The record-union., 1895-05-13

ounce, the man who adds an ounce or a ton
OF it to the commonwealth is villain. BY
its malicious exaggeration and manifest un-
fairness. the RECoRD-UNIoN has destroyed
its influence and neutralized the effect of its
assertions.
In all this threshing over of old straw
the only thing suggested that can be Of
any earthly interest to the public sis
whether quartz grit ia an injurious kind
of debris. The Press knows that it is, if
1t knows anything about the matter. A
small percentage of ''slickens" may be
carried off into the ocean in suspension,
but the detritus sluiced away from quartz
stamps travels at the bottom of the rivers,
and hence, if discharged in great volume,
must tend towards obliterating their
channels and raising their beds. If the
same quantity of debris had been dis
charged from quartz mines that
has been discharged into our navi-
gable rivers from hydraulic mining,
the damage done, great as it is, would
have been vastly greater. There is no
question about this. The main difference
as to the injury sustained, however, is a
question of quantity, for, as harmful as
quartz detritus is in its character, it has
heretofore been comparatively of such
small volume as not to be compared, on this
score, with hydraulic debris. To the ex-
tent that it is injurious 10 other prop
erty. any kind of mining is wrong and
unlawful. 1t was held to be so in prin-
ciple and according to common law in
the decisions of the courts by which hy-
draulic mining was condemned and pro-
hibited in this State.
The debris from quartz mining can be
economically restrained, and this may
become necessary, but this is not the
issue at present. The crying evil, now. Is
hydraulic mining, which. though carried
on under the pretense of restraint, is, in
effect, in almost every instance unre-
strained, If not altogether illicit. We
have given ample proof of this already,
but we have not exhausted our evidence,
and we propose to continue to show up
the iniquity which passes under the
guise of restricted hydraulic mining
until, by force Of righteous public ssnti-
ment, the offenders of the law are COM
PEELED to comply with it, or until the law
having been shown to be a dead letter
shall be repealed and the injunctions of
the courts revived. If our scientific con-
temporary is really anxious to see two
blades of grass take the place of
one, it ought to aid US in our
efforts to save grass-growing lands from
''slickens" for the present, and perhaps,
from quartz grit in the future. The issue,
in all respects, is one of the most serious
that the people Of this State have to con-
slider, and it should be discussed on it's
merits. Begging the question will not
pass for argument.
Advocates of the rehabilitation of hy-
draulic mining accomplish nothing by
threatening the RECoRD-UNIoN with loss
of influence; by impugning our motives;
or charging US with malice and exaggera-
ton In this controversy. Our case is
plain and our course straightforward, in
proof of which it is enough to say that not
g single statement that we have made has
been contradicted. The facts we have
presented are incontrovertible. Their
force cannot be impaired by evasive per-
sonaI comment or bluster.