Show I 1 the Pra prospector and his burro 9 4 J it is times like these said the prospector to his burro when the snow is deep on the ground and the mercury congeals around the bulb that the roulette wheel sings the most genially in the barroom that the click of the ivories announces a crap game in full blast and the deep silence around the faro table indicates that big money is at stake the clinking of the glasses at the bar also is a sure sign that the miner and the prospector the investor and capitalist have been driven in out of the storm and that surface mining in the hills has been partially suspended tor for awhile you say the picture I 1 have drawn looks cheery to you and smells of comfort so it does and yet not all of the men of the hills congregate in these thirst parlors and places of amusement none whatever for there are some who prefer to spend their enforced idleness in other ways one such I 1 found in a comfortable log cabin down the canyon the other night and he seemed to be absorbed in thought and had pages of written manuscript spread out before him I 1 asked him the cause of so much seriousness and he answered that he was working on a revision of the mining laws which he intended to present for the consideration of the next state legislature and he seemed so impressed with his subject that lie he outlined his ideas to me said he the mining laws are lax conflicting and ambiguous and especially so in utah take the matter of claim location for instance there is hardly a requirement or obligation on the part of the locator commensurate with the value of the holdings he obtains time is hardly an essence in his dealings with the government and without any consideration of value lie he is enabled to locate any amount of rich ground and to hold its for years almost indefinitely with the expenditure of but little time and money for instance suppose I 1 locate a claim on the first day of january according to the united states statutes I 1 can hold this ground a year and a fraction of a year a period of two years lessone less one day before I 1 am compelled to per perform forni work to the value of in its development to be sure I 1 have thirty days in which to put up my corners and monuments after having posted my location notice but this can be done in a day so for nearly two years I 1 can hold this ground against all comers it may be worth a thousand or half a million and yet I 1 can sit back and claim possessory title for nearly two years without striking a pick into the ground or doing a single thing to prove its worth and value then to clap the climax when my location has run out through failure to perform the in work required by the government I 1 can appear on the same claim the first day of the year and reio relocate cate under the same law and then hold for nearly two years more without expense or effort this I 1 can do for an indefinite period or until I 1 get tired and quit or some other man gets on the ground before me on the first of the year this procedure is detrimental to the district in which the claim is located it retards regards the actual development of the district drives investors out of the field and leaves almost everything of value in the hands of a few claim hogs who never develop their holdings and never intend to now this bill I 1 am drafting makes it obligatory upon the part of the claim holder to do his location or assessment work within ninety days after he has posted his notice and that this work must be done on the ledge or vein instead of the softest place he can pick out on his claim and a government inspector must certify to the performance of this work and that it has been done for the betterment of the claim another bill I 1 intend to present to the legislature is one which will prohibit the organization of a mining company on bonded ground and another is that all stock shall be assessable 1 I want to tell you old long bears continued the prospector that old man had the matter sized up about right and even a burro can see that he was spending i djs is time to much better advantage than are the fellows at the roulette wheel or the faro table aaboe and I 1 hope to see the day when his proposed bill will become the law of the land you know and I 1 know that we have been unable to locate quite a number of valuable claims because they were being held year after year by claim hogs nearly all of our leading camps suffer stagnation because of them were the claim hogs disposed to sell at reasonable figures angures much valuable ground would have been deve developed lopea into producing and profit paying mines years ago but as it is the holdings of the claim hogs while of real intrinsic merit are practically valueless and are apt to remain so for a generation to come under the present laws A company also should never be incorporated corp orated on property which is held merely under lease and bond to do this gives a wide field of operation for the fakir and goldbrick gold brick man and the owner of stock in a company has a big chan chance ce to lose all of his shares unless his company has thousands in the treasury or its property is on a producing basis to start with A non assessable company has about as much vitality in its makeup make up as a burro which is blind and halt it is often dead a long time before it is buried and it passes out of existence so gently and quietly that it may be years before even an inquiry is made regarding it while the gold bricked stockholders wonder what has became ot it until its former existence ceases to be bc even a memory operating a mining company without being able to levy assessments when necessary concluded the prospector is as bad as having a good mill with no ore to put through it and there you are and then some |