The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1897-10-30
TIP li &. -!

minister Of Chicago, hAs stirred
some Of his brethren because DO
grnb-staked . miner for the Klou-
dixie. The Chicago Tribune inter.
vibWed Mr.. Mcintyre on the subject.
He says:
Conscientious scruples against
such an undertaking? No scruples
entered my mind then, nor have
they since, It was purely and sim
ply = matter Of principle. Ths Ser
mon on the Mount and tho Ten
Cpmmandmehts don't come into
the matter, and theology needn't.
Tho fact 10, / admire . miners
wsalth. It's clean. There are no
blood or tears on it. It 10 acquired
away from the schsming and. the
cut-throat .competition,that charac-
terizes ordinary business ventures,
where The. success Of ono man 80
often means the disaster and down
fall-of some other man, or perhaps q
namber Of men. Nobody has been
pinched. Nobody has been wronged.
The miner who digs q fortune out
Of the ground has the satisfaction
that he hasn't robbed q soul, even
though he become q hundred times
q millionaire.
Then, too, there is another factor
to take into consideration. The
man who makes a fortune on the
Board of Trade, or on the Stock Ex-
change, or in building up q gigantic
business house, adds nothing to the
worlds store of available wealth.
The world, in other words, is no
richer because he is richer. He is
rich, rather, because somebody else
is poorer. The miner, on the other
hand, whether he digs out 800 or
100000, adds that much to the
worlds wealth, and, with the added
wealth, be contributes just that
much to the possible amount Of the
worlds comforts and pleasures.
As I look at the matter, there are
few producers of wealth. The many
live-on the few. The only man COM
parable with the miner is the farmer.
He. gets what be has direct from Ma
ture. But he produces perishable
wealth. While be meets q want, his
contribution to the worlds wealth
therefore is not permanent one
like the miners.
The gold miner is to-day the king
wealth. producer of the country,
and honor him above all others.
1t is no dishonor, it needs no apol-
ogy, to emulate his example or
assist him in his efforts. There's
the whole question in a nutshell.
It isn't a church matter. The
fact is God put the gold in the val.
ley of the Yukon for His children.
Any man, consistent with such reg
ulations as are necessary for fair
play and the protection of individ-
ual interests, has an undeniable
right to 60 there and dig and delve
all he chooses. If he pulls out
100000 he simply makes draft,
not on somebody's bank account
but on Natures treasury. There is
no more wrong in that, therefore,
than there would be in a man SOW
ing wheat or planting corn and
trusting to Nature to yield twenty,
fifty or hundred fold. It's a private
matter between man and his Maker.
There's scriptural authority enough
for a man to plant and reap a harvest
of grain, and | don't zee why there
isn't authority enough for man
to dig and delve and reap a harvest
Of gold dust and nuggets.
AS look at the matter, therefore,
the minister who doffs broadcloth
and dons miners garb and faces
the perils of the wilderness, and
gets a draft cashed on Natures
treasury for few hundred thousand
dollars or q million or two, is doing
humanity q good turn. don't
know by what course be could do
more good or add more to the sum
Of the worlds comforts or pleasures.
If he can't 60 to the field of opera
ton himself, it's an honorable thing,
/ believe, for him to- grubstake
somebody else.
1can't quite see why a clergy lyman,
if he chooses. should not be wealth
producer. Christian ethics are not
against it. There is only about 20
much wealth in the world, anyway,
and life nowadays is a scramble
to get as much as what does exist
as possible. should rank 4 bene-
faction above benediction. But
on the miners wealth, as / just
said, there are no blood, no tears,
nogroans, sufferings, sorrows caused
to others.
A 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 q foolish notion that minister,
because he is a minister, must apol-
ogize for doing openly what be
commends others for doing. /
have said that the miner who actu-
ally adds to the worlds wealth 10
the cleanest in existence. Believing
That uhu ohou11 49, 49, A.