The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1900-01-11
Troops for Cape Mono.

.
At . recent meeting OF the Alaska
Miners Association in this city several
addresses were made by members who
appeared to be disinclined to favor the
sending OF United States troops to Cape
Nome. A committee was appointed to
, give this sentiment some effective form
and force, and It has been suggested
that counsel be employed in an attempt
to exert influence at washington
against the use Of the military in the
new mining district.
It Ii not probable that the war de-
partment has decided upon sending
troops to the north without giving the
matter as thorough investigation as was
possible under the circumstances. II
they are sent there 1t will be for the
purpose Of maintaining order and guar
anteeing the protection Of life and prop
erty. In determining whether the con-
ditions are such as. to demand the pres
ence of troops the government has prob
ably sought advice from all quarters,
and in coming to the conclusion that
q new military department is necessary
in Alaska it has done what will be
generally approved.
Many men who have prospected and
mined in the north, some Of them men,
bers of the Alaska Miners Association,
(, have an mistaken faith in the miners
meeting, and believe miners rule will
prove as satisfactory to those interest
| ed as any supervision that may be ex-
ercised through the military arm Of the
United States. There Is no denying that
the early settlements along the Yukon
enjoyed remarkable freedom from crime
and turmoil when living under law cre-
ated only by miners. It should be re-
membered, however that those pioneer
communities were small, and the reason
why miners laws were respected and
enforced was because the men who made
them were for the most part miners and
nothing else. They all were seeking the
same end In the same way, and each
had an equal voice as mining man,
vitality interested in individual and gen.
eral welfare.
As the towns grew and the popula-
ton became larger and more mixed, the
miners meeting began to lose its orig
inal sterling character: for. instead Of
being the voice of the men on the
gulches. It deteriorated into the rule
OF the town manipulators, DULLES,
idlers. loaflng disputants and their fol-
lowers who could be held loyal by
hootch and whisky. Whatever riff
raft there was In camp could be brought
out usually to the miners meeting, and
as this element went so went the meet
ing. The larger the mining towns be-
came the more numerous were the
hangers-on, buns. mischief-makers and
parasites. and as this contingent was
always on hand to participate in public
discussion the miners meeting lost
caste about as rapidly as the town
prospered. When Gov. Brady said the
miners meeting was farce he referred
to some of the assemblies of later years,
and he was right.
If the rush to Cape Nome equals ex-
pectations. there will be gathered In
that district about as mixed and mot
ley crowd as ever was drawn to a
common center. For every miner who
goes thither there will be two who are
there to feed on that miner Nearly
every character known to police annals
will be on the ground. Thugs, thieves,
confidence men. outlaws. tramps, des-
peradoes, gamblers and all the vicious
elements which hate laws except those
Of their own making will be in evidence,
and they will regulate the administra-
ton of affairs II an opportunity Ia once
sliowed them to get control. The de-