Mohave County miner., 1911-02-11
Change In System.

Tn many changes as Tar as mining con- ditions are concerned. As to the nature of these results, there is con- siderable difference of opinion. The ultra-conservationist, supposed to have his habitation in the East, but really rampant in the West also, insists that the plans for conservation of our natural resources, including mining, they have been suggested, can have naught but good effect on the country in general.
 Naturally there are those who scoff at this snug opinion and assert that such plans as have been given promi- hence and with which the present ad- ministration is supposed to be in &C., cord, embrace little else than the ln- auguration of a system that will limit the rights of citizenry, and impose up- on those who do qualify for rights, such burdensome restrictions that mine development will not be so thorough or so productive of wealth as in the case at present, when the operator is assured of the fact that the property in which he seeks mineral wealth is his for all time and with which he may do as he pleases.
 We may conclude that such an operator is not bent on conducting development of his property in a way that its ability to produce wealth will be injured or unnecessarily shortened. Rejoicing in actual and undisputed possession, he intends that the prop erty shall be brought to the highest possible stage of production without injury.
 On the other hand, operating under the knowledge that his tenure is to be of comparatively short duration, as will be the case if the laws inspired by the radical conservationist are creat- vC, .It-wiii Sc | to secure what wealth there is to be obtained in the shortest possible time and at an expense as small as possible. He will not be so eager to protect and prolong the life of the ground in which he works, knowing that a successor may follow him and have the advantage of all that he has done; this is not selfshness, but is human nature urged by the long taught precepts of self-good and sur vival.
 Of course, it is argued that a mine operator under government super vision, holding property under lease from the federal government, will be bound by contracts and obligations, to conduct his work properly and under me. h ds devised by the intelligence of the conservation experts. All this may be true enough, but, just the same, those obligations will be car ried out in the most prefunctory man. n'rardc ly within the letter of the law, which, who is there to say, will be such as to insure proper develop ment of the ground. Probably such laws can, in the course of time, be created, but at the outset. they will be little more than experimental, and will of necessity reach perfection and equity only after long application and in accor lance with the adjustment which must take place in order to make them adaptable to actual con- ditions and emergencies.
 While present mining laws in this country are far from perfect, and there are many mining operators, prosDectors and others interested in mining who desire a change, the present code is a rather substantial one and is based largely on a common sense plan, which when properly in- terped affords excellent opportunity for just and proper legal decisions. The laws as we have them at this time. while somewhat crude and not free from confusion, are, nevertheless. solid structure upon which improve ments may be builded with gratifying success.
 Of course the conservationists have no quarrel with the mining laws, as they apply to the present land system. They stand ID the light of demanding absolute change in the system itself, which provides for the manner Of securing and operating public mineral or other lands. They desire that con- trol and ownership shall be vested absolutely in the government, making workers thereon little other than