The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1915-02-02
MINING, THE FOUNDATION OF
CIVILIZATION

Not until the human mind began to
discover the different uses of the vari-
Gus metals, was there any material ad.
vancement made by the human race.
without those discoveries, we would
still be living like monkeys in the
wilds of Africa. The first step toward
the dawn Of civilizations came with the
Stone Age, when men used implements
and weapons of stone, aud these crude
implements sufficed fer untold cycles
Of centuries, until mankind learned
how TO make better and more varied
implemests of iron and copper, which
latter metal was at one time hardened
by some process unknown today. When
mankind learned to apply heat to me-
tai in order to shape it to his needs,
he had taken the first great step to-
ward civilization, and from that time
down the centuries to today, he has
advanced at as ever increasing rate.
His development is based on the dis
covery of metals and their many uses,
from the first prehistoric iron spear
head, to the most recently discovered
metal-radium.
without the use of metals, knowl-
edge and enlightenment could be
spread only through the slow medium
of personal contact ;the soil could be
cultivated only with crooked sticks;
there would be no tools Of asy deserip-
ton, no means of communication, no
railroads, no automobiles, no electric
devices; in short there could be no
civilization, were it not for the mines
of iron, copper, lead and zinc.
Mining is the basis of our perma-
nent wealth. Though the farmer is an
absolute necessity, because he grows
the substance that s~ustains life, that
furnishes brains to convert these va
rious minerals that come from Mother
Earth into all kinds Of tools and ma
chimes that make present modern
homes and cosveniences possible, yet
the product of the farm adds nothing
to the community in which it is con-
sumed, measured by money value. For
instance, if the state of California pro-
duees a million bushels of wheat, and
the wheat be consumed within its
boundaries, there is no more money is
circulation thar before this wheat was
raised But if the million dollars, that
it took to purchase this wheat by the
populaee within the state, was used
to dig out a million dollars worth of
gold. the million dollars used for this
purpose would still be in existence, and
in addition we would have the other
million which was dug from the earth.
Therefore we would have two mil
lion dollars in circulation within the
boundaries of California with which
to buy the products of the other man s
labor, to build homes, railroads and
all other Improvements, and the world
is richer by one million dollars. Where,
otherwise, if we depended on the pro
medium, it would never increase un-
less the farm products were sold to
some other community, in which ease
that other community would then be
poorer, in dollars and cents, by the
amount which they paid us for the
product. And as the product would be
quickly consumed, the world would not
be enriched one iota by the transaction.
A brief and simple analysis of pres
emit day cosditions will at once con-
vince one of how positively and def
nitely the existence of every occupa-
tion is interviewer with the mining in
dustry. Without this basic industry
every branch of trade, commerce, man
ufacturing and farming would be ir
r~evocably crippled. Eliminate mining
and promptly the world would lose its
progress-its modern methods of build
ing, and lighting, heating, plumbing
painting and maintaining these build
ings would cease; cities become depop
ulated, and eonveniences of modern
civilization would become utterly void
If one will analyze the Relationship
mining bears to the general prosperit,
of the country, he viii readily see tn,
great Importance of fostering and per
~petuating the mining industry, AM
that it is one of the most important in
d~ustries in the world, and yet it is on,
of the most discredited industries, be
cause of lack of understanding by tn
average citizen.-Oil and Mining Bul
letin.