The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1914-05-28
COMPARISONS OF LAW
Continued From Page y

and satisfy the demands of influential
constituencies and industries. 1t is
impossible to explain by reference
to the provisions Of pre-eXistng Eu
ropean or Spanish American codes the
peculiar features of these statutes.
They grew up out of local conditions.
and We're formulated by men ignorant
of precedents and principles. More
over, even those men were necessarily
"opportunists,' taking more or less
blindly one step at a time, They new
er had a chance to frame mineral
land law de novo. From the beginning
they were trying to satisfy the mining
communities, and recognize as far as
practicable existing local customs, re-
Numbering always that any attempt
at sudden and essential change Of such
customs would be ridiculously futile,
because incapable of effective enforce
ment. And of the revolutionary change
which was thus made in several re-
spects by the Act Of 1872, both the au-
thors of that measure and the COM
munities affected by it were sublimely
unconscious
The foregoing demonstration Of the
"opportunist" character of federal land
legislation warrants the inquiry wheth-
err the conditions of 1872 have since
been so changed as to justify new leg
islation in 1914.
The Situation in 1872.
AS I have said, the potential mis-
chief continued in the Act of 1872 was
neither foreseen nor Immediately re-
allied. The statute was welcomed
in the region to which it applied as
much needed protection to bona fide
prospectors and their grantees, the
investors of capital. No one expected
it to produce harvest of blackmail and
litigation. It's immediate effect was to
encourage the adventurous and specu-
lative exploration of one new district
after another; and, as the pioneer in
dustry Of mining blazed the way for
the advance of all other civilized ac-
tivities Though too often at ruinous
cost to itself, the result was the con-
quest of a vast wilderness and the
creation of new empire.
The situation in 1872 was this:
/. Indian wars had been practically
removed as a serious element Of dan
ger, preventing the exploration Of the
public domain. Their doom was pro-
nounced when the completion of the
first transcontinental railway permit
ted the rapid movement of troops and
supplies, so that hostile tribes could
be pursued in winter campaigns.
2 Successive discoveries of rich
placers or quartz mines were causing
excited stampedes of mining pros
pectors.
8. The price received for silver was
such as to encourage silver mining
and the silver bearing deposits Of
such districts as the Cotton canyons
in Utah, White Pine and Eureka in
being developed with wild enthusiasm.
AS we all know, certain classes Of sill
yer bearing deposits offer outcrops of
very rich minerals admirably adapted
to stimulate speculation. And the
outcrops Of silver-lead ores (already
utilized in Utah and soon to assume
at Eureka, New, and at Leadvlle,
Colo, immense economic Importance
furnished in their combination of lead,
silver and iron oxide. material
smelling like butter" in the print
tive furnaces of the period.
l am not here concerned with the
exact dates of successive discoveries
and developments in different re-
gions, or successive advances in the
mining and metallurgical industry of
the west My own public reports as
U. S. commissioner Of mining, etc,
from 1868 to 1876, and many other au-
thorities, may be consulted as to these
details. What l wish to emphasize
here is the character of the period
just before and just after 1872, as ONT
of new discoveries, new districts, new
processes, the exploitation of bonan
zas and the enormous development
speculative investments in mining en-
terprises on the Pacific slope. 1t car
not be denied that the act of 1872, with
all it's defects, stimulated this amaz
ing continental development. Car
lyle describes the tactics OF the arm
les of the French revolution as pro-
cess of "swarming"-a word which in
cludes, in the German language from
which he took it, the element OF en-
thusiasm. The wilderness Of our west
was similarly overrun by the irresist-
ible swarming advance of our mining
pioneers, under the stimulus furnish
ed, and in spite of the hindrances i'm
posed Gas we can now clearly recog-
nize), by the act Of 1872.
The Present Situation.
The conditions Of today are the
cumulative result of causes operating
since 1872, among which the follow
ing may be named as the most i'm
portant:
/. The decentralization Of silver and
its consequent fall in price. This nat
urally discouraged speculation in sill
yer mining while it promoted econ