The San Francisco call., 1899-06-19


at Los Angeles. with Stephen NJ. White
as president and the mistaken hostility
to the organza ton which has Tor some
weeks been expressed repeatedly by news
and technical journals and few mining
men of that region.
This new organization was eHecteu
about six weeks ago in Los Angeles al an
open meeting attended by Secretary IL. H.
Benjamin, Attorney General foru' scr
ator Davis, e. II. Ricketts,, Charies u;
Yale and others of the California Miners
Association. The new society, supposed
to represent the interests OF Southeih Cdi-
ifornia in the association, mas peeh sup
ported by a number of the leadlns lulil-
ing men in that part of the State, ana mas
already acquired a considerable member
ship, in spite of the hostile arguments
from some sources that an Independent
organization would be much better. Thls
hostility on the part of some men ana IN
f1uences interested in the mining prosper
ity of Southern California is certainly a
ing industry south of Tehachapi, which
has never before specially figured in the
work of this powerful State organization.
words to the animation with the Califor-
MIA Miners Association say IN erect,
first, that the fields and their interests
are naturally separate; second, that Ine
California Miners Association is controll-
ed by San Francisco business men, VINO
use the organization to divert the mining
trade to and control 1t from San Fran
cisco; third, that Central and Northern
California put little men or money INTO
Southern California mines, and that the
importance of the industry south Of I. Ie-
haChapi is not recognized up here. 1t has
been said that "the bay people 90 not
give fair and adequate consideration to
the mining interests, of Southern Califor55
mia; that bay capital cannot be interested
in Southern California mines; that Los
Angeles is interested in building up
by an Independent organization; that
Southern California mining opportunities
can be better advertised by. separate or,
ganzati9n that the oaliforntah Ia Miners ner
cent of the membership dues which nave
been fixed at 81 per year for individuals,
etc"
The urging of these things in the col,
umns of news and technical journals and
from meeting platforms has h1ndered the
growth of what promised TO be stTong
and effective auxiliary association. 1T Is
another exhibition of the feeling or lnde-
pendence of the rest Of the State that
bobs up now and then down there.
To say that the mining interests of Cali
fornia are split into two parts by range
of mountains is to take a narrow and er-
roneous view of the California Miners
Association The State association is
made up of fourteen county organizations,
and the association has never since its or
nual convention or through it's executive
or other committees, dealt with matters
of sectional interest, except in the great
matter of the rehabilitation of hydraulic
mining. This question gave the associa-
ton it's birth. and the Camfnettt law gave
evidence of its power and effectiveness,
but since then this matter has been an
incidental one. This association gave
birth to the pending demand for cabi-
net department. representing the mining
industry, and it still hammers away at
the plan, helping give 1t needed boom and
prestige. Southern California is as much
interested in this as any other part of
eral lands bill, to which the association
gave birth and the bright prospects of
which are to be credited largely TO the
insistent work of the association, largely
done through A. H. Ricketts,. The revision
of the Federal mining law is another field
Of its labor not peculiar to the interests
of any section. A number of such mat
tiers Of equal interest to miners in Utah.
Arizona, Southern and Northern Califor-
MIA have been taken up by the association
and await the added support of the
Southern California mining interests.
In matters of State legislation the asso-
citation has been an effective force and
has in the main acceded to its recon-
mendations as to mining legislation, and
its representatives have always been
definite and effective force before legisla-
tive committees and with legislators. The
liberal support of the State Mining Bu-
reau has been largely due to its influence
The appropriation of $3.50, 600 which 1t
gained from the Legislature as well as
from Congress, is one evidence of its polit-
ical force. Another among such evidences
is the tacit understanding with the Gov
ernor, that after raising by $4,000 the ap-
preparation for California exhibit at the
Paris Exposition, $4,000 should be devoted
to the mining industry of the State. 1t
has been along such broad lines that the
association has worked so far. and 1t is
along such lines of general Importance
that it has gained the, prestige and es,,
and State. legislation. The future effec-
tiveness of the association in Washington
and Sacramento would be further in
creased by the cooperation of the leading
influences concerned in the mining indus
try of the southern part Of the State. If
in the future two California miners as
sociations should exist, the two would
hardly agree on the same specific propo-
stions and the divided counsels might
easily confuse and defeat measures of i'm
portance to the whole mining industry of
the State. A larger representation of the
industry acting as unit would add much
to the power and scope of the assoCia
tons efforts. What has been accomplish
ed so far. including an effective example
of what may be done by an organization
of the mining industry on broad lines has
been done with Little I. aid fr9m Southern
citation is not chamber of mines. 1t con-
Germs itself. with no mining properties
and it does not try to influence the min
ing trade. Its purposes are broader anu (
confines itself to those broader purposes
of general legislation and the general
prosperity of the industry. Uncle Jake
Neff, who is and has been since its organ
ization its president confines it's efforts
to fields in which Southern California is
as much interested as any part of the
State.
Much San Francisco money is invested
in Southern California mining properties,
but it is to the East and to Europe that
the whole State largely turns for mining
capital and this is especially true of
Southern California. The California
Miners Association has not given South
ern California especial attention for the
good reason that Southern California was
not represented in it. Its wants would
have more effective attention through one
strong State organization than through
small Independent one. The American In
stitute of Mining Engineers will meet
here in September as the guests of the
California Miners Association. and that
will give another illustration of the value
of affiliation. The association will issue
a large and handsome exposition of the
mineral resources of the State. in which
Southern California will be fairly repre-
sented and with which such an affiliated
association might concern itself In the
matter of the Paris mineral exhibit a
unity of policy will add to the success of
the display. AS a new mining region