The weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1878-1881, 1880-08-24
THE NEW TIMBER INSTRUCTIONS,

For some time past our industries have been
conducted unvexed by this annoyance I'M
disturbed by the threat, of a tax liable at any
time to be imposed. Indeed, one of the lar
gest plumes in the hat of our Fifth Term
Knight was the ''highly important service" he
had rendered Montana, in common with the
other mining states and territories OF the
west. in having the timber law as originally
adopted so modified that settlers and bona
,tde residents of those mining districts could
cut and remove from the public lands of the
United States such timber as they might re-
quirc for their own use. 1t seems, though,
that this ''important service" like certain
promises that might be mentioned. was not of
a character '.to keep" and consequently Mr..
SchulZ, in his regular spasm of civil service
reform, looking about for the opportunity
of making for his laundering party a little OF
the political capital it so sorely needs, picks
upon the helpless territories as the safest dis
tricts to deal with. Having III voice in the
choice of President of course they are unable
to resent the injustice perpetrated. and accord
ingly Il little political buncume is to be man
utactured at their expense. And that those
Instructions were issued solely with a view Of
zeal in the public service. is evident from the
most superficial examination of their provi-
sions. The states and territories coming
within their scope yield no walnut. ash. box
wood. hickory, or any other kind of wood
valuable in the arts, and hence made al arti-
Gle of merchandise and export. The timber
growing on the mineral lands of those states
and territories is only fit for fuel and for the
manufacture Of lumber; and even for those
purposes it is of an inferior quality. But
such as it is, it is the best to be had. and ac-
cordingly we have recourse to our hillsjdes
for timber to furnish fuel for orr reduction
works or our tiresides; or the logs for Il
saw mills. But not so much as one stick of
cordwood is cut. or one piece of lumber sawn
in any of the mining states or territories for
export. Timber is cllt to supply our domes-
tic market only: 10 supply the needs of the
civilization We are striving to build up here
in the wilderness: and since this is SO let us
examine those model Instructions and see
whether or not they are calculated to protect
the rights of the government in its timber
lands, surprising that to be the intention in
view. In the mining districts. timber, as we
have shown, is cut altogether Tor domestic
consumption. Now. when we come to en-
quire into the nature of this consumption and
find that tive-siXths of it consists in the de-
mands made on the fuel supply by the great
mining and reduction works of the country,
We should naturally expect to find the in
structions SO framed that special protection
would be afforded timber against the depre-
dations of millmen, smeltcrs and other ont
laws, who, by giving employment to thousands
are doing more than all the armed legions of
the government could do toward conquering
the great Northwest from savagery and making
it the home of a civilized, law-abiding people.
But protection of this character is precisely
what We don't find. On the contrary the
great quartz mills, smeters and hosting
works Of the country, the. grist mills, foun-
dries, etc., are at 'N"rty to employ as many
men us they choose and send them out as
their personal agents" to cut hundreds of
thousands of cords of government timber,
with no man nor law to bid them stay their
hand, or spare that tree The firm estab-
lislied in business and able to forecast and
provide for their wants are at liberty to send
out their personal agents. hired to cut wood
BY the cord, and provide as liberal a supply
OF fuel as they may deem advisable without
any interference from the law. But the
poor widow woman who is unable to make
arrangements in advance for a wholesale
supply of fuel is prohibited from buying
a cord of wood from the man who makes
a precariOus living at the hard labor of wood
cllOpping. The poor man unable to find en-
ployment is prohibited from betaking himself
to the forest with his AK, there to cutSwood on
his own account, aud take his chances of sell
ing it TO some neighboring mill or mine.
This is how those jewel instructions will op-
crate. They will allow the great business
firms to monopolize not only the timber but
also the labor of the country. IN cutting off OF
prohibiting II of the very few branches OF
independent labor-wood chopping-to which
the man unable to find work for wages, OF
unwilling to work for wages, could heretofore
have recourse.
The burden Of the new tangled reform vii
fall altogether upon the poorer classes; OF
the wood cutters as described above as wei
as the poor people who may be unable t.
cut their W wood and who, under The
new rulings, will be left to go without, as bes,
they can. But in issuing such instruction.
the Department has only adhered to the tim,
honored republican policy, which is to adop
legislation calculated to make the rich richer
the poor poorer, and to concentrate as mucl
power as possible under the control Of mo
nopolics.