The Alaska citizen., 1910-04-16

He is like the Indian and the cow puncher. His business is gone. The wonderful judgment and skill in finding ore deposits, gained by years of experience, are now use less. A few young and less ex- perienced men may reach the un- staked frontier in Alaska, but he cannot He asks despairing'y, Where can l goa What can I do9 So, he settles down upon some fouith-class chance, which the crowd Of claim -stakers have passed by, or abandoned, and hangs grim ly on to his last hope.
 Let us look squarely at the facts. A very small percentage of the idle mineral claims are owned by prospectors. The oveTwhelm- ing bulk is held by mining com panies, or by individual investors, who have shut off the prospector and destroyed his business In most cases, the few claims he is supposed to own, are, in reality, only part his. The investors who furnish his grub, own tronl a half to three-quarter interest and the taXmoney would, like other ex- penses, come from them. The prospeCtor is virtually only their watChman or care e-taker. The fact Is that the prospector himself is not d success at the game Ot idle claims, and rarely makes it pay. His real business Is not claim stalking, or watching stakes, but the discovery of ore deposits. Give him back his regular business, and his chances of making fortune will be multi piled a hundred fold. The prospector does not have to be mollycoddled. He can stand any laws which are necessary for his own and the general good, and can raise taX-mOney, when wanted, in the same way that be now raises h.s expense money. Mining in veStors are always eager for oppor- tunities and every prospector who makes real discovery, worth hold ing, is promptly beset by men who crowd their money upon him. If the claim is not valuable enough to interest others, he will not hold 1t, and so will pay no tax. Ii it is de- sired to force large companies with areas Of two, four, ten square miles of valuable mineral land to dig or get of the claim, the prospector must do likewise. A far more profitable business awaits him, and with the flood of prosperity which will follow more digging and free mineral land, he will never want job or grub stake, or financial packers and purchasers for his dis coveries. Abolish the claim-staker and give the real prospector a chance once more, and you will hear Of new discoveries from every quarter. Dig or get of the claim!
 "The question may present itself whether a tax of SIoo per claim, while applying the necessary pres sure to ordinary claim-holders, will not be too small to be left by min ing companies. This would be true in many cases, but this tax is only suggested as a convenient and universal starter The further pres sure needed in such cases must be applied by state and county taxa ton. As matter of fact, however, nothing is more sensitive than the pocket of 6 corporation, particular lv ii that corporation be idle, or the pocket empty. Even the tax of SIoo will have wonderful effect in causing mining companies to trim their edges, and further pres sure may be made to squeeze their holdings down to actual working needs.
 INVESTORS ATTRACTED.
 Another question which will be raised is whether the taxation of mining claims would not interfere with property rights; destroy the value of Investments; scare away investors. What rights? The