The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-11-01
THE LEGITIMACY OF MINING.
The Miner Robs No One and Adds
TO The Worlds Wealth.


Robert Mcintyre, a Methodist minis
.er of Chicago, has stirred some of his
brethren because he grubstaked
miner for the Klondike. The Chicago
Tribune interviewed Mr.. Mcintyre on
The subject. Fe says:
Conscientious scruples against such
IN undertaking? No scruples entered
my mind then. nor have they since. 1t
VAS purely and simply matter Of
principle. The Sermon on the Mount
md the Ten Commandments don't
come into the matter, and the 'ology
needn't.
The fact s, / admire a miners
wealth It's clean. II is acquired away
from the schering and the cut-throat
competition that characterize ordinary
business ventures, where the success OF
one man so often means the disaster
and downfall Of some other man, or
perhaps q number Of men. Nobody
has been .pinched. Nobody has been
Wronged. The miner who digs G for
tune out of the ground has the salts
faction that he hasn't robbed a soul,
even though he become d hundred
times q millionaire.
Then. TOO. there Is another factor TO
take into consideration. The man who
makes . fortune or the board of trade,
or on the stock exchange, or in build
ing up a gigantic business house, adds
nothing to the worlds store OF avail
able wealth. The world, in other
words. is no richer because he is
richer. re is rich, rather, because
some one else is poorer. The miner, on
the other hand, whether he digs out
SlO0 or 100000. adds that much 20 the
worlds wealth and, with the added
wealth, he contributes just that much
20 the possible amount of the worlds
comforts and pleasures.
As [ look at the matter, there are few
producers of wealth. The many i've on
the few. The only man comparable
with the miner is the farmer. He gets
what h. has direct from nature, but
ae produces perishable wealth. W lille
he meets d want. his contribution to
the worlds wealth therefore is not
permanent one like the miners.
The gold miner is today the king
wealth producer of the country, and I
honor him above al others. 1t is no
dishonor il needs no apology, to emu
late his example or assist him in his
efforts. There's the whole question in
a nutshell
It isn't n church matter. The fact is
God pat the gold in the valley of the
Yukon for his children. Any man. con-
sistcnt with such regulations as are
necessary for fair play and the pro-
lection of individual interests, has an
undeni2ble right to so there and dig
and delye all he chooses. If he pulls
out 100000 he simply makes "A d. az,
not on somebody's bank account. bu
on natures treasury. There is no
more wrong in that, therefore. than
there would be in man sowing wheat
or planting corn and trusting to ma
ture to yield 90 80 or 100 fold. It's a
private matter between man and his
IT,
enough for a man TO plant and reap
a harvest CT grain, and l don't see why
there isn't authority enough for a man
to dig and delve and reap a harvest of
gold dust ana Nuggets.
As I look at the matter, therefore, the
minister who dOffs broadcloth and
dous miners garb and faces the
perils OF the wilderness, and gets a
draft cashed on natures treasury for
- few hundred thousand dollars or a
million or two, Is doing humanity
good turn ! don't know hv WIN
. course he could do more good or add
more 70 the sum of the worlds COM
forts or pleasures. If he can't 90 10
the field of operation himself it's an
honorable thing, / believe. for him to
erUbstalSe somebody else
l can't quite see Why a clergyman, if
he choose, should not be q wealth pro
Queer. Christian ethics are nos a- list
*. There is only about so much wealth
in the world, anyway, and life now-a-
days is & scramble TO get as much of
what does exist as possible. I should
rank a benefaction above a benedic-
ton. But on the miners wealth. as
just said there are no blood, no tears
no groans. sufferings, sorrows caused
to others.
4 minister has just as much right to
mine gold or grubstake somebody else
as the man who listens to his sermons
and helps to pay his salary. It's a
foolish notion that 4 minister must
1 apologize Tor doing openly what he
conmends others for doing I have
said that the miner who actually adds
TO the worlds wealth is public bene-
factor. and that his wealth is the
cleanest in existence. Believing that.
WHY should not | offar 10 or.Ilhst lie