The weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1878-1881, 1879-07-15

6s WV eupsS 49, e0Agp0N ~ A0A&&os
from Butte brick No. &l6 rom tho Allos
mine Il Walkerville. Thcss bricks or ban
average In weight 1870 pounds apiece; con.
sequently in the entire1tB W have agrand
sum total Of something lIkS twensy-two and
! half tons of fine bullion, III produced In i
year and . half by one mill, for half this pc
Rod Of fifteen stamps ; VI twenty for the
other half. This bullion, from the amount
of gold it contains, is about equal In value 10
pure silver, so the money value Of the yield
Of at leas. one Of the Butte mines for the
pest year and . half can readily be ~calcula-
ted. Now it is no secret that the Alice Com
pany yet lack . long way Of being g square "
on their Montana investment-ofb being repaid
the money expended here; and that If the
mine was at this date suddenly to become
barren the company would be fully fifty
thousand dollars loser by their Butte ven-
ture. In other words, the enormous sum
represented by 22A tons Of silver bullion,
further increased by $4,000 in cash has been
expended in milling and mining machinery,
pumps, mining supplies and other taxable
property to remain here in Deer Lodge
county, or has been paid out for labor at this
point, thus passing into general circulation.
This vast sum has been devoted directly to
the purpose of opening and developing the
Alice mine, but indirectly to building up and
supporting the town of Butte, and with it the
Territory entire. Who will undertake to say
how much of Butte's present population or
how much Of the f~reighting business con-
Quoted between the terminus and Montana;
or of the great prosperity on which we con-
graduate ourselves with so much self com
placency; or of the wide and increasing
interest felt throughout the East in Montana
who will undertake to say what proportion
of those and countless other advantages is to
be credited to the Alice mine? And the Al
ice is only one mine of The great number
eventually to be worked here, for Montana
at four years from the successful ~inaugura-
ton of silver mining is scarcely at the thresh-
tions such as these we can gain some under
standing Of the immense importance to
Montana OF her mining interest. How care
then should be the approach Of our legis-
lators when they attempt to deal with this
interest How calmly ana di~spassionately
they should reflect upon the responsibility
resting upon them when they undertake to
touch when perhaps they can only touch to
mar. If the great interests of Montana were
conflicting, or if they were even independent
of one another, it might be different. II ag-
riculture could profit by the failure of the
mining interest; or If stock raising could
because agriculture had gone into
de%cadence, then legislation in the interest, or
the fancied interest of some particular depart
rnent would be Ineligible; but such is far from
being the actual condition of affairs. The
great interests Of Montana so far from being
arrayed in hostility to one another, are inter-
woven, interlaced and interdependent in
complexity that one cannot flourish
the rest also experiencing more or
less benefit one cannot languish without the
suffering in sympathy. There is not
farmer from the Bitter Root to the Rose
Bud who is not benefited by the present
iourishing condition of the Butte mines /;
there is not a stock owner in any part of our
wide ranges who would not feel the shock if
those mines were to go down.
In dealing with the mining interest our
must remember that the effects
Of any mischievious legislation will not BE-
to this interest. An ~ill-advised
statute will hurt not only the miner.
It will hurt the farmer, the mechanic, the
stock raiser. Its baneful influence will in time
be felt by the legislators themselves, and even
by those Of their constituents whom ignor-
ance ranges in hostility to mining. Then let
our legislators proceed carefully. Let them
ask themselves how well qualified they are
by either study or experience to speak au-
thoritatively on a problem of such exceeding
co%mplexity as the subject of taxing mines, or
the products of mines. 1t has been said that
!" fools rush in where angels fear to tread"
proverb whose one line contains whole SER
mons on the rash ov~er-confidence which pro-
from ignorance. Our legislators are by
no means fools, but if they wish to escape
he imputation of over-confdence let them
seek information of mining operators before
again attempting to enact mining legislation.
There are mining operators in Montana
whose character for probity lifts above sus-
picion any course they might adopt; whose
Vast operations and intimate acquaintance
with every detail enable them to speak by the
book on the subject of mining, and whose
concise, logical statements are easily
Ineligible to the least attentive listener. If
any modification be suggested Of the mining
enacted at the eleventh session our leeis-
will do well to request Of these gentle
men an expression Of their opinion as to
q proper method Of imposing . tax on mines
or on bullion.