Los Angeles herald., 1910-09-29
MORNING SESSION

The first part or the morning session
of the congress was taken up in re-
ceiving resolutions from delegates and
referring them to the committee on
resolutions. These resolutions relat-
ed to mine workings and provisions
for promoting safety in and about
mines. resolution was referred
back to the congress by the committee
advocating an investigation of rail-
road rates on metals mined in the
several states. This resolution urged
that the railroads, through the inter-
state commerce commission, be COM
PEELED to give a more reasonable rate
on the metals, especially high grade.
At present there exists an entirely diff
ferent rate on high grade from that of
low grade. In the resolution it was
held that weight and not the grade Of
the ore should be the standard govern
ing railroad rates
The report of the committee on re-
vision of mineral land laws was read
by Will l.. Clark of Jerome, Ariz. The
findings of this committee were that
there should be a complete revision of
these laws and that to change some
thing here or there would be unsatis
factory.
Mr.. Clark read from the report as
follows:
1.-THE reasons for such needed revision
are 81 imperative and well understood
in the mining communities affected,
that we will not burden this report
with any detailed statement thereof,
but as was stated in part in the eX
cellent report of the committee on YER
tical side line law, submitted to the
twelfth annual session of the American
Mining congress, 1t is well to refer to
the early chapters of our mining his
tory, which practically commenced with
the first gold discoveries in California,
when this state had just ceased to be
Mexican territory; and to remember
the great immigration into this favored
section; the absence of any mining
statutes applying, and the adoption by
the miners of rules governing mining
rights; the marked similarity in the
rules of the mining districts of the
west, of all them recognizing dis
covery, followed by appropriation, as
the foundation Of the possessor's title,
and development by working as a con-
dition of its retention; the sanctity
of law given to these rules; the dis
coVery in 1860 of the great COmstock
lode, the development thereof; and the
disputes and endless litigation arising
out of vagueness of rights and uncer-
tainties of title.
1.-THE early western miners occupied
lands that were unsurveyed and had
not been open to settlement. Strictly
speaking, these miners were trespass-
ing upon the public domain, and con-
tlnued so until the enactment of the
federal lode and water law OF July
26, 1866 by which the rights which had
been acquired under local rules were
recognized and confirmed, and the prin-
ciple laid down that all mineral lands
of the public domain should be free and
open to exploration and occupation
and that titles to certain classes of
mineral deposits or lands containing
them would be granted This act was
accepted as a step in the right direc-
tion, although its details were faulty
and crude. 1t was replaced by the act
of May 10, 1872, the essential features Of
which are contained in the revised stat
utes substantially as they exist today,
and with which we are principally con-
cerned.
'In spite of the good intentions Of the
makers of these early acts, the fact re-
mains that our mineral land laws are
imperfect and obsolete, and not suffi-
Client for our present conditions, and
that many of the existing provisions
tend to unsettle rights to discovery, to
discourage investments and to retard
developments of latent resources.
PRESENT LAW INADEQUATE
"And in spite of the many interpre-
tations of the courts, the numerous
volumes of mining laws that have been
written, the millions OF dollars that
have been spent in litigation and eff
fort to adjust new conditions to these
laws, cases are continually arising for
adjudication. Every active mining
community has it's share thereof.
Judge Iindley, to whom special ac-
acknowledgement is due for his admira-
BILE treatise on American law in rela-