Elk City mining news. (Elk City, Idaho) 1903-1913, 1904-01-02
CHANGE of DATE of ISSUE
Hereafter the Mining News will be
issued Saturday mornings. The price
of subscription will remain the same.

ed, representing the citizens of Elk
City and contiguous mining districts, in
their united protest against Forest Re-
serve injustice and annoyance, have
duly received your much esteemed favor
of the 18th of December, in reply to our
recent letter of protest to you on De-
cember End.
1t is with great pleasure that we have
read the letter you enclosed us, which
was written you from Washington, D.
| c., by Honorable Clifford Pinchot, For.
ester, and in which, as you remark, we
can plainly see ''a substantial COM
pliance with the tenor" of our ''peti-
| tion."
Indeed, Mr.. Pinchot assures us, that
''the Forest Reserve rules and regula-
tions," of which we justly complain,
''apply more strictly to other communi-
ties than to u.s. and that they will be
changed and practically eliminated, to
the extent that a discussion of them
need in no way affect the Forest Re-
serve matter under consideration, or
to be hereafter discussed by our COM
munity with the proper authorities at
Washington.
Consequently, we construe the above
assurance, as making it now unneces-
sary for us to forward, through you,
our ''affidavits on specific cases of an
Objectionable nature" to Mr.. Pinchot,
as he had the kindness to suggest, and
that matters are fortunately simplified
for our committee.
This we consider as q great victory
already gained by our citizens for all
the mining districts involved, especially
as we also read the following in Mr.
Pinchot's very considerate letter, name
ly, that ''the Bureau of Forestry has
information which indicates that GER
tain portion of this reserve shall be
eliminated and arragngnents viii be
made Tor thorough examination ard
report on the subject ct an early date. -
In other words, thusdoes Mr. Pinchot,
Forester, fully conceed the fundamen-
tai principle for which we are contend
ing, namely, ''that a;certain portion Of
this reserve shall be eliminated. And
we hereby thank hina' most cordially for
this timely information.
But the principle once conceded then
it must necessarily follow, that, we, as
American citizens and especially as the
actual inhabitants of this whole section,
alone have the sole right to deter
mine, on general lines, to what extent
our country shall return under the COM
mon laws of the land, we'll tried and
long established precedents of which
none of us can be justly deprived.
AS you can see, dear sir, with us the
present contention with the Federal
authorities is not simply a geographical,
local or Typographical question, or that
of being placed under one Federal de-
partment rather than another Indeed,
with us, as with all the mining districts
we want eliminated from direct and ur-
necessary Federal authority in our
state, this matter is essentially a ques-
tion of fundamental American princi-
pies, based on our unalienable and con-
stitutional rights, as free American
citizens of the state of Idaho, and from
this position we cannot, nor do we in
tend in any way to receed.
And to you, as our friend and advo-
cate, in this great matter of far-reach-
ing import, we now state, that this
committee, as representing the spirit
and aims of this whole community and
those mining districts aforesaid will not
recede from its present lawful and we'll
advised position unless, in last resort,
the Supreme Court of the United States
should dedide that our demands are un-
warranted andsuntenable.
Furthermore, we take this firm stand
and enunciate it unequivocally at this
our first favorable opportunity, mot on
ly because we are thoroughly convinced
that in it are directly involved one ot
the greatest and safest of principles o1
our characteristic American institutions
AS well as the best and most vital in
terests of the present and future inhab-
itants of this whole territory, and of al
classes alike-but also because we con.
tend, at the same time, that it is only
under the free reign of the well-triec
common laws of the land, th5t this
greatest and newest of quartz mining
sections of Our state can be properly
developed and justly prosper.
In fine, if the politicians, bureau
cats and grafters st Washington wist