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

A tDo elevenfn s9Sa1on o. ON. T~eyTfotfa
Legislaturs certain members nom tie xeri
cnltursI disrics.g w6rs pl1ases
10 allnda u .themselysS = a~rsessssntskive
Of thS fArming Interest," undeltook 70 lev,
! tax upon mines. II - doing they wer,
not in the least animated BY ! feeling d
hostility towards miners or mining. The,
saw . vast industry successfully cultivated Ii
Montana they pointed to mines who's,
aggregate value assembled into the millions
and not illogically they argued that ! portion
Of the public burdens should ba borne b,
this particular representative cf capita
as we'll as by the real estate or personal prop
erty upon which taxes had previously alone
been levied. Taking this view Of the situa.
ton, and without being at all actuated by
feeling Of unfhendliness, they took in hand
the intricate problem presented inthe task Of
imposing an, equable tax upon mines, and
attempted its solution. But they did moi
succeed. Against them in their proposed
legislation they found arrayed in . solid
phalanx all whose experience or business
relations had made them at all acquainted
with the business of mining; and the strug-
gle then i~naugurated was continued until
the " bullion law 7" now in force was enacted.
The miners and their allies very we'll per-
ceived that some kind Of a tax to raise
revenue from the mines or their products
was imperatively demanded by the current
Of public opinion and in deferring to this
opinion they supported the measure by which
they thought the minimum. of injury would
be inflicted upon the mining interest. And
thus the law was passed, and being passed
was hailed as a triumph ofthe miner.
1t seems, though, that the law is NOT SO un-
Objectionable as it a: first appeared. It is
true that it is far from being oppressive ; that
the burden it imposes is not only light but
also that this burden is only imposed upon
those able to bear it since the tax is levied
only on the " net proceeds " of mines. But
nevertheless the law in its indirect effects is
highly injurious, and since tthis injury is
inflicted altogether upon ourselves, and not
on the miners, it behooves us to enquire into
it. OF the three departments into which
mining may be divided the bullion law has
no effect whatever upon the first--yiz., pros
pecting. The undeveloped mine has no net
proceeds to he taxed and conse luently the
prospector does not come within range of the
statute. In the next department, the actual
working of productive mines as a source and
as the sole source of profit, the law is far
from being Objectionable. The tax levied
by it is very light and this man who works
his mine very much as he would work his
farm, and cares no more for secrecy in the
one case than he would in the other, has no
word to say against the bullion tax but
cheerfully pays his tax under it, as his share
Of the public burdens which every good citi-
zen should willingly bear. Now it will be
remembered that the mining law of last
winter was supported and passed by reprs-
of the two above described depart
ments in mining-the departments in which
the law is found to work no injury.
But when we come to the third department
of mining-to the working of mines through
the fundamentally of stock companies, with
the attendant feature of dealing in mining
stocks on the market-in this department we
find the bullion law absolutely ruinous. In
this department the tax itself Is a triIe, as in
others, but the publicity attending and
inseperable from the levying of that tax is
ruin. The law is inquisitional. The officer
is sent to pry into the private affairs of the
the mining company and to place on record,
open to the world, an itemized list of its
gross proceeds, expenditures and net profits
the year. How would such a law work
in the mercantile world? Where is the
who will assert that his credit
could always have BORNE the strain of having
exact standing published to the world ? |
If such inquisitive meddling would prove
.ischieyous in merchandising how much
mischievous is it in stock dealing where
secrecy is the first and last condition Of
in operating.
The law has already worked us great in
jury. 1t has been in operation only a few
mouths but it has already had the effect Of
sending to Colorado and to the Black Hills
capital which would otherwise have been
invested here. 1t may be said that we do
want mining Of that character prosecuted
here, but we do want it. To give an idsa Of
the benefit conferred upon the country by
heavy mining operations we neod only state
that the heaviest taxpayer in Deer Lodge
county is q mining company at Butte, and
with contemplated improvements this
company will very soon stand first Oh the
list OF taxpayers Of Montana. Then let 1t be
remembered that this company only occupies
four or five acres Of ground, instead Of hold
ing square leagues Of farming or pasture
land, to the exclusion Of Others, and further
more that it will continue for years 10 pay
thousands Of dollars per day for labor