Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1891-03-19

The Piunderlng Mine Corpora
ffona

4
how'll A Republican wants to make
It cents and Democrat wants to
do away with it entirely or give them
a good dose of their own plundering."
The above extract is taken from the
columns of the Lake Superior Demo
crat. a paper printed In the city of
Ishpeming. Coming, as 1t does,
from the principal mining town of
this Lake Superior region, it night
have some weight in creating wrong
impression of the condition of things
existing here. To have a paper thus
publicly charge the mining compa-
MES of its own district with plundering
and avoiding just share of taxation
would indicate a very depraved state
of affairs, and would If true, create a
revolution in the present condition.
Happily the grave char &c thus set forth
by this exponent of democracy, are
utterly void of truth. To be branded
as plunderers is severe, but if a mali
cious libel, tending to create discord
between capital and labor, and for the
paltry purpose of attempting to make
a few votes, the animus will be so
clearly proved that the libel will be
Offset.
We need go no further than the
confines of our own city to prove the
falsity OF the statement OF the
Democrat: Were the Cleveland
mine assessed for state taxes as it
was for county and municipal taxes,
it would have saved 81, 117,13, and
that basis of taxation Is considered the
proper one. 1t is as all other property
is taxed. There was no plundering in
that?
The Lake Angeline would have
saved $4,000
The Lake Superior would be 5000.
o. better off had it been assessed as il
should.
. This does not indicate that the min.
ing corporations are plunderers, OIL
avoiding their rightful share of tax
1t proves that the mining companies
are unjustly taxed. And these are
mines that contribute the excuse fol-
the presence of the city of IshpeWing,
of the Lake Superior Democrat, of the
entire population.
To open up and equip these mining
properties means the expenditure oil
enormous sums of money. The small
, est kind of prospect will swallow up
, cash in a way that would brighten the
average farmer, and very soon, in the
history of such experiment.
Mr.. Finn, the political and mining
expert of the Democrat. who has given
.nica TO the statement that the min.
ing companies are plunderers, came
q here few brief months ago to engage
. in gold mining as the representative Of
Grayling capitalists. In a few weeks
he had exhausted the amount of mon.
ey provided him for the finding and
coupling of gold mine. Another as
sessment was called, and that, too,
was soon swallowed up in the endeav.
or to achieve success. Another and
another was demanded and returned
TO this gentleman, and was put int
holes in the ground, for which there is
nothing more than the holes to show.
His friends wearied of the golden
sprite that persisted in keeping just
cut of reach and there never was O
more enthusiastic chaser after Dame
Fortune than this same editor. There
was every indication that pointed to
success. The granite upon the one
side, the serpentine upon the other.
the diorte on all sides, the sun raising
i'm the east and setting in the west, and
all nature was full Of promising assur-
ance of a bonanza. But the men
down at Grayling tired, and when the
representative started to sink shaft to
recover diamond drill rods that had
become fastened in a hole, the sprite
of rebellion rose up, and the capital
lists broke the dream of golden treasure
squarely off in the middle. Then Mr.
Finn turned his attention to the search
for iron ore. The latter was SO plenti-
full in our hills that it required but a
bright PERCEPTION and a pick to soon
locate 1t, but there was one shaft sunk,
and another, and the earth was filed
full of test pits, and railroad track
was constructed, the whole face of
fortune was smiling again and as In
viting as a fragrant rose. Rut the
paint rock came In, and the jasper,
and the water, aud the greenbacks
went out in a steady flow, and soon,
again, the gentleman for whom he
was to find few paying mines grew
weary and the work was stopped.
And for all this some 10000, or 80, 900
or 10000 of the dollars of someone
were lost. There is nothing to show
for them except few scraps of paper
bearing the picture of a gold mine, or
an iron mine In the upper left-hand