Year: 1875

/
ing intelligent and generally i'm.


partial journals, are prone to lose
sight of very important fact. We


read paragraph after paragraph de-


ploring the levying Of assessments
or sarcastically alluding to the same,
and then strike column or two set.
ting forth the magnitude Of our
mining interest and its important
bearing upon the financial affairs of
the world. The notices OF assess.


ments are usually given in a doleiul
strain. The articles favorable to the
mining interest are bright and sun
ny. The same journal will contain
an assessment wall in one column
and words Of rejoicing, about the
mining interest Ia another. OF
course it would be pleasant to note
an absence of assessments and q
steady flow of dividends. This Or
der of things could not tail to give
the mines Of the Pacific coast a pres
tige far beyond that they have ever
attained. People would invest all
their money in mines with the GER
tainty of large returns. They would
receive thousands of dollars for the
investment of hundreds. Shafts
would gain depth, drifts length, etc.,
| without expense to stockholders or
anybody else. Some mysterious
power would draw the ore from the
bowels OF the earth and the metal
from the ore without the necessity
OF any financial outlay. We should
rival with realities the fairy tales of
The Arabian Night Entertain
ment.' But we are not anticipat.
ing such a delightful state OF affairs
In this generation, nor can we be-
speak 1t for the next. The age that
witnesses the working of our mines
without the aid of assessments will
| also be distinguished tor the apothe-
sis OF mankind.


The fact that our contemporaries
omit to bring into prominence III
this assessment business Is the usual
| disposition Of the money collected.
| The comments made oiiassessiiients
carry the Impression that assess
! nients are necessity swindies and
only benefit few insiders. This
Impression Is grievOusiy wrong. IL
does injustice to the mining interest
and mining men. No Que disputes
| the statement that assessments are
NOT always properly levied. No
one can say that the mining interest
is destitute uf rascality; like other
interests, where large amounts of
money are handled, swindliny Oc.
ours sometimes. But it is absurd 10
set down assessments as u public
calamity. The thousands OF miners
who industriously toll in the bowels
OF the earth aud send forth ore do


not necessarily regard assessments
in the Light al calamity; and the
same may be said of their families
and OF the clerks, machinists and


business men in the mining cities,
towns aud camps Nor can the
foundry men of San Francisco look
upon mining assessments as a ca


latnity, that is, ii they take an intel
ligent view of the situation. The
great bulk Of the assessment money
goes TO the manufacturer and the
laborer. 1t directly sustains many


families, pays for the erection of
splendid and useful machinery ana
Lbs extraction and reduction OF ore.
No assessments means no mining
operations; no mining operations
means lack of works, scarcity of
money, and general decline of
business. We do not wish to be un-
derstood as arguing in favor OF the
practice OF assessing mining share.
holders on every provocation. We
simply seek to show that there are
two sides to the assessment PROPOSE
ton and remind our readers of the
one that is cheerful. We cannot
join our contemporaries in wailing
over assessments. The procession
of newspaper mourners must pass
along without the Stock Report.
When we con the bullion statistics Of
the Pacific coast andrecall to mind the
mines developed, the labor paid for,
aud the towns and cities created and
sustained by the yield Of the mines,
we cannot put on q solemn visage
because OF the size of the assessment
list. Our reference to the ASSESS
ment question is suggested by ali
article which appeared in the But
Teton of Saturday. The B~ttetOn
called attention to the fact that forty
assessments are to be collected this
month and then procceded to dis
sect the list. The writer was gloomy
aud facetious by turns. But he con-
cluded with the candid admission
That the dividend paid by the Con-
sQlidstsd Virginia this month is al