The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, November 15, 1896, Page 1

L\ INTERI ..+ ing terse VOLUME LXXX.—NO. 168. MINERS DEMAND THE ESTAB EXPERT SHILL 15 REQUIRED, '.Ne'gleet and Injustice Are| in the Present System. OR OFFICERS ARE NOT MINERS. ~Important Interests Are Handled - by Men Who Know Nothing of Mineralogy. ““THE CALL” ADVOCATES THE MINERS’ PROPOSITION. . It Is Simple Justice That Industries Which Affect "Every State in the Union Should Be Cared For by a Bureau in the Charge of Experts. California miners have recently taken active steps to induce Congress to establish & department of the General Government for the dispatch of business pertaining to mines and mineral lands. Their late con- vention in this City otfered resolutions to that end, reciting the importance of the industry, pointing out some of the defects - of the present system and urging that the vast -interests involved are entitled to more consideration than has been granted under the present circumlocutory, un- skillful and unjust system. TeE CaLy believes that this demand of the miners is just, and wili gladly do all . in its power tofurther their purpose. The case was recently put in the follow- menner by the journal of the Northwest Mining Association, and the same sentiment has been voiced by im- portant organizations all over the country: From all over the country comes the state- nent that a department of minessnould be & Cabinet office and to have a e other Cabinet offices. The v has become so important 10 longer be properly served by Interior Department. No man can be a and an agriculturist; nor is it fair to se that the Secretary of the Interior is at 4 the same time familiar with both. sl has quite enough to attend to In- affairs outside of mining as he has outside of agriculture. He is nota miner nor *does he pretend to be, and yet he is called * upon to promote and equitably adjust mining €nd its irregularities. The Northwest Mining Association is anxious to get the views of tho-e who = interested in mining, and * after due deliberation will, s thought proper, hat the depariment of mines and mining ea, end a well-qualified person ap- pointed to occupy the office. The West and South are vitally interested in this matter, and many of the Eastern and Central Siates are also; thereiore, there will be little opposi- iion to the movement. 1t isa common and general complaint of miners that the men in the General Land Office and Department of the In- * terior are ignorant of the fundamental ‘principles of mining, and it is claimed that pome bpt experts can properly ad- ‘minister the vast business that pertains to American mineral lands, and thatit is un- " just to- one of the most important indus- tries’ of the country, one second only to sgriculture and manufactures, that it should remain forever in swaddling «clothes. The same spirit of dissatisfaction with antiquated «nd inadequate methods tnat found expression at the recent convention . hasbeen growing in intensity and spirit for several vears. Miners everywhere * "bave realized that they are at a great dis- - "advantage when seeking justice through a - .department whose members are in no ense mineral experts. President G. B. ‘Dennis of the Northwest Mining Assoc . tion recently said in a public address: In the early history of and shortly after the rganization of this association, Colonel N. E. Linsiey introduced a resolution which was in effect the establishment of a Cabinet office in the United States Government which should be known es the Department of Mining. This fesolution was ably supported by Captain C. H. Thompson and others. A paper advocating the measure was read by A. F. Parker o! Grangeville, Idaho, at our official convention February 22 last. The association feeis that the time has come when the great mining in- terests of the United States should have the same recognition officially by this Government, 1in the way of a Cabinet office and officer, as any other department of commerce or state, and to that end will labor hard to accomplish it. Iis action has borne fruit, in that the mining associetions of Calilornia end Colorsdo have joined forces with us and will help us carry to success this meritorious movement. The office of Minister of Mines for the British Provinces has proven @ great boon to mining there, and 1t is with the same inient that we endeavor to <steblisn the same thing for these United States. Our great mining interests are fast awakening 10 its importance and demand that it receive at the hands of the United Btates Government that recognition which shall piace it upon a perity with other com- mercial industries. We hope to be successful. Speciel attention is being given to the contour and topography ofour country, to the end that we may inte'ligently understand thedificulties to be encounicred in the development of it. That the prospector may be aided in nis lubori- ous work we heve urged our second vice- presidents (o, as soon as practicable by setuai survey, make topographical maps of their dis- tricts, and in the majority of cases it is being done. We hope in thisairection to accomplish much in the way of advancing the matefial and practicable development of the country. = We know that our mining fraternity possess that indomitable spirit, determination and effort that would result in the country’s develop- ment finally, irrespective of maps, trails or wagon toads. Our purpose, taerefore, is to meke the road of travel easier and live hap- pler during the travel. The subject was deemed worthy of an extended mention in the report of the Mining Bureau of California to Governor Budd. State Mineralogist J. J. Crawford has taken it up and given it aspeci~i para- graph under the title of *‘Department of Mines.” His report containing this in- teresting Teview is now in the hands of the State Printer, but the paragraph in question was taken yesterday from the ad- vance proof-sheet. It is as follows: ““Department of Mines — It is confi- dently believed that the mineral indus- tries of the whole country would be greatly nromoted should a Department of Mines be created in the Government. The mineral output for 1895 of all the States amonnted to $622,230,723, da it seems almost Incredible that such an important industry should be without representation in the Cabinet. The var ous bureaus rela‘ing to mining are scattercd through the several existing departments, and as a matter of economy as well as menns of stimu- lating and encouraging more full and systematic deveiopment and research, such a department should be created. Properly it should embrace archzmology, botany, ethnology, geography, geology. irrigation, mining, paleontology, etc.”” Hon. Aaron F. Parker of Idaho recently read an able paper on the suoject before the Northwest Mining Association, where- in, among other things, he showed the inadeguacy of the present method of bandling mining matters by the Govern- ment departments that have these mat- ters in charge. Among other things, he said: Operating in gold mines, and deprived of the opportunity of personal consultation with lawyers learned in the technicalities of min- ing law, except by the slow and unsatisfactory process of the United States mail service, I e always appiied 10 the Honorable Se¢cre- tary of the Interior at Washington for such information as I needed irom time to time. A point came up last year involving the inter- preiation of the mining laws of the United States. 1 wrote to the Honorable Secretary of the Interior in regard to it. His cogstruction of the law agreed with mine. There was no difference of opinion between us. The points in fuli were underscored in the letter of thes| Honorable Secretary. Later on, being desirous of observing the strict letter and spirit of the law for the protection of my mining interests, T addressed a letter to the Honorable Commis- sioner of the General Land Office, and re- ceived a reply directly contrary to the views expressed by the Honorable Secretary of the Interior. : In further correspondence I have come to the conclusion that the officials of the Interior Departmentand of the General Land Office are entirly i ‘norant of mining matters. A little later on, in order to obtain further necessary information, I addressed a letter to the Honor- able Secretary of the Intarior, propounding a series of questions of general interestto the mining fraternity. That was over a year ugo, butup to this time I have not received any reply. Now, all these things have a tendency 1o harass the life out of honest men and to re- tard the development of the mining industry. Ibring them to the notice of this association to-day in the hope thatsome of its membérs may be able 10 suggest a remedy. Personally, I have come to the conclusion that the mining industry is imporiant enough’ to have & representative in the Federai Cabi- net, and, therefore, I ask this assoCiation to adopt as its settled policy the idea of fighting for,the creation of a new department of the Federsl Government, to be known &s the De- “Resolved, That the California Miners’ Association strongly and * urgently desires the appointment of a Cabinet officer to be known as the Secretary of Mines and Mining.” pertment of Miuing, with a Western mining man at its head, who shall be a Cabinet officer, with control ot all matters relative to the min- ing indusiry. With such,a department we will not have rulings which once stood the testof courts overturned in a day without rhyme or reason, nor will we be longer sub- Jjected to the dangersof an Honorable Secre- tary of the Interior reversing his own rulings, as has been done in recent times. It will perhaps prove startling to per- sons who have never investigated the sub- ject to know what a vast proportion of the business of the country is embraced in the coal and mineral interests of the Union. Rich mineral deposits exist in almost every State of the Union.~ While gold and silver greatly predominate in the far West, it should be borne In mind that coal, lead, copper, iron, zinc and like proa- ucts are abundant in the East and that the accusation cannot be made that the call for such a bureau or department as that to be devoted to metallurgy is sec- tional and Western. The following tigures are of interest in this connection: The total value of the mineral and metal production of tbe Unitea States in 1895, as shown in the tables of the census, amounted to the enormous sum of $678,- 000 000, w hich compares with a similar total of $581,211,000 .or 1894, showing a total ine cres-e of more than $96,000, or 16 per cent, for the T. According to Rothwell's great statisti- ca. work or. the mineral industries of the Uniled States coal is perhaps the most im- portant of all the mineral products, con- stituting nearly 32 per cent, or nearly one- third of the entire production. Pigiron holds the second place, its value being 16 per cent of the total. These two products have values far exceeding those of any other on the list and thereis a wide gap between iron ana gold, which comes thira on the list. 1ts proportion is less than 7 per cent of the total, being less than half of the iron and one-fourth of the coal. Pe- troleum is fourth in place, furnishing 6.3 per cent of the total value. Copper is fifth with 5.5 per cent. It will be seen that coal and iron together formed 47.8 per cent, or nearly one-half of the production in value. Silver is well down on the list, its produc- tion being only 4.5 of the total. The production of coal in the United States in 1895 reached a total of 195,761,332 tons, the largest amount ever reported for a single year. The domestic production of copper in 1895 was 386,453,950 pounds, a gain of nearly 10 per cent over the output of 1894. The miners have for years been patient in the face of many wrongs, which were incident to the system of placing an im- portant industry under the control of men necessarily unacquainted with the mining business. Year after year the idea has grown in the minds of leading thinkers that there should be some growth, some expansion of the system to meet the re- quirements of a new era. Various other improvemen's have been made in various departmen's of the Gov- ernment to keep pace with progress, and the question naturally arises why should mining alone suffer from the evils of an inadequate system? In proposing the new improvements the miners reslize that they will meet with spirited opposition from powerful inter- ests. Entitled agriculture. Necessarily the Secretary of the Interior will object to surrendering so much of his jurisdiction to a new officer, the Commis- sioner of the Land Office will oppose it for the same reason, while the geological sur- chveyors will hang tenaciously to so mu of the patronage and power as belongs to them under the present regime. To-day when miners go to the various depsrtments with their claims they are confronted with many obstacles. At the outset they meet men who are ignorant of the matters they come to consuit about. and they find those men preoccupied with other affairs. The data, laws and rulings of the department are in a contradictory and inconvenient condition, and it is often found that there are so many delays as to seriously embarrass business, It is for these, among other reasons, that the Cali- fornia miners are now taking the aggres- sive in the movement to have the Federal Government recognize their interests. It is the purpose of the miners to organ- ize at an early date and fight vigorously for recognition in their business. It is believed they will have the full concur- rnce of men in allied industries in every State, and that something substantial may be accomplished in the next year, One of the schemes proposed to facili- tate the matter is to have a delegation of exper. mining men visit Washingion and lay their views before the proper com- mittees of Congress, before the President and others in authority. It isdeemed im- portant that there be the most thorough possible co-operation in the matter. Information and suggestions ought to be sent to L. K. Armstrong, Spokane, ‘Wash., or to Charles G. Yale in S8an Fran- to Representation in the Cabinet. The mining industry of the country, comprising all manner of mining—coal, iron, quick- silver and the precious metals—is of such magnitude that it should have a Cabinet officer, one peculiarly fitted by education and otherwise to take charge of an industry second only to that of Under present conditions the Secretary of "the Interior has supervision over that vast industry, and he is usually a person not. versed in its requirements. In consequence the ruling of the Commissioner of the General Land Office, who is-subordinate to the Secretary of the Interior, makes the rulings of his department entirely at variance with the requirements of the mining industry and thereby hampers persons in acquiring title to mineral lands. JACOB H. NEFF. IVE CENTS. LISHMENT OF A KEDERAL BUREAU FOR THEIR GREAT INDUSTRY cisco. The Nortbwest Mining Associa- tion is active in promoting the matter, and any suggestions might be sent to it. The following table, computed by Charles G. Yale, statistician of the Mint, shows the value of the precious metals of California for the year 1895: PRECIOUS METALS. AS PER RETURNS TO UNITED STATES MINT AT SAN FRAN- COUNTIES. oot Gold—Value. Silver—Value. 250 0U 101 31 700, 47.249 00| 1,789,815 66 144 60 . 1,599,334 79 €02'951 05| 285,106 03| 145.87- 75, san Bernard in San Diego. San Franci: San Joaquu San Luis Obispo, San Mateo. 32 694.469 67 950,006 43, 1,166,745 13 666754 15 16,320 00 1,95728 813 62 | Yuba, ‘Unapportioned... 58,7-6 17 11,153 83 Totals........ | $15,534,317 69| _ $609,759 70 | The value ot other minerals produced in California is as great as the total of gold and silver, and all would be under the general charge of the proposed Depart- ment of Mines. A study of the general mineral produc- tions of the Unitea States, as shown by reports of the Department of Mining Statistics, shows that States not gener- ally accounted as producing mineral products are rich in such deposits, hence nearly every section of the Unien would reap benefits from the proposed depart- ment. In 1893 the production of pigiron for the Dnited States amounted to 7,124,502 tons, and came from twenty-six Siates, promi- nent among which were New York, Penn- sylivania, Lilinois, Wisconsin, Maryland, Alabama and Indiana. In the same year the copper productions of the Lake Su- perior region alone was nearly 115,000,000 tons, that of the entire Union being As it is provosed to have the bureau | take charge of coal as well as minerals it is interesting to note that the production of coal for 1893 amounted to nearly 129.- 000,000 tons. The following table gives a general idea of the mineral products of the United States, taken from the official statement of the Geologicai Survey: < 884 810,426 T L 7775767 Total...... +1...$249,981,866 The total value of the non-metallic mineral products, such as bituminous and anthracite coals, gypsum, sulphur, lime, graphite, etc., is $358,839,804 for the vear 1893. These values show, in a general way, the vast magnitude of the interests which the miners propose to have placed in the hands of a bureau of experts for the purpose of promoting the zeneral welfare of the people in industries dependent upon mineral products. The following table, compiled by R. E. Preston, director of the Mint, shows the product of gold and silver from mines in the United States from 1873 to 1894: Gold, Silver, YEAR Ounces, fine.|Ounces, fine. 1,741,5 0 1,620,563 610,725 130,162 39,500,000 883,849,000 Total . 87,028,721 _ According to the statistical reports of the Government the gold output of the United States is of great magnitude, and ought to be of sufficient importance to elicit attention. The gold product of the United States in 1894 was 1910,813 ounces, fine, of the value of $39,500,000, or 171,490 ounces, fine, valued at $3,545,000, more than in 1893." The yield of yold from the mines ot the United States in 1894 was the largest since 1878, when it amounted to $51.200,000. The anpual output of gold from the mines of the United States is susceptible of very close approximation; for of all the gold produced in the country in any year part goes to private refineries, to be there refined; part is deposited at the mints and assay offices of the United States, and part is exported in domestic gold ores ana in domestic copper and ar- gentiferous matte for reduction abroad. The sum of these several items, all of which are accurately known, and of which that of the gold bars reported by private refineries is by far the gre test, constitutes the gold output of the country in the mestic bullion and auriferous domestic ores. Part of the domestic bullion is disposed of at the mints and assay offices, being de- posited at these institutions; part of it is exported; part is aisposed of by private refineries to manufacturers and jewelers for employment in the arts; besides which some gold is exported in domestic gold ores and domestic copper matte. Itis to be remarked, however, that an ascertainable amount of foreign gold bul- lion is contained in the private refineries’ product of fine gold bars devosited at United States mints and assay offices, and is by them classified as ‘‘domestic production.’”” This foreign bullion must of course be- deducted -from the total amount of the gold the disposition of which is classified above. A HEAVY DEFAULTER. A Trusted Employe of a New York Bank and $200,000 Are Suddenly Missing. NEW YORK, N. Y., Nov. 14.—Richard D. Wood, for the past six_years assistant cashier of the Metropoiitan National Bank (in liquidation since 1884), is wanted on the charge of appropriating $60,000 of the bank’s funds. He isalso said to have used $40,000 be- longing to his father-in-ldw, John J, Law- rence; $16,000 belonging to his aunt, Mrs. William Lawrence, and a considerable sum belonging to his cousin, “Jack” Hart, all of Sparkill, N. Y., with whom he was associated in the livery business. 1t is believed that when the full extent of Wood's peculations become known they will amount to a sum in the neigh- borhood of $200,000. It was said that no trace of the man has been found. but that the efforts to catch him wiit be prosecuted with all possible vigor. When the bank failed in 1884 Wood was paying teller, and subsequently acted as assistant cashier in winding up its affairs, He had exclusive charge of the bank’s vaults and attended to all the outdoor work. It is said he took advantage of these facts to operate in the stock market, and recently he always went on the wrong side. y Three months ago Wood became ill Being unable to transact his business it fell into the hands of his old friends in the office, men who looked upon Wood as a brother.- Then came discoveries that opened their eyes. Once or twice Wood succeeded 1n getting down to the office, but was too il to keep it up. One day the vauits were opened, and then it was learned that securities had disappeared. Wood lived with his family in fair but not showy style at Piedmont. Wood is about 55 years old and has a wife and two sons and a daughter. He had been forty-two years in the service of the bank, beginning life in its employ as an office-boy. el S U EIGHT HUNDRED BABIES Born in New Jersey and MNamed After Fice- President Elect Hobart. $ NEWARK, N. J., Nov. 14.—Vice-Presi- dent-elect Hobart isa very popular man in New Jersey nowadays. Eight hundrea babies have been named after him, and the end is not yet. AT The Law’s Lariat Around Labato. DENVER, Coro., Nov. 14.—The Federal authorities this afternoon were notified of the arrest ofa New Mexican mail carrier; named Mazziro Labato, tor stealing regis- tered letters. He was taken to Clayton this morning and confessed. Labato’s route was from Clapham to Garcia, New Mexico. S Stephen V. White Is Coming. NEW YORK, N. Y., Nov. 14 —Stepben V. 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