The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1913-11-06
ADDRESS BEFORE
mining. CONGRESS

of the principal subjects under discus
sion at the sessions of the American
Mining congress in Philadelphia, Oc.
tober 20 to "a. Director George Otis
Smith, of the United States Geological
Survey, in his contribution to this dis.
cusion stated that both advances in
public opinion and changes in economic
conditions have placed demands upon
legislation, for the mineral laws of 20
40, or so years ago cannot meet the
requirements of today. "To illus
trate this point he said, "the coal
mined west of the Mississippi river in
1873 amounted to less than two million
tons, but last year it was over So mil
lion tons. The oil production in the
public-land states in 1897 was two mil
lion barrels and last year 141 million
barrels, yet 1873 and 1897 are the
dates of the latest Federal enactments
providing for the acquisition of coal
and oil lands, respectively. Here are
some infant industries that have
grown up and deserve laws to fit.
Mining a Public Service Business
Regarding the future status of
mining on the public lands the follow
ing propositions are believed to stand
out plainly: The mining men, like the
rest of the people, will see that this
biz productive business belongs in the
public-service class. Because its
products are so largely necessaries of
life, the mining industry will be regu-
lated by the people. The control of
largely through a leasing system, sim
ply because in this way the public
owner and private operator can best
cooperate, and the purpose of this
sympathetic cooperation will be to
lower costs of production in order to
permit reasonable prices to the con-
sumner and at the same time provide
fair wages to the mine worker and
adequate profits to the capitalist and
operator.
"The new laws need to recognize
every factor in the complex task of
taking something out of the ground
and making it useful. Every man who
has part in this undertaking, from
prospector to ultimate consumer, has
his rights and these rights must be
recognized, measured and protected.
All these men are in reality partners
in tn eenterprise.
Protection of Consumer Firrt Aim.
"We want these laws for the coal
and oil and phosphate lands first of all
for the sake of the citizens who wish
to use the mineral product from these
lands. AS consumers we are all con-
cerned with prices, and to benefit the
many as well as the few, legislation
must favor low costs Therefore the
first essential of mineral-land legisla-
tion is that no provision in the law
should place any unnecessary charge,
burden or operating cost upon the op-
orator Accordingly no royalty should
be imposed with the primary purpose
of revenue. The most recently issued
pater-power permit provides that the
Federal government shall receive a
royalty which varies directly with the
square of the average price paid by
the public for the electric current. The
less the consumer pays, the less the
government receives.
Second in Importance is the need
of offering to the developer of an un-
used resource an inducement eommen-
surate with the hazardous or specula-
tive character of his undertaking.
This cuts both ways. To promote de-
velopment, mining laws should attract
the men having the knowledge and
capital necessary to engage in the
business of mining, but too often in
the past the practice has been for the
majority of locators to sit by and
watch a few real miners test out the
ground, when, if strike was made,
these hangers-on at once had valuable
claims to sell. This means unearned
increment in large amounts, and in the
end the consumer pays for it. To
continue this kind of a mineral-land
lottery is bad economies On the other
hand, however, any law for the dispo-
sition of mineral land, whether by
lease or not, should provide large re-
wards for the real prospectors who SO
often stake their all against an un-
certain and seeretive Nature; when
they lose out they have no redress and
when they win their discoveries usual
ly add more to the nation 8 wealth
than to their own pockets. They de.
serve to be in the preferred class.
GA third side of this proposition is
the question of the inalienable right OF
each citizen to his share of the ma
thing for nothing that goes with
American citizenship. The citizen 4
right and interest in any undeveloped
minerals is a double one-frst, that
measured by the possibility of the
mineral being mined and thus made
useful as a cost to him that shall moi
be unnecessarily high, and second, hi:
right to an equal chance to undertake
mining within the limits of his owl
ability. He has absolutely no righi
to a speculative profit from public
mineral lands, and his profit as s
producer should be measured by hi
own productive contribution.
Federal legislation should recog
nize classes of land, and while thu
title to the surface of lands suitabl,
for agricultural use should be grantee
in fee, thus continuing the wise pole.
of encouraging home-making, publi
interest and the need of protecting tn
consumer against private monopoly ar
believed to justify the reservation b.