The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-07-30

rold.bcaring region until the hope Of grab
| bling a part Of the precious harvest caused
them to despatch thither twenty-five
mounted policemen, q force which presently
is to be quadrnpled.
Now, IL we bear in mind the numbers Of
the treasure seekers that have gone north.
ward from San Francisco and Seattle since
the gold fever began, We can see TINT several
thousand able.bodied and adventurous men,
almost all of them in the prime Of life, will
be assembled at tho Klondike during the
approaching winter. community so emf.
nently and almost exclusively virile would
be ~abundantly able to make laws for It.
self, and to uphold peace and order; but
1t is absurd to suppose that 100 pc.
licemen can coerce it into submission
to oppressive laws made by outsiders. The
work Of ascertaining the gross outcome Of
every claim. which Is the condition prcco-
dent to tho intake Of a 90 per cent. royalty,
would require the vlgilant and incessant
services of hundreds OF policemen, and
hundreds Of others would be needed to form
a Gordon around the district so as to pre-
vent a miner who had "struck It rich "
from escaping with his dust and nuggets
into the neighboring American territory.
The truth is, that under any prob.
able circumstances, the collection of
the proposed 20 per cent. royalty
would prove impracticable, and any at
tempt to collect it in the state of things that
will exist this winter at Klondike is likely
to occasion disturbances of q grave charac-
| ter. Should the 10 policemen, whom the
Dominion Government expects to have at
Its disposal in the district, undertake to
use force for the purpose Of securing the
assessments and royalties prescribed by
law, we should not be surprised to hear
that they had been quietly made prisoners
and disarmed, and either shipped back to
Canada or allowed to go on parole.
There is still another feature of the plan
to squeeze the Klondike devised at Ottawa
which in theory may look we'll enough, but
which in practice will be likely to cause
a good deal of trouble. We refer to the
regulation that in all placer grounds every
| alternate claim is to be reserved for the
Government, which will sell or work it
for the benefit Of the revenue Of the
Dominion. This is to revert to Spanish
traditions with q vengeance. The newt
able effect Of such a law, could it be put in
force, would be to deter miners of every
nationality, including Canadians them
selves, from seeking to discover any more
placers in Canadian territory. Allthe efforts
of the gold hunters now gathered at Klon-
dixie, or on their way thither, would, as
soon as that district is exhausted, be d.
rected to finding similar deposits within
the American boundaries. No miner, while
equally tempting and unrestricted parts Of
the Yukon region are open to him, will
look for placers in a section where half of
the collaborating soil laid open by his labors
must be set apart for a rapacious Govern
ment. How this regulation Is to be applied
to the Klondike or to other placers in ana
dian territory, which are already under the
spade, we are not told.
1t is certain that an attempt to confls-
cate one-half of the claims which the
Klondike miners are now working would
be apt to cause a revolution. The miners
would probably meet and declare their in
dependence of the Dominion Government ;
after which they would, no doubt, express
a desire for the annexation of the territory,
hus proclaimed autonomous, to the United
States. That, 1t will be remembered, Is
precisely what the English Uitlanders at
johannesburg intended to do, and what the
British Parliament and Government have
virtually approved by refusing to punish
Mr.. RHODES for trying to further 1t.