Year: 1874

his scheme IS q business proposition, but tsae
as


swINDLB


it might yet be made remuneratiye. And
therefore he resolved TO work Il as Q swindle.
The course taken by him since that time dem
failed to fulfill his contracts with the mine own
ers, and he had no standing In the courts. 30
he syades that legitimate means Of gaining his
rights, supposing him to have possessed any,
and he goes TO Congress In the hope thas by
plausible misrepresentation and persistent ap-
plication he might induce that body to indorse
his lswless and outrageous project. He says
that the Bank of California is opposing him,
and we think IL quite probable. The Bank OF
California Is understood to be Interested N GER
tain Of the Comstock mines, and whoever is so
interested has the best possible reason tor
opposing Mr.. Sutro; that reason being precisely
the same which leads man to object and pro-
test when he detects the hand of thief In his
pocket.


"To give an idea Of why people should OBJ
ject to this fraudulent scheme we may state
that according TO the published reports there
were 1l6, ,3Ss tons Of ore raised In the Comstock
lode during the quarter ending March 81, 1874;
that If Sutro's tunnel reached the lode every
ton of this ore would have had to pay him Q
royalty of two dollars; and that therefore the
mine owners would have paid Sutro the sum Of
S2SS ,778 for absolutely no consideration. On
the divide between Gold Hill and Virginia City
there have frequently been highway robberies,
the place being lonely and bleak; but no high
waymen that ever ordered victim 10 throw
up his hands, on the divide, committed more
emphatic. questionable act of


ROBBERY BY VIOLENCE


| than Sutro proposes, to do in this case. The
| scheme indeed is so monstrous, so infamous,
aud so abominably iIhpudent In it's surrounS-
/ in0R that IL is diffieulf To tam
ately, and when we reflect that this deliberate
attempt to legalize 3 system Of wholesale
plunder is being urged upon the National Leg
islature with apparent hopes of success, we are
tempted to ask whether Congress is really .
body Of ofayerage honest men, or an assemblags
of adventurers willing to take q share In any
job, no matter how iniquitous- To say that
there is not another country under the face Of
the sun where such thieying project IS this
could stand for twenty -four hours, is not to eX-
press the difference between Congress and all
other legislative bodies In the world. If Sutro
should succeed In fixing his plunder system
upon the Comstock mines It will be
ADEEP DISGRACE TO THE COUNTRY,


and assuredly it will not tend 10 make the
people more inclined to deal out even handed
justice toward those foreign capitalists who
are backing this nefarious scheme, and who are
\ doing their utmost to force American miners
to reimburse them the outlay which their silly
credulity caused them in the outset More
than this: It is quite impossible, after the VEN
tilation which this subject has received, for
any Congfesspap to pretend that be doss not
understand rs Meriks. Tie altitude Of the
whole Pacific coast delegation, of the press,
and Of the people, are known at Washington.
If in the face Of these exhibits Congress grants
Sutro that which he demands, the act will be
one of the most outrageous injustice, and let
US add, of the I2st 9uesSqIsR L honesty" .