Show A MINING department at every meeting of the international mining congress that has been held for the past six or seven years that body has been practically unanimous in the adoption of resolutions ad advocating vo cating 11 the creation of a depart ment of mines and mining the secretary of which shall be a member of the cabinet many good reasons have been advanced for the establishment of such a department and the project has received enthusiastic support from representative men throughout the united states it being held that a mining department part ment is as essential to the welfare of the mining industry as is the interior department to the welfare of agriculture and kindred industries dus tries at nearly every session of our national congress for several years past an effort has been made to adopt measures looking to the establishment of a mining department but never before has success in this direction seemed so near as now the only obstacle in the way of the passage of the bill introduced trod by representative woods being the apparent on the subject manifested by many who all along have been the most ardent supporters of the measure and the mining review is reliably informed that the bill stands an excellent show of being pigeonholed pigeon holed unless a more favorable and forcible expression of approval by the people of this country and especially of the residents of the western states is made at an early day utah we regret to say has been very backward in taking a stand one way or the other in the matter although strongly urged to do so by those who have advocated the creation of a mining department in and out of season during the past five or six years the only expression of endorsement so far made being by the commercial club of this city which has been doing good work in this direction of late and as a consequence resolutions of endorsement have been forwarded to our senators and congressmen the result being that hon george 13 sutherland MC M C writes that the resolutions have been received and that he will give the subject his bis immediate attention and his stron strongest crest endorsement and support in this connection it would be well to state that the establishment of a department of mines and mining will doubtless have a beneficial effect upon the future enactment of 0 laws governing mining ml edg in all of its branches and it is to be hoped that many of the really obsolete laws now on our statutes will be done away with and that in consequence more pro lection will be given the prospector and the miner in the first place the old apex law should be buried in oblivion in british Britis li columbia and mexico no such relics of barbarism exist in these countries the utmost protection is r riven given the prospector and mining operator and once a claim holder under their laws no flaw exists in titles and the iniquities attending claim jumping are unknown while no poor man or rich man is ever robbed of his possessions by reason of his neighbor claim iDt the apex to his vein of ore As a matter of fact in mexico and british columbia the miner is a ward of the government and an d his rights and privileges are guarded against C in in a manner that would cheer the heart and put courage into the breast of the almost defenseless fen seless man wn who 0 in in good faith makes a mining location in tb this is fair land of ours where it is each man for himself and the devil catch the hindmost hind most one while the government looks benil benignly carnly on and directs the injured man to seek his remedy and redress in the courts with a department of mines and mining in the national government with the secretary of the same a member of the cabinet and with a revision of our mining laws no such litigation could occur such as is now paralyzing the mining 0 industry of the richest and greatest of camps the result be in ing r that mining would be established on a firmer and safer basis while more attention the world over would be given to this the greatest of all our industries |