau of Mines are anxiously awaited by mining men and industrial managements. Only through the printing of the bulletins, technical and economic papers which convey the details of the result of this work to the public and to the industry, can the people of this country make use of the valuable research and accomplishment of the scientists and engineers and of the money which has been expended therefor.

ACCUMULATED UNPUBLISHED MANUSCRIPTS

Further inquiry has developed the fact that accumulated unpublished manuscripts at the end of this year plus reports that will be completed and should be published during 1938, total 28 bulletins, 50 technical papers, 11 economic papers, and 11 miners' circulars. These, together with the Minerals Yearbook, issued annually, and provision for necessary statistical questionnaires, forms, letterheads, and other miscellaneous items, would require printing funds estimated at $153,400.

The Budget for 1937 carries $75,000 for printing and binding for the Bureau of Mines (p. 342), an increase of $10,000. This is helpful but is still insufficient to meet the situation, as evidenced by the figures we have quoted. It is our opinion that the shortgae of printing funds is a most serious handicap to the Bureau of Mines in the efficient performance of its duties, and the resulting delay in publication of reports is a loss to the mining industries. We therefore recommend and strongly urge that the 1938 appropriation for printing and binding for the Bureau of Mines be increased to at least $100,000. This amount is only about 4 percent of the sum annually expended by the Bureau in its investigations. We submit to your committee that it is not good economy to withhold the final 4 percent required to give to the country a project 96 percent completed and paid for.

Mr. O'NEAL. Who is the beneficiary of the Government printing" Is it material that goes generally to the mining companies themselves and to the miners, or where is it distributed, and who gets the benefit of it?

Mr. DICKINSON. It goes to the mining companies and to profes sional men-to professional men such as I am. And in the safety work it is available to the workmen to educate them in first aid and in self-protection.

Mr. O'NEAL. Is any of that paid for at all by the mining companies? Mr. DICKINSON. To some small extent. Some of the miners' safety circulars are paid for by the mining companies and distributed gratis to their men, but it is a very small part.

Mr. O'NEAL. Would you care to make any further statement? Mr. DICKINSON. No, sir. We simply bespeak your good offices. STATEMENT OF HARRY GANDY, JR., REPRESENTING NATIONAL COAL ASSOCIATION

STUDY ON DISTRIBUTION OF COAL

Mr. GANDY. My name is Harry Gandy, Jr. For the purpose of the record, I am a member of the staff of the National Coal Association. which is the national organization of bituminous-coal producers, with operating members in every field in the United States.

While my remarks are addressed specifically to one request for funds in the proposed appropriation for the Bureau of Mines, I want at this time to pay my respects to that Bureau for its accomplishments, both for our industry and for other mining industries. The Bureau does valuable work in the fields of safety, technology, and economics of the mineral industries, and its usefulness should not be curtailed through the withholding of appropriations.

There is, however, one particular place where, owing to lack of funds, the activity of the Bureau has necessarily been curtailed. This most serious "blind spot" in the statistics of the coal industry is lack of information on the flow of coal from producing districts to points of destination.

It is our understanding that the report of the Budget Bureau as submitted to your honorable committee includes an item of $7,000 requested in order that the Bureau may carry on a study of the distribution of bituminous coal. The last study on the flow of coal was for the year 1929, and the National Coal Association is constantly asked for similar data for later years. The development of distribution. data would give an accurate measure of the interstate movement of coal, which would be of particular value to the Federal Government as well as to the coal industry. Distribution data enable each producing district to ascertain its competitive relationship with other districts, and such data are necessary to note shifts in the movement of tonnage due to changes in wages, freight rates, or other causes.

The need for this study cannot be too strongly emphasized, and members of this committee may be assured of the everlasting gratitude of the industry and of the National Coal Association if the Bureau of Mines' appropriation for the fiscal year 1938 includes the $7,000 requested for the coal-distribution study above referred to.

Mr. LEAVY. Why do the coal producers need that information, Mr. Gandy?

Mr. GANDY. The information on the flow of coal shows where the production of the individual fields goes to; that is, where the flow of commerce in coal is concentrated.

Mr. LEAVY. Has not the bituminous-coal-mining industry pretty well concentrated itself?

Mr. GANDY. Bituminous coal is produced in about 30 States.

Mr. LEAVY. But are not the producers or the larger producers pretty well grouped together?

Mr. GANDY. The larger producers are not grouped together, that I know of. There is in the southern high-volatile fields a large selling agency, Appalachian Coals, and there are other selling agenciesseveral of them. One is in West Virginia, Smokeless Coals, Inc., one is in Alabama, and there are two in Ohio.

INFORMATION FOR INDIVIDUAL COAL PRODUCER

Mr. LEAVY. What I am trying to get at is, Mr. Gandy, would this type of information tend to make the individual coal producer more conscious of a certain state of facts that would either result in a voluntary reduction of production or, if he were strong enough, to crowd out a competitor by reason of the flow in a certain manner? Mr. GANDY. I think it would not.

Mr. LEAVY. But he could do that?

Mr. GANDY. He could but not as a result chargeable to these data. They would merely give him sufficient information for the better conduct of his business.

Mr. FITZPATRICK. But they would find out where there was a better market?

Mr. GANDY. Yes, sir; and also where the market was already flooded.

Mr. FITZPATRICK. When the Guffey-Vinson Commission is set up, will those facts go to the National Coal Commission?

Mr. GANDY. I am not prepared to say.

AMOUNT OF REPRESENTATION

Mr. LEAVY. How many coal producers, in number and in quantity, do you represent or do you speak for?

Mr. GANDY. We speak for more than 70 percent of the commercial tonnage of bituminous coal.

Mr. LEAVY. That is tonnage, you say?

Mr. GANDY. Yes, sir; that is in tonnage.

Mr. LEAVY. How many in numbers is that, either corporations or individual producers?

Mr. GANDY. It will run more than a thousand, but I cannot give you the exact number.

Mr. LEAVY. What States do you cover?

Mr. GANDY. We have membership in every producing field in the country, and bituminous coal is produced in 30 States.

Mr. LEAVY. Can you tell me how many producers there are, the big and the little?

Mr. GANDY. No; I cannot tell you that exactly, but there are some 5,500 producers of bituminous coal, that figure taking in numerous small mines. I am not prepared to say just how many major producers there are.