The Arizona sentinel. [volume] (Arizona City [Yuma], Yuma County, A.T. [Ariz.]) 1872-1911, 1873-05-31


| of stubborn nature or savage man; and the
] in the history of this OF any other nation
American ingenuity and perseverance, have
| measurably solved many of the mechanical
snd metalIurgical problems involved, and
4 already foreign nations are beginning both
to invest capital in the development of our
mines and to take hints from ns for tbs
uOrs successful working of their own.
do not deny that Wa might at present
learn more from Europe than Europe from
US in the arts of mining and metallurgy {;
but it is worthy of note that some Of our
American improvements are considered
worthy fstudy and imitation abroad.
What our people need is information of
that which they are themselves doing, as
we'll as of the latest and best fruits OF ex-
perience of other nations in these arts. Our
mining communities. scattered az they are
throughout territory as large as the set
tied portion of the Union, cannot keep pace
with each other; and could easily adduce
many instances did 1 not fear to weary the
House with details, showing that while
methods and apparatus of unsurpassed
th0r0ughness and economy are employed
in some districts, older, ruder, and far
more wasteful methods are retained IN
others. merely for want of the knowledge
that the desired improvements have already
been made and put into successful practice.
The dissemination of an annual report,
recording and comparing the results of ex-
perlments in different localities, as calcu-
lated to save to the country large amounts
of waste in mining. do not speak hypo-
theticaIly This has actually been one re-
suit of the reports on mining Statistics, to
which shall presently allude, and it would
have been still more notably effective but
for the delay in the publication of those re-
ports.
The reports of the present commissioner
of mining statistics began in the year 1868;
four of them have been printed and distri-
buted, and the fifth ia now before ME.
have given this series of volumes careful
examination; and l am satisfied that any
member who will do the same will agree
with me that these reports are among the
most valuable, both for temporary and for
permanent uses, of all the public dOcu-
ments of this Government. They contain
an amount of information which can be OBJ
tanned nowhere else concerning the prog
ress of mining explorations in our vast do
main, the resources of different districts,
the elements of success or failure presented
in each, the operations of local and Fed
eral mining laws, the true history and mer-
it's of experiments tried in the treatment of
American ores, the cost aud product of
mining in successive years, and the science
and experience of foreign nations, So far as
these are pertinent to our case.
MIR. Raymond, the author of these re-
ports, is mining engineer, qualified, first,
by education in Europe and then by long
practice at home, to know exactly what is
needed here and to supply the need with
judgment and professional skill. His stand |
ing amoug his colleagues may be inferred |
from the fact that be was last year elected |
president of the American Institute of
Mining Engineers, the only body of the
kind in this country, and one which COM
prises the leading members of that profess
sion from New York to San Francisco.
may add that they have attracted |
abroad perhaps more attention than any
other documents published by the Govern
ment, having been the subject of repeated,
long. and favorable reviews in English jour |
nails, Of which recall particularly several
in the Saturday Review, while in Germany
they have been widely quoted and discussed,
and even to large extent translated and |