Amador ledger., 1902-05-16
Canadian Law VS.. American Law.

sea, and returns with echoing detona
tion along the shore. Boom! boom
booml it thunders in mockish delight
Boom! boom! boom! it burst with re
sounding thunder DER the shimmerine
sea, shouting a salute to freemen o
America. To freemen what mis-
nomer. The 4th of July cannon has
died in its echOing, and shadowy
spectral form bent and silent with
folded arms stands before you. 1t is
the detected, haggard form of 177f
lamenting DER her downfall. Around
her swims in mockery the tea of Boston
Harbor. The flag fiutters from the
government masthead a trophy OF
conquest and injustice. A mockish
horroring cry of injustice has bounded
cat-like across the haggard form oi
freedom, and sprang with goulish yowl
in the midst of the people, but while
she has startled you with her sudden
action she has turned from cat into a
chameleon, and has only shown the
color best adapted to her purpose. A
| few Federal officers have been removed
as the remedy, but after all injustice
| reigns supreme in the land of the mid
| night sun. Congress has grasped the
Orient firmly in her hands and thrown
back the surging, struggling hoard Of
Chinese that stood waiting for the
gates of admission to be thrown open.
The president has turned the guns OF
the attorney general on the trusts
and mergers, and dares them to run
rampant over the rights of the people,
but Alaska, alas, is forgotten. They
don't seem to realize that the mining
laws are so defective that a few men
mouopolize the Alaskan territory, and
are stealing the peoples patrimony.
They don't seem to take into consid-
Grafton that while some powers of at
torney are bona fde there are more, ten
to one. that are gotten for nothing, or
purchased by drink of whiskey, and
thus builds up monstrous monopoly.
A man by the name of Ryan Dragged
to NE that he held ITO claims, 22OO
acres. He said: ''It is hoggish game
my friend, but I'm not the biggest hog
here by a h of site. l know
several men that have two or three hun
dred." A woman told me she had 81
Claims, 1920 acres. Enough ground to
satisfy the greedish cravings of an
ordinary cattle king, and yet this is
American law and American justice.
Show me a stalker that has been in
Alaska for two years or more that
hasn't from dozen to fifty claims, and
I'll show you white-headed Indian.
Further than that I'll show you hun
dreds of men there that can't get foot
of land. Everything is staked for two
hundred miles around Nome, to the
very apex of the tailest mountains
held too for speculative purposes.
Strange to say but little assessment
work is done, as laid down as obliga-
tory in statutory mining laws of the
United States. If claim is staked
any time after the first of January,
from that time up to the following
January is called a fraction, thus Civ
ing the locator nearly two years to do
their assessment work. Many times a
silent partner steps in when the time
is nearly expired to do the assessment
work, jumps the claims, and the law is
beaten and the rascals are secure. Lit
tie did VIM. Fl. Seward dream when
negotiating for the purchase of Alask a
that the shadow of Russian despotism
would hover over it and be turned into
apOt-house of Russian favoritism, across
the bar of which was bartered the peo-
pies patrimOny. Sixty feet of the
shores of the Behring Sea is reserved
by the government as a rOad-bed, so
called. This is exempt from private
ownership. 1t belongs to every one
and to no one, and is known as the
beach diggings. Here the impOver-
ished prospector goes for financial aid
when no other is opened up to him.
Last summer the monopolist tried to
oust the rocker men from this belt, and
used threats of government interfer-
ence if they did not vacate. Some
were forcibly put off, some scared off,
and some held their ground with the
courage OF sportsman. A man whose
name L have forgotten, but whom l
can produce, was threatened by man
that said he was a government mar
shal. The man claiming to be mar
shal said to the miner: ''You must
leave this ground, and if you don't get
off I'll arrest you" "By what au-
| thority," said the miner. mo matter
by what authority, am government
marshal, and if you don't vacate in
stantly 1 will arrest you." The miner
looked the officer straight in the face
and said defiantly: 81 dare you to ar
rest me; am not criminal; arrest me
| il you dare, and take me to Nome, and
l will see whether l am protected as an
American, which 1 am, or whether the
shadow of Russian despotism hovers
over me-" The officer turned and left
the miner master Of the situation. The
same mining laws are operative in
Alaska that are operative here, save
| that what is known as the Carter Act
The maligned ex-senator Carter ol