The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1895-03-19
A STATES NEW FUTURE.

not forgotten the walls uttered BY the
United States Senators from Colorado
when the proposal to repeal the sherman
law was before Congress. The senior
Senator, Teller, took all the powers OF
air. water and fire to witness that the
reoeal of the act would bring murder,
arson and ruin upon mankind and on
Colorado particularly, while the JUNIOR
senator WOlcott, though just as Nehe-
ment i'm letting the world know the fate
that awaited 1t, was a little more hope
FIJI than his senior. and, with mingled
Indignation and avarice. prophesied That
Colorado would rise superior TO a lost
and dshonored silver. and take up some
new Industry that would make her peo-
Die prosperous and rich. Teller has been
COMPOUNDED and Wolcott has been just-
fed sooner than either anticipated. the
Colorado miners, having their market for
silver seriously abridged by the repeal oil
the Sherman law. have gone TO work
earnestly 10 develope the gold deposits
there. and with the most astonishing re-
suits. Colorado produced for the year
ending December 81 1894, $l0,6l6, i6j of gold,
while her whole production Of silver was
only $780, 525. The importance of these
figures IS not fully seen without taking
along with them her previous production
Of gold In 1890 her gold output was
A.Ol62 29. in 1881 it was $i76i,SSO in 1892 it
was s. 1873 OPT. in 1898 II was $7,4S7 Oh, and
in 1894 $lO6l6, 463.
In other words as soon as The Govern
mcnt ceased furnishing a forced market
for silver. ana miners were compelled 10
lookout for themselves, as all others
have to do they turned their attention
where best results for those efforts could
be secured, and the gold development
increased nearly 50 per cent. in one year
But the increase in the output Of sold
Is not as important to Colorado as the
progress that has been made in mining.
The we'll known correspondent, Mr.. Ju-
liam Ralph has been to Colorado inves-
tigating the whole case for Harper's
Weekly, and the current number of that
journal contains an interesting report on
it from him. lie tells us that silver
three years ago at 20 per ounce was not
as profitable TO the miners as it is to-day
at so, because they then had certain
market provided by the Government and
they pursued the industry with little
care and little increasing intelligence.
Thrown on their own resources, however,
by the repeal OF the Sherman law, they
watch every turn and corner and make
more money from the smaller price than
they formerly made from the much larger
one. Mr. Ralph disposes of the claim that
this profit has been made from lowering
the wages Of miners by admitting some
reduction of wages, but pointing out other
causes Also The chief reason is, he says,
in the mining combinations that have
been made and in the new and advan-
tageous leasing system that Is now
adopted there. BY combining a number
of mines all can be worked with one man.
ager and one clerk, instead of many.
BY the new system he says the owners
suffer no risk, while the lessees pay them
from 10 to so per cent of the product,
and mine very economically SO as TO in
crease their own returns.
He quotes the Denver Republican as
saying on New-Year's Day, 1895, And
wherein has Colorado bettered herself?
In the greater production of the more
stable metal, in the Inauguration of a
111pf
nomical mining, in the use of eXtractive
processes fitted to different ores, in the
abolition OF useless and extravagant Of
fees and officers, in the employment
of labor and material conservators. and
above all in the elimination mot yet
completed OF the gambling element and
the establishment Of mining as CONNER
cial enterprise"
This comes from a newspaper which
was predicting. less than two years ago,
starvation and beggary for all the people
of the state as the result of the repeal
of the Sherman law.
And thus II goes on. Confusion, cJm-
mercial failures. and wretchedness al
ways flow out OF any attempt TO control
commercial enterprises or the ways OF
business by statute law. Let any subject
be left 10 the natural development that
arises from those people traiilcking in re-
gard to II who find 4 10 their interests
to do so. and that subject viii receive
the highest Improvement OF which 1t Is
susceptible.