The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1913-09-11
SUGGESTED CHANGES
IN OUR MINING LAWS
BUTTE ENGINEER ADVANCES
NUMEROUS IDEAS THAT
POSSESS MERIT.

! In response to request from the
committee on mining law of the Met
slurgical Society of America for ex
pressions on the subject of proposed
changes in our mining law many Of
the highest authorities among the min
ing engineers and mine operators
wherever our laws are in force have
given answers. These have been pub
lished In installments in the Chicago
Mining and Engineering World. a
few. especially those from local engi-
neers and those of nearby districts
have been reproduced In The Miner. 1t
is subject of vast interest to the
Occur d'Alenes and every other mining
district.
Among the many suggestions that
have been advanced, some coming
from the most eminent authorities on
1.-THE subject, The Miner selects this,
coming from e. B. Howell. Butte,
Mont as more nearly covering the
general mining situation and meeting
its necessities than any other 50 far
| advanced
Not Entirely Agreed With Theorists.
with much that Is said in the name
# conservation, | am not In sympathy,
! dishonest men take advantage Of
the present laws. let them be enforced
more strictly. If the laws themselves
are too lax, let them be amended IL
the United States does not get, on the
average, what its lands are worth, let
the price be raised, but such conG!-
/ tons furnish no reason why rights al
ready honestly accrued should be Ia
ken away, nor do they afford any jus
tfication for the United States wholly
Withdrawing its lands from the mar
ket.
No Perfect Classification.
I'D IT is possible that the classic
cation of lands should be made more
carefully. Still, no classification from
merely surface indications can be made
that will prove correct In all cases. I'm
der the present law, the classification
of land made by the land department
is final. It can rob man of his min
ing claim by declaring the land to b.
agricultural, or 1t can deprive the set
tier of his farm by declaring the lane
mineral, and courts even the supreme
court of the United States, will no
disturb these judgments.
! 1.-The proposal to segregate minera
from surface rights does not appea
to me favorably. If man buys ;
tract of land he should own 1t to tn
} center of the earth otherwise h
will have no motive to develop it's min
eral wealth, but on the other hand will
have every reason to conceal it,
Not Safe to Follow Socialists.
"Of course 1t is true that the United
States is not getting all that it's pub
lie lands are worth, but it never has
For 100 years it has been disposing o
its domain on such liberal terms as t.
amount to gifts. This policy ha
worked well in the past and ha
brought wealth and prosperity to tn
ldtlCIl, WHY SIlDuiu IL NC
; There Is socialistic element in tn
country that Is envious of wealth an
especially the wealth derived from re
sources that formerly belonged to tn
{ nation If we are to follow the pr)
I gram of socialism, then Of course tn
!, nation ought not to part with an
2 more Of its land, but those who believ
: in private property and individualisr
| in industry should give no heed to thi
sentiment
Interesting Incident.
DOUBTLESS there are those VIII
would point to such mine as the An
aconda and say that the governmef
should have its millions instead Of pr
vate parties, but 1t Is very doubtful
the Anaconda would have ever bee
developed if the government had con
: tnued to own it. When first came
Butte, in 1880. the first employment
. had was to help surveyor survey tn
Anaconda lode claim. remember dis
:, tinctly how I wondered that any on