The Nevada journal., 1857-01-23
G5e Ntbaoa yonrnal.
FRIDAY MORNING, JAN. %. 1857
TAXATION OF MINING CLAIMS.

AGAIN, VIC SUPPOSE th"' .iO annual at
tempt will be made to tax mining claims,
and that Legislators from the "cow
counties ;, will get off eloquent bun
combe speeches, setting forth the hard
ships which the revenue law imposes
on their deeply injured constituents
Several infuential papers have intima-
ted their intention of advocating this
method of Increasing our revenue, and
the Sacramento Times, calls upon the
mountain press to say whether it should
be done 2 For one, we answer emphat-
ically, no.
We do not desire to rest our opposi-
ton to this measure, on the want of
right in the state government to tax
mining lands = for this is but coward
ly argument, at best. Neither do we
raise the objection "A very forcible
one of the indefinite value of mining
claim - that you might almost as well
undertake to assess the right to bet
on the "jack against the ace," as the
right of miner to the gold which may,
or may not be in his claim. Neither do
we speak entirely from our sympathies
with the hard working and venturesome
mining population. But we say that
public policy, and the interests Of all
classes Of tie community, demand that
mining claims should be exempt from
taxation.
The gold mines of California have
been the cause = the sole cause = of
her rapid growth to wealth and impor-
tancc; and upon their more extensive
development depends her future pro-
gress, and even her power to maintain
her present position. Without the yield
from our gold fields, the vallies,no doubt,
would still sustain sparse rural popu-
lation, who might subsist on the flesh of
their cattle, and from the sale of their
hides procure enough of money to keep
up few groceries and clothing stores
in San Francisco; but a fat bullock
would no longer be worth S100, nor
would the ships of all nations continue
to crowd through the Golden Gate. If,
therefore, farmers wish to grow rich,
and traders wish to be wealthy mer-
chants, and mechanics desire a high
price for the products of their skill, is it
not the interest of them all to hold out
the greatest :ndncement for the invest
ment of both labor and capital in the
development of our mineral wealth
But the attractions of mining are not
very great, and the miners work is no
boys play. In fact, it is only the strong
est constitution that can endure contin-
ued labor in the mines for any consider
able length of time. The miners work
is not only of the most severe kind-re-
quiring heavy and constant draught
upon muscular power but it subjects
him TO the most extreme exposure of
person, and health. In summer he
stands knee deep in the icy water of a
river bed, with a broiling sun above
him. and in winter he must face the
cold. and rain, and storm, while others
are comfortable under dry roofs, and
around blazing fires. At one time he
stands under falling banks, and at an
other he breathes the impure air of
tunnel, or shaft, hundreds of feet below
the surface of the earth. He is, also,
often deprived of privileges and enjoy
ments open to all other classes in the
community. And not only does he en-
dure these, and other hardships and pri-
yations living without that kind of So
ciety to which he has been accustomed,
and which, even in California, may be
had in the vallies and cities - cooking
his own supper after hard days work
possessing but few of the comforts,
and none of the " embellishments of
civilization but he does all this with
out any certainty of adequate reward.
He spends his time, and strength in the
search for gold, and if he succeeds all
are benefited - if he fails, he alone is
loser
1t may be said, however, that many
who are owners of rich mining claims,
never led the rugged life of miner, but
purchased their interests. The answer
to this is, that the same rules which ap-
ply to the practical miner, apply, in a
measure, to those who are willing to in
vest money in hazardous mining opera
tons the risks of the latter being less
than those of the former, only as capi-
tai is less sacred than labor, and health,
and life.