Weekly Arizona journal-miner., 1906-02-07

Clark, should bc taxed. Ore, hc nSs''rt. cl, may be there and it may not. He rcpea,, the miners axiom about no ono beng able to see into the ground. and dr. ~ the inference from the unccr. ,ainty concerning the persistence of an made of i,s value. Without n reasonab. " certan estimate of value. assess ment aud consequently taxation would. of cours' be impracticabl".
 Judging from the ctudity of his argu ment. Senator Clark was apparently taking advantage of probable ignor ance upon mining matters among the members of the committee. What hc .aid applies very well to undeveloped mineral lands. Any mining investor of experience knows how difficult 1t is to determine the probable value of n prospect
 On the other hand. the value of a fully developed mine or the developed part of mine can he estimated with an approach to accuracy that amounts to practical certainty. If the orc Is opened on at least three sides, and in small blocks. Tf 'h" samples are care. fully taken by competent men, and if, according to the customary practice 2j per cent is deducted from the totals as an allowance for error, nothing could well be more certain than that the mine in question contains at least the csti. mated amour, of ore.
 No legal reason exists for eSemptipg orc reserves under general property taS stion. Of course. it would be impos .ible for public assessors to attempt m independent examination and appraisc- ment of developed ore. In the case of large mines, it takes months Of time and thousands of dollars to arrive at an exact valuation of the reserves. There fore, if reserves are to bc taxed, reli sncse must be placed upon reports by the owners This is the chief practical difficulty in the assessment of ore re have reasons for keeping secret the facts concerning conditions m their m. derground workings. Consequently, as. scssment based on production is thought by many to he the more satisfactory ar. engagement. It would compel the Unit cd Verde to pay taxes on more than n million dollars.
 Senator Clark fa,ly denied that his great copper producer is worth any. thing like hundred million dollars l He also denied that he had ever receiv. cd the offcr of twenty-five millions for the property. There is no reason to ioubt the truth of his denials. In fact, there IS good reason to believe that the value of the United Verde has frequently been ovcrcstimated. Per. haps Senator Clark has seen further into the ground than his assertions would lead one to believe. and the tale told by drill cores may have been dis appointing. Interesting facts and sectional drawing of the United Verde ore bodies, the result of a personal TX. animation by the author. arc contained in c. W. Millcr's "Elemcnts of Min irg Geology published by the Daily Mining Record. The hook Is now in press. and will bc ready within a week or two.
 Bu' taking into consideration only the present production ar the ore block ed out. Senator Clark should be paying taxes on very much more than the value of the surface improvements. The fact that he is evading his just share of the public burden lends color to the as. scrtions coming from the adminis,ra. ton relative to the opposition to the statehood bill. It is entirely possible that some of the great mining corpora. tions are actuated by selfish motives in fighting the measure. The apparently almost unanimous opposition among the people of the territory cannot. how ever. be explained upon any such grounds. - Mining Record.
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