Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1864-01-20
Goyernment Tax on the Mines.

"ONCiuACAh L IA Oh INC -"iH
The proposition made by the Secretary
of the Interior to increase the revenue by
some sort of a tax on the products of the
mines is fresh in the minds of our read
crs. The exact moE4s operGRdI by which
it was proposed to be levied and collected
was not presented in that report. The
following extract from the New York
Herald serves to show the direction of
public sentiment upon the point in the
East, and, perhaps, shadows forth the in
tentions of the Government in the matter.
That paper says;
The Secretary Is probably right in seeking
to make our mines Of gold and silver con-
tribute directly to replenish our surely over.
burderei treasury; but how Will ne DO u
To anv and every scheme for filling the
Rocky Mountains and the desert wastes oil
Idaho and Nevada with toll-gatherers iron
the miners We are infexibly opposed. II
NAV look ever so promising on paper, but 1t
will prove q vcxatiouS nuisance without al
DING one silver to the national resources
The scheme has been thoroughly tried In re-
gard to the lead mines of the West and the
copper mines of Lake Superior, and proved
A costly operation. But let an Act be passed
forbiddinS the expectation of gold IN any
shape but that of coin or mineral bars, ana
recurring all gold mined in this country to
be sent to the national minis for coinage or
assay, and imposing moderate tax or selSn-
forage on such assay, and something may De
made of il. We shall soon be digging SiVV'-
100000 per annum Of gold and SILVER on
which FIVE per cent. seigniorage ought 10 pay
the expenses of all our minis ana put S+'
OOO, COO nett into the treasury. In that shape
the mines NAV be made directly productive
TO the treasury-probably not in any other.
Without arguing the question of the
rights and wrongs of the systems suS-
gested above, it occurs to us that itwould
be whipping the devil around huge Con-
sti.utonal stump. An export duty IS
strictly prohibited by that instrument;
the ninth section Of the first Article OF
which SAYS: "No tax or duty shall be
laid on articles exported from any State"
To pass law prohibiting the export OF
the precious metals, except in certain
form and that form taxed, seems to US a
very bare-faced evasion of the above
quoted prohibition. 1t IS certainly con-
trary to the spirit of it, and We ap-
prchend would hardly bear, the test
Of a judicial decision. The people
of the Atlantic States, have very exag-
gerated ideas concerning the profits OF
mining operations. snd have, from the
earliest days of the golden era, looked
with a Jealous eye upon the mining
States and Territories. They regard them
as a portion of the public domain, and
look upon the people Of the mineral
regions as a class of pilferers Of something
that the General Government owns, and
which should, by some means or other, all
find its way into the National Treasury.
They have vexed their brains over various
projects to bring about this devoutly
wished for contamination, and have thus
far been unable to make the thing work.
The present exhausted condition Of the
Treasury affords plausible pretext for
a renewal of the clamCr. They seem to
ignore the fact, that every tax that is
levied upon them is borne by the people
of the mineral countries equally with
themselves. They onl! seem able to COM
prehend vaguely that out Of the public
domain vast millions Of the precious
metals are being extracted; without re-
fleeing upon the fact, that thus far the
expenses of extracting them has exceeded
by millions the value of the bullion itself,
and will do so for some time to come.
Upon each article of consumption by the
population of the mining regions, they are
paving in full proportion the enhanced
prices consequent upon the unfortunate
condition of the country, snd as mass
are no better remunerated than the work
ing classes of other portions of the Union.
The one idea Of the wealth of the mines,
and that that wealth is the property OF
the nation, has seized upon them, and
they are determined " the mines shall be
taxed by some means or another. We
shall see what we shah sec.