The weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1878-1881, 1879-11-11
FARMERS AND MINERS.

An honest farmer, a correspondent OF the
MINER, and the Rocky Mountain Husband
man,, take exceptions to a recent article pub
lished in the MINER entitled "The mining
and farming interests not in conflict" The
one says sit does injustice to a large number
Of our readers; the other imputes narrow
and contradicted views to the MINER
in an editorial which does not display any
remarkable breadth of view. But we have no
desire to Use such language even as is found
in our esteemed contemporary, which repre-
sents al industry for which we have much
respect. Our honored friends have mistaken
the import of the article. 1t had for its OBJ
ject the promotion Of harmony between two
great industries Of Montana. The very title
shows that to be its aim. We can find very
little in it for an intelligent farmer to object
to. The trouble with our ccitics is they
have carelesSly read the article have mag
ined that in it ~theyssaw an enemy and accord
ingly set it up as a target to thrust their
spears at. Read it over with a little more
care, and you will see that it is a scare-crow
Of your own construction. Both of our crit
les say some very true and some very good
things, only they have very little connection
with the subject They simply repeat the
conclusions TO which the author of the criti-
cised article arrived. But We propose to say
something about the mining interests our
selves, now that the matter is up. We will
view it from a farmers standpoint too; for
we profess to be as much of a farmer as our
critics. Our sympaties are with that class
in fact we depend upon them literally for our
bread and butter. We know something of
their hardships and something of their COM
forts. As a class they are generally honest,
prosperous and independent. We appreciate
them, and want to have them prosper. But
let us look at the matter from a broader
standpoint than our critics would have us.
We have been acquainted with farmers
i'll all parts Of the United States, from
the Granite Hills, where the rocks are
thicker than potatoes, to Montana, and we
this, that there is 10 section of our
country where farmers are 50 prosperous,
where they can make so much money as right
here in Montana. Nowhere dc they get bet
ter prices; nowhere do they have better mar
kets. What is the reason? Because of our
mines, which bring in so large a class of con-
How would it work to exempt farm
ers from taxation? 1t would bring more
farmers here; there would be more COMPETE
ton; produce would bring a lower price, and
farmers themselves would be the ones injured.
IN fla Dtl,a, ho,,l 80 49,. z..
empted from taxation (Which, however, we
are not advocating and which was not ad-
vocated in the article in question:, but sup
pose they were exempt then more mines
would be worked; there would be ten con-
sumers where there is one now, and farmers
would be benefited s much as or more than
any other class. In truth all classes would
be benefited for competition in mining will
not injure mining as it does many kinds of
business. 1t is not necessary to say tina where
Any one who has lived in a mining country
knows it to be true. Let the mines of Moll-
rama show as little evidence of prosperity as
they did three years ago, and what IS the re-
suit? The population dwinaies to hardly
$1,000 and ever business is at how ebb. Let
a Penebscot be discovered let the Butte Bo-
nanzas be opened, and in less than three
years the population doubles, and in a period
of time when all kinds of business In the
States were at a standstill, money is so plenty
in Montana and farming SO prosperous that
scores of men who came here two years ago
without enough to buy farming implements
with are now well of. In the old settled
parts of the country it takes years for IL hard
working farmers to pay for a farm worth
$1,000, but here in Montana We can point out
many who came here with hardly any means,
but in a few years have paid for their farms