Arizona republican., 1901-11-01
GOLD IN THE PHILIPPINES
Some Advice to Congress Regarding
 Mining Laws.

From Washington comes a semi-offi cial report in the shape of declarations made by army officers who have lately returned from the Philippines that on the island of Mindanao there are evil dences of extended and rich placer de- posits. The river Sita and it's tributaries in the northern part of the island are said to be the region ot the deposits and the gold obtained py the natives the basis of the statements of richness. American miners, it is stated, have not yet gone into the district, the Taft commission governing the islands hay ing no authority to issue permits or franchises.
 Regarding this il may be assumed that the trifie of lack Of permit is not holding back American miners if there are any in the Philippines that know of the existence of such placers as de- scribed American miners have never been known anywhere in United States territory to wait for permits before working placers. If the reports are true there is placer ground enough for all the American miners now in the Philippines. Those who are there arc western miners who have a rough and ready way of adjudicating rights with out the costs and delays of court pro ceedings, so that the Taft commission would never officially know of the min ing. It may be assumed. too. that. while the Taft commission has no au- .hority to issue permits to miners, 1t has on the other hand no authority under which it can stop the mining ca public land or by American miners on lands bought from the natives who have title.
 On the whole. the governmental con- lfe-si, Ix~ hls, to the natural development of mining in the Philippines. and it is. if any ling, to be hoped that congress will not be in any hurry to make mining laws for these islands. It would be better for congress to send out com
 mission to report on what the Ameri- can miners are doing without any min ing laws. Such an investigation re porting conditions as they are would make their substantial recognition ipi- perative in any subsequent legislation.
 :. he miners by that time would hava the mines and the mining laws would orly have to take into account the re qlsirements under which the vested rights Of appropriation could be changed into fee titles for the benefit of capital following the first eXploita-
 ,ion by working miners.
 Congress should move slowly in min ing legislation for the Philippines The conditions created at Nome as a result of ill-considered legislation should % an example of the effect of misfit legis- Ia ton, which always proves worse than no legislation at all. California and the west generally got along very much
 better in mining during the first twenty years of it's history before it had any thing but the elastic miners laws and customs than it has since under statutes. the meaning of the wording of which is still disputable and dis puted.
 Concerning the value of this report as to the richness of the placers, while largely circumstantial, it is not unrea- soaable that it should prove in SEQ stance true The Philippine natives are not workers. and their work .s limited by provisions for a very short visual range of subsequent necessities to he satisfied. If Philippine miners get
 from 50 cents to B gold day with the
 pan. or it's equivalent. the placers will prove rich to American miners with even the simplest methods they em- ploy It seems fairly clear that the quantity of gold to be recovered in re- lation to the waste it must be separat-
 ed from is large.-Mining and Scientit!'' | Press.