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By Horace V. Winchell

PERHAPS the matter of greatest interest to all mining men at the present time is the question of income and excess profits taxes on mines. Every producing mine in the United States is called upon to render to the government an account of its operations and to pay a graduated tax upon its earnings. It is manifestly a matter in which every mine owner, every stockholder in a mining corporation, every mining and metallurgical engineer, every person employed by a mining company and every one engaged in an industry which in any way depends upon the continued operation of our mines or who consumes their products is financially, to a greater or less extent, involved. In view of this fact it is surprising to see how little attention is paid to it and how few of our members have taken the pains to investigate and understand the provisions of recent enactments by Congress and the ways in which these enactments are being applied to mining industries.

Jan 1, 1920

By AIME AIME

I N JUNE, 1918, at a meeting of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in Worcester, Mass;, a resolution was adopted for a committee to investigate the aims and organization of that society. This was followed subsequently by similar independent action on the part of the Society of Civil Engineers. The other two Founder Societies were approached and requested to appoint similar committees, the four committees to combine as a .Joint Development Committee, later called the Joint Conference Committee, to investigate what might be done in the way of coordinating those activities of the Founder Societies which ape of common interest, and which were then being pursued separately. The Joint Conference committee worked diligently -for almost. two years and. brought forth a tentative as outlined in its report which was published in full in MINING AND. METALLURGY, December, 1919. It recommended the formation of a nation-wide organization to be composed of representatives' of all of -the engineering societies, local, state, regional, or national, the object to be to further the interest of the public through the use of technical knowledge and engineering experience, and to consider and act upon matters common to the engineering and allied technical professions. Whereas the technical societies have large fields of endeavor in welfare work, and their prime. efforts are 'still in technical lines, this new organization was to be devoted entirely to service, looking to the welfare of the nation and the engineering profession, and to service for the public in local and state affairs.

Jan 1, 1920

By AIME AIME

IN ORDER to carry on its work most effectively, the Committee on Industrial Organization (now known as the Committee on Industrial Relations) consists, of .a number of sub-committees, each composed of a chairman and members who are especially fitted to carry out the work designated by its title. With only one or two exceptions, all of these committees made reports at the New York meeting of the Institute, in February of this year, abstracts of which follow.

Jan 1, 1920

The following paragraph of appreciation of the Engineering Societies Employment Bureau is from the letter of a young engineer who found the Bureau of service. "I wish to sincerely thank you for the services rendered. They are of immense value to anyone located as I am, in a small town without the opportunities for keeping in touch with openings in manufacturing lines."

Jan 12, 1919

W. H. PORTH, New York, N.Y.-I would like to ask what effect segregation of lead would have upon the corrosion of sheet zinc; also what effect would abnormal percentages of iron have upon the ductility of Sheet zinc? One of our difficulties seemed to be that the cells, when standing on the shelf, corroded. We have attributed this to local action in the zinc sheet. We would like to know whether the segregation of, these impurities in this sheet zinc will have any effect on the local action occur-ring in sheet zinc. Lately we have had difficulty in punching some sheet zinc, in that the sheets split in the die. The section that split seemed to have an abnormallly high percentage of cadmium and iron; would that cause it to become brittle? C. H. MATHEWSON.-Iron is one of the most unwelcome impurities when high ductility is the principal requirement in rolled zinc. High

Jan 12, 1919

H. M. HOWE, Bedford Hills, N. Y.-One wonders, whether it might not be well to check, by a rather simple and direct way, the inferences that would be drawn from this investigation. Suppose we quench, in these various liquids cylinders of steel, selecting material that is not likely to split in hardening, and then examine their cross-sections micro-scopically. If the cylinder is of any size, you will find a series of concentric bands, a very hard band, a softer band, and a hard band-but it seems that here would be a way of checking the inferences from the cooling curves by comparing these waves of hardness obtained in similar speci-mens quenched in different liquids. One would think that there would be great promise in that way. One's first thought is to quench similar pieces of steel, similarly heated, in different liquids and determine their hardness. I suppose many of us have tried that. We then meet the-difficulty that it is not the most rapid cooling that gives the greatest hardness. There is an intermediate rate of cooling that gives maximum hardness so that you can not by any simple method as that check this cooling method. But it seems possible

Jan 12, 1919

ALFRED C. LANE, Tufts College, Mass. (written discussion*).-The attention of members may well be called by Allen to his discoveries, which affect not only correlations in Michigan but, as I have pointed out,1 the use of names like "Animikie" which are widely applied. It shows that one disadvantage of the wide use of locality names is that local discoveries may show that they are inappropriate. The Wewe hills were found not to contain the Wewe slate! So we note that Allen, in his correlation, drops the term Animikie, which his researches indicate covers both middle and upper Huronian: It would seem well, then, in dividing the Huronian or Proterozoic, to use, as Allen does, terms like upper, middle, and lower Huronian, or newer, middle, and early, which may be shortened into eo-, mio-, and neo-Huronian rather than to carry local terms far away; or we shall soon be

Jan 12, 1919

R. B. T. KILIANI, Denver, Colo. (written discussion *).-Mr. Len-nox's paper is decidedly interesting in that he shows that a field exists for the Chilean mill, in which its efficiency compares favorably with that of more modern grinding devices. The figures he has given clearly indi-cate that a coarse feed is conducive to higher efficiency than the fine feeds which the Chilean mill has usually been called upon to grind. The fact is also apparently indicated that operating the Chilean mill in closed circuit with a mechanical classifier results in still higher efficiency, and that in such cases the percentage of returns should be kept below 100 per cent. to obtain best results. It would be interesting to see the results of further tests with what Mr. Lennox calls "Mixed Feed," since the data given in Table 4 seems to' point to the fact that a mixed feed,

Jan 12, 1919

The testimony given before the Patent Committee of .the House of Representatives in connection with the bills to establish the Patent Office as an independent bureau, to establish a United States Court of Patent Appeals, and to increase the force and salaries in the Patent Office, has been completed. These bills were originated by the Patent Committee of the National Research Council and have received almost universal approval. The Committee of the House of Representatives is favorable to what this Committee of the Research Council is trying to accomplish but the proverbial inertia of Congress toward the Patent system needs outside stimulus.

Jan 12, 1919

A. W. AMBROSE, Washington, D. C.-Did you make any analysis of the amount of emulsion at the well and after you flowed it through a lead line to the storage tank? E. A. TRAGER.-B. S. can be formed in passing through a lead line by the friction due to the roughness of the pipe and the irregularities at the joints. R. W. MOORE.-Did you find the percentage of water to be limited to the percentage of oil in the emulsion which formed? E. A. TRAGER.- Yes, the percentage is about 67 percent. water and 23, per cent. oil. R. W. MOORE.-If you added more water would the emulsion be permanent? E. A. TRAGER.-Yes, it would be permanent, but the excess water would separate out. THE CHAIRMAN. (C. W. WASHBURNE, New York, N. Y.).-Did you use hot or cold water in these experiments?

Jan 12, 1919

CLARENCE N. FENNER.-Mr. Gelstharp, chief chemist of the Pitts-burgh Plate Glass Co., has directed my attention to the fact that that company was using optical pyrometers obtained from the Leeds & Northrup Co. several months before the members of the Geophysical Laboratory arrived at Charleroi. I am glad to make this correction. The chief object of my paper was to emphasize the necessity of careful temperature control in the making of optical glass and to describe the kind of tests to which an optical pyrometer should be subjected at a glass plant in order to obtain information regarding the closeness with which its readings correspond with true temperatures under the condi-tions which prevail in each particular case.

Jan 12, 1919

G. A. ROUSH,* South Bethlehem, Pa. (written discussion?).-Mr. Frey is correct in his impression that ice floats, but "frazil" ice happens to be the exception to the rule. The requirements for the formation of

Jan 12, 1919

A small group of members of the Institute headed by W. H. Shockley, has insistently demanded that the Institute submit to the members for letter ballot the question of our using in our publications and corre-spondence certain so-called "simplified spellings." The principal argu-ment in favor of this proposal is written by Mr. Shockley and will be submitted in full to the membership for ballot. It rests chiefly on the desirability of saving the time of school children in the learning of the spelling of the English language. A sample of correspondence had with one of the gentlemen on this subject is given herewith in order that members may see what the correspondence and publications of the Institute would look like if we adopted the proposals. This sample was chosen at random: "Onse I condemd the report ov a president of the Institute. He did not pruve his case even on paper-"a hot air profet," I sed. Time has pruved he was." "I rote yu about the muvement to better the spelling in the Institute Bulletin, etc., neglecting to say some things that I mite hav said and things hav happened since which no member ov a democratically governed society shoud stand without protest."

Jan 12, 1919

Professional Paper 112. Upper Cretaceous Floras of the Eastern Gulf Region in Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia, by E. W. Berry. 177 pages, 33 plates, 12 text figures. Professional Paper 113. Iron-depositing Bacteria and Their Geologic Relations, by E. C. Harder, 89 pages, 12 plates, 14 text figures.

Jan 12, 1919

An informal meeting of the Conferees of the Development Committees of the four Societies was held in New York on July 2, 1919, at which the scope of the work was considered, and a sub-committee oil Procedure, consisting of the chairmen of the Conferees from each of the four Societies, was appointed to arrange the program for and the time and place of the first formal meeting. The Conference subsequently adopted the name, " The Joint Conference Committee." The Joint Conference Committee convened at the Hotel Montclair, Montclair, N. J., Aug. 13, 14, and 15, and in New York, Sept. 15, 16, and 17, 1919. The Committee has divided its report into two parts, that covering the public activities and that covering the society activities of common interest to the four societies.

Jan 12, 1919

The Committee on Nominations, begs to submit the following as its nominees for the respective offices indicated, for the year beginning February, 1920. For President and Director: HERBERT HOOVER Palo Alto, Calif. For Vice-President and Director: FREDERICK LAIST, Anaconda, Mont District 5 SEELEY W. MUDD, Los Angeles, Calif District 6 For Directors: W: M. CORSE, Mansfield, Ohio District 3 A. S. DWIGHT, New York, N. Y District 0 R. M. CATLIN, Franklin Furnace, N. J District 1 C. H. CLEVENGER, Washington, D. C District 9 W. A. CARLYLE, Ottawa, Can District 11 POPE YEATMAN, Chairman, Committee on Nominations.

Jan 12, 1919

All the Affiliated Student Societies report that the present college year promises to be a most successful one. The officers for this year, so far as reported, are as follows: TUFTS COLLEGE CHEMICAL SOCIETY President, CHESTER B. PIERCE Vice-president, JOHN H. SCHMUCK Secretary-treasurer, DANIEL A. PRESCOTT President, R. G. SATTERLEY Third vice-president, H. E. BLAKE First vice-president, LESTER VOCKE Secretary,-J. E. FLANIGAN Second vice-president, `V. J. KLINE Treasurer, PROF. JAMES FISHER, JR About 75 per cent. of the students are ex-service men, and most of them saw service in France.

Jan 12, 1919

G. K. BURGESS,* Washington, D. C.-In the service tests, the Advisory Committee on Aeronautics considered it highly necessary, particularly for seaplanes, to find out whether or not it was necessary to paint exposed parts; reports have been obtained but have not been pub-lished at the present time. Investigations were carried on at three Navy Yards. On just a hurried examination, the inspection was made about two weeks ago and the results are now being digested an examination shows that the aluminum alloys, whether painted or unpainted, stand up very well. It apparently is not necessary to paint, which, of course, is a very important item in the question of the weight of seaplanes. We will be able to report on that, I expect, probably at the next meeting.

Jan 12, 1919

Activity with the legislation proposing to liberalize War Minerals Relief Act has now started before the Committee on Mines and Mining of the House. They are considering House Joint Resolution No. 170, which brings out the fact that war minerals claims in excess of $15,000,000 had been filed but that a considerable portion of the claims are being denied because of the Attorney General's. interpretation of the Act. The resolution states that it was the intention. of Congress in passing the War Minerals Relief Act "that all producers of the minerals mentioned should be repaid such sums as they are in equity and good faith entitled." The Attorney General's opinion is that the request or demand must have been made on the claimant direct. The resolution provides. that all claimants "who in response to any personal, written or published request or demand from any of the Government agencies-mentioned-in said Act in good faith expended money in producing or preparing to produce any of the ores or minerals named-therein *-*-* and have heretofore filed their claims within the time and-in the manner prescribed in said Act" are to be reimbursed for the n t-losses-incurred.

Jan 12, 1919

There was such a large demand for copies of the speech of Herbert Hoover at the A. I. M. E. dinner given in his honor on Sept. 16, that a special edition has been run off; anyone desiring copies may obtain them by applying at the office of the Secretary.

Jan 12, 1919