The record-union., 1895-04-10
THE MORALS OF HYDRAULIC
MINING.

AT the foundation Of the social compact
lies the maxim: $50 use your own as
not to interfere with the use of that which
belongs to another" Take away this
maxim and the whole fabric of civil law
would fall. One mans rights leave off
where another's begins. The man who
in order to use his own property must
destroy that of his neighbor is attempt
ing a use condemned by all civilized con-
ception of legislation and Jurisprudence.
That value which resides in the destruc-
ton of valuable property belonging to
another is not attalnable, since it is
wrong both in law and in morals to de-
stroy the property of neghbor in order
to create property of your own.
These considerations are elementary,
but they are too often forgotten. The re-
vival of hydraulic mining has been pro-
ceeded with in total disregard of every
civilized conception of moral honesty.
The desideratum was plain. 1t is right
thing to extract the gold from the earth.
and the man who owns mining ground and
extracts the gold owns it when it is ex-
tracted. In itself there is nothing i'm
moral in mining, Notwithstanding it
stands al the very foot of profitable in
dustries. It is the least valuable of ali
the enterprises which engage the atten-
ton of man or human activity. The min
countries in oil Hor loo
least prosperous, and the prosperity they
have enjoyed has been of the most ephem-
erous character.
Mining is not an occupation by which
men live except in so far as gold is USE
full in the mechanical arts. To mine
substance which merely stands as the
representative of a medium of exchange
is not the creation of wealth. 1t is merely
the creation of a substance with which
the wealth Of man may be expressed. 1t
is no more valuable to mankind than
row of figures on bankers ledger. But
when it is pursued in total disregard of
the rights of other industries it becomes
sn iniquity.
In the recent campaign we were treated
to nauseating doses of demagogic plati-
tudes as to the desirability of mining in
such way as not 20 infiict injury upon
any one. That threadbare platitude was
worn out twenty-five years ago. 1t is a
physical impossibility to charge the can
yons, ravines and beds of streams in the
mountains overhanging the valleys of
California with detritus and hope to re-
tain that detritus by impounding works.
The most effective experiment ever made
was conspicuous failure. The State has
spent quarter of million of dollars in
a single experiment which, if it proved
anything at all, proved that the retention
of mining detritus was not economical,
and also established beyond controversy
the physical fact that such detritus could
not be retained, At last, however, a cum
ming device was discovered which. for
the sake Of plausibility, begins with the
requirement of contracting the rivers of
California at their mouths. This species
OF Congressional dentistry was the sugar
coat concealing the bitter pill of hydrau-
lie mining.
Then followed a commission author
lied to grant licenses to mines in the
hope and expectation that the licenses
would protect the miner against iniunc-
ton. That scheme was defeated by
thoughtful friends of the valley, and for
tunately for the highest interests of the
State OF California it was defeated. Every
step in the progress of the revival of hy-
draultc mining proves that those engaged
in it are utterly devoid of the moral con-
siderations underlying the enterprise.
They are for the most part foreign corpo-
rations, and they are as utterly devoid of
care as to the consequences they will en-
tail on the State of California after they
have extracted the gold which they pro-
pose to carry away with them, as the