Selected parts of the hearings on H. R. 2455 before the Subcommittee on Steelman, John R., Assistant to the President, statement of, on the "Buy Steelman, John R., Assistant to the President: Letter from, to Richard Page 1343 1525 1067 1291 1259 1248 1236 1237 1237 1238 981 1232 1236 1449 1065 Stockpiling bill S. 1582 (78th Cong., 1st sess.), introduced by Mr. Scrug- 1103 Stockpiling bill S. 752 (79th Cong., 1st sess.), introduced by Mr. Thomas 1105 Stockpiling hearings on S. 752 before the House Committee on Military Af- Stockpiling hearing (79th Cong., 1st sess.) on S. 752 and S. 1481, before Stockpiling bill S. 1481 (79th Cong., 1st sess.), introduced by Mr. Johnson 1108 1111 1177 1005 1020 1448 Stockpiling provisions of the Surplus Property Act of 1944 (Public Law 983 Stockpile purchase program (current) announced by the Munitions Board 1021 Stockpile purchase specifications of Munitions Board on group A minerals Page 1259 1170 1209 Stockpiling, Report No. 2235 (79th Cong., 2d sess.) on S. 752, Conference Stockpiling report of the Munitions Board, dated January 23, 1948, non- Stockpiling report of the Munitions Board, dated July 23, 1948, nonconfii- Strategic materials: A report to the Congress on, submitted by the Army Suppliers list application of the Strategic and Critical Materials Division, Surplus Property Act of 1944 (Public Law No. 457, 78th Cong.): The stock- 1228 996 1007 984 1243 983 T Talc-steatite, block or lava: Stockpile specifications (exhibit 43) Testimony of the Secretary of the Interior before the Senate Small Busi- Treasury Department, Bureau of Federal Supply. (See Bureau of Federal Tungsten: Stockpile specifications (exhibit 43). U 1284 1286 1449 1288 Facing 1542 United States life lines: Procurement of Essential Materials, 1946, charts 1448 V Value of acquisitions, stockpile objectives, and appropriation requests: 1005 1289 Views of the Secretary of Commerce concerning mine production incentive 1239 Ꮓ Zinc: Stockpile specifications (exhibit 43) Zirconium ores: Stockpile specifications (exhibit 43). 1289 1290 PART 4 PRELIMINARY REVIEW OF THE PROBLEMS OF THE TUNGSTEN AND MERCURY MINING INDUSTRIES WEDNESDAY, MARCH 31, 1948 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC LANDS, Washington, D. C. STATEMENT OF CHARLES SEGERSTRUM, JR., PRESIDENT OF NEVADA-MASSACHUSETTS CO., TUNGSTEN, NEV. Mr. SEGERSTRUM. My name is Charles Segerstrum, Jr. I am president of the Nevada-Massachusetts Co. of Tungsten, Nev. Mr. LEMKE. I understand your testimony will be in connection with tungsten. You are here from California and have to leave soon, I am informed, and when we have hearings on tungsten we will insert your testimony at the proper place. Mr. ENGLE. I may say by way of further introduction, Mr. Segerstrum is interested in tungsten mining, and he will testify along the line I was speaking of a few moments ago to Mr. Perkins, who testified on chromite, that our difficulty is that the domestic mining industry is in such condition we are about to lose everything. Mr. LEMKE. You might give your name and whom you represent. Mr. SEGERSTRUM. My name is Charles Segerstrum, Jr. I am president of the Nevada-Massachusetts Co. of Tungsten, Nev. We are one of the major producers of tungsten in the United States. DOMESTIC MINING INDUSTRY "GOING TO POT" IN OPINION OF NEVADA MASSACHUSETTS CO. Getting back to Mr. Engle's point, and the point of the gentleman who just preceded me, the domestic mining situation is going to pot. We have developed a theory in Washington we are a "have not" country and should import everything and let our domestic mines shut down and that in time of need we can reopen these mines at the snap of someone's finger and get them back into production. That theory has been built up over the last 10 years. It is more serious today than at any time and it applies to gold, silver, lead, zine; anything you want to apply it to. We are generally faced with high costs in this country and also the lowering of tariffs and our attempt to compete with foreign competitors who have lower wage scales. The average scale in the United 879 States is around $10 a day. in South America, 50 cents. basis? In Asia, it is around 25 cents a day, and Mr. RUSSELL. The cost of timber, mining tools, and equipment has also gone up? Mr. SEGERSTRUM. They have gone up about 100 percent since the start of World War II. All of those things coupled together bring about a very serious mining picture. There are more mines closed down than open. No one is prospecting now. You never see a sign of a prospector anywhere. No one is interested in getting into anything where the chances of success are so remote. We are not a "have not" nation in any particular thing except probably tin. That is perhaps one of the shortest articles. In all of our other fields we can with the manpower and equipment produce them at a price, but we can't operate or produce them in competition with very serious low foreign cost. To get back to my own analysis TARIFF REDUCTION UNDER GENEVA RECIPROCAL TRADE AGREEMENTS DETRIMENTAL TO DOMESTIC MINING INDUSTRY Mr. ENGLE. I would like to ask you if your industry has had any experience with the reciprocal-trade program. Mr. SEGERSTRUM. That is what I wanted to come back to, Mr. Engle. After the Geneva agreement, tungsten ore was included and whereas the tariff was $7.93 per unit, it was reduced by $1.90, making it roughly $6 per unit, a reduction of 20 percent. That has not gone into effect as yet, but it has had a detrimental effect upon the tungsten-mining industry. Tungsten prices in the United States immediately dropped $2 per unit. Now, on the 1st of January there had not been enough signing nations to qualify that particular part of the agreement so that the agreement did not go into effect and has not as yet. I will have to tap on wood there because we have just been lucky so far. Now the first of the year tungsten prices bounced back up to the $2 that had fallen off after the announcement of the reduction of $1.90 a unit. Tungsten is a little bit different than some of the other metals in that we are producing a greater proportion of domestic requirements than many of the other metals. I have here the 1935 through 1939 production. At that time domestic production was equivalent to about 30 percent of the Nation's consumption. From 1940 through 1944 it was equivalent to about 50 percent. We had picked up at that time. In 1945 production was equivalent to 38 percent. In 1946 it was equivalent to 72 percent and in 1947 40 percent of the domestic requirement. GREATEST TUNGSTEN DEPOSITS IN CHINA BUT MOLYBDENUM CONTENT REQUIRES BLENDING WITH DOMESTIC ORES Now tungsten as a metal in the world-wide market is becoming more valuable due to the depletion of deposits. Probably the greatest de |