The Empire County argus., 1855-03-24
MINING CLAIMS.


same footing with other property for all judicial
purposes and for taxation Then it is next pro-
posed in order to place miners on a footing with
other classes of citizens to exempt claim from sale
under execution by provision of kindred char
acter to that of the homestead exemption law. In
the first place the idea of taxing mining claims
never should have entered the heads of legislators
The thing is absolutely impracticable Who that
has worked in the mines or has any practical ac-
impossible to fix on anything like true or even an
approximate valuation of mining claim? A
claim to-day may be considered utterly worthless
and a month hence readily sell for thousands of
dollars. Hundreds of miners are constantly laying
claims and prospecting, or engaged in experimental
labor in view of future and permanent operations,
depending wholly on the results of their labor for
the first two or three weeks. Such claims can have
no proper valuation affixed to them, and should not
in any event be taxed at all. tunnel company
may commence operations in hill and expend 6f
teen even forty thousand dollars before reaching
gold, and perhaps see the color of gold at ALL
Now how in the name of common sense, can such
property be assessed and taxed ?
Is it not enough that miners invest all their
money and their time and labor in searching for
gold without taxing them upon an arbitrary valu-
alton of ground i'll which the State has no shadow
of title. Mining is grand lottery with few capi-
tai prizes, and an innumerable number of blanks
The miner risks his all in an uncertain venture for
wealth-to tax the miner for running the risk is
ungenerous. Most certainly this is all the State
can tax for the State of California does not own
single foot of mineral land and for the miner this
is fortunate Did this State own the mineral lands
long since banking swindlers would have attempted
their monopoly. We look upon the taxation of
mining claims as direct tax upon labor and
taxation too without the color of right or justice
All the estate miner can own, in a mining
claim, is the simple right to labor upon it, and
tract the precious metal it may contain. The claim
is worthless for any other purpose, and only valua
BILE to the State gold is derived from it by
expenditure of labor. To tax q claim then, is in
effect to tax human labor. The miner has no title
to the reahy-no fee simple in the soil-the simple
right to work in given locality is all that he can
own or convey; and most assuredly the State can
confer greater rights. In effect then, it is pro-
posed to tax the miners right to work for bread
and to sell that right. This is an outrage, from be-
ginning to end. Is the lawyer the physician, the
clergyman, or the mechanic, taxed merely upon
his right to engage in profession or trade? As
suredly not. But the measure of taxation is based
upon valuable property each may actually possess
at the time. Why treat miners differently! Why
tax them because they expect and hope to find
money in the ground, and may, after long toll and
with good luck succeed in digging it out We
say again, the idea is in outrage an unmtigated,
unadulterated outrage-without a single redeeming
feature. Pass law to tax mining claims, and at
tempt to enforce it, and cry of repeal will be heard
that will shake the State like an earthquake The
idea of exempting mining claim sixty feet square
from sale, on the homestead principle, is magma
nimity, with vengeance. miner, in this style
of doing business may have dozen homesteads in
year, and the aggregate not worth picayune.
No-a lot of lawyers, doctors, merchants, bankers,
speculators and gamblers can not legislate judi
ciously for the miners. They know no more about
mining, what the mining interest requires, than
a hawk knows of handsaw The less this Legis-
ature dabbles in matters pertaining to the mines,
the better. The Legislature may rest assured of
one thing, beyond all p.radventure- if by any
hook or crock they manage to tax mining claims,
the portion of that body from the mining counties
will never again set foot in Legislative halls in this
State, in an official capacity. Miners perfectly
willing to pay a poll tax they are willing and
ready to pay tax upon their money in hand but
never upon their right to ,cork and dig for gold.
Legislation should at once declare all mining
claims exempt from sale, under any and all cir
cumstances, except for purchase money. The idea
of sending assessor around to fix a valuation on
claims and levy tax, is simple nonsense. There
is not a man living, who can come within row of
apple trees of the value of even two adjoining
mining claims less make correct valuation
of ten thousand different mining claims in differ
ent localities. We hope the Legislature will not
make itself superlatvely ridiculous, well as su-
perlatively odous by passing act looking to the
taxation Of labor in the mines.
THE ROBINSON FAMILY-This talented company
visited Coloma, since our last issue. On Saturday
evening they opened in the new Theater, to a
crowded house; and played Sunday Monday, and
Tuesday evenings, following-the house being filled