The Goldfield news and weekly tribune. [volume] (Goldfield, Nev.) 1911-1947, 1915-08-21
Mining Law Revision

The present laws under which mining claims are 10
Gated were enacted in 1872, and since that time they have
been i'll force practically unchanged, said Horace V. VIM
chell, 4 well-known mining engineer, recently. these
laws were wei. adapted, probably, to conditions as they ex-
listed then, but they come far short in meeting conditions
as they exist today. Mining men, generally, have con-
demned the operation of these laws, and there has been
much agitation, but no organized effort to obtain action
by congress which would change the laws SO as to encour-
age the prospector and not discourage him.
AT the last session of congress, a bill was introduced
in the senate which received the general appreciation of
mining men. This bill provided for the appointment of
a commission of three to investigate conditions in min
ing sections and to suggest amendments to the present
laws. The proposed act passed the senate with the hearty
approval OF the committee on mines and mining, Score
tary of the Interior Franklin K. Lane, the director OF the
bureau Of mines and the United States geological survey,
and was recommended for passage in the house of repre-
sentat1vcS by the house committee on mines and mining.
Western representatives, however, did not take the inter
est in the measure which western senator's did, and the
bill died without action.
This movement for the amendment of mining legisla-
ton has the approval of the various different organizations
of mining men throughout the United States. The
American Institute of Mining Engineers, the Mining and
Metallurgical Society of America and the American Min
ing Congress all have important committees at work on
the subject. 1t is a matter of really great Importance.
The last report of the United States bureau of mines calls
attention to the relative Importance of mining and agricul-
tural industries of the country and shows that although
each laborer in a mine or smelter contributes an average
of $4,000 Per annum to the wealth of the nation, each agr1-
cultural laborer contributes only $500 in the same length
of time. Although the agricultural industry is everlasting
and the mining industry is only temporary, SO to speak,
congress appropriates thirty-five times as much money
for the encouragement and development of the agricultural
industry as it does for the mining industry.
In the report it is also shown that 65 per cent of the
freight business of Our railroads is in handling raw and
manufactured products of mines, and that the standing
of the United States among other nations as a manufac-
turing nation depends more largely upon mineral products
than upon any other. But in spite of this fact it is singu-
larly difficult to legislate wisely in the interest of the min
ing communities.
The pertinence of these remarks at this time lies in
the fact that there is to be held in Washington, D. c., be-
ginning December IS, a meeting of the Mining and Metal
lurgical Society of America, to which will be invited rep
resentatives and delegates from all western mining and
commercial organizations interested in the development
of the resources Of the respective communities of the west.
1t is hoped that the meeting will be largely attended and
that matters will be brought through this organized effort
SO directly and forcefully to the attention of congress that
it will result in the much needed revision.
The Salt Lake Mining Review says: "The Jumbo
Extension of Tonopah has declared a dividend of 7I-2
cents" Wouldn't it be nearer the truth to call it the Salt
Lake Mining Mistake?