Show THE AMERICAN MINI MINING NG CONGRESS ESS the recent visit to salt lake of J p F gallbreath Call breath jr secretary of the american M mining ning congress which will hold its eighth annual session at el paso texas on november to has had the effect of crent crestina A I 1 ng a more lively interest locally in the congress and its proceedings for a number of years it has been the aim and endeavor of the congress by resolutions and the combined effort of its members to induce and bring about national legislation which will create a department of mines and mining whose chief executive shall be a member of the presidents cabinet i while other measures of benefit to the mining industry are receiving recognition at the annual meetings of the american mining congress the establishment of a department of mines and mining is its chief aim at the present time and it is believed if a persistent and united effort is made at the forthcoming session of the congress that such a department will become a reality in the near future and especially as there is every reason to believe that president roosevelt with his familiarity with 1 we western stern conditions and needs will heartily favor such a measure when it is presented t to 0 him through the proper channels many prominent mining men of salt lake and the west have been untiring in their efforts to induce the national congress to enact legislation creating a department of mines and mining and they are still sanguine that success will be meted out to them in the end hon J H richards president of the american mining congress and who is also president of the trans mississippi commercial congress at the annual meeting of the latter in portland last month made an address in which he strongly advocated the creation of a department of mines and mining ordinate coordinate co with the department of agriculture and in which he advanced arguments as follows in the advocacy of this measure 1 I believe the great mining 0 industry can be uplifted and the american people thereby blessed by a mining department on as great a scale as this agricultural department which has so 0 blessed our co country antry mining furnishes the most enduring material wealth of the world it takes from none it gives to all if there is a seeni seeming ing taking from investors without giving in DI return it is riot not due so much to mining asto as to dishonesty and incapacity of those depre benting it cecil rhodes one of the worlds world S great miners says As I 1 see them the following are some ot oi the important benefits I 1 A department of mining would keep the executive and legislative branches in close touch with the wants of mining and allied industries that a proper foundation for legislation might be made clear because all legislation should be the child of necessity that is the wants of the people and that the political department might know the scope of national and international questions relating thereto A department would create a co opera tive tendency between the people and the government not in a paternal sense but in the sense that the government is but a business instrument through which evils can be suppressed and good things encouraged the operation cooperation co between the government and the agricultural department illustrates my idea A department would aid in avoiding the great waste now so appalling in mining because it would aid as in agriculture by wise legislation scientific information the discouragement coura gement of illegitimate promotion the encouragement of legitimate mining and giving reliable information to the people of the real worth of mining to them A department would aid in placing mining on a scientific tift rather than a speculative basis as now in other owris it would as cecil rhodes said make it the spinal column of certainty this would more and more remove mining from gambling and place it under enduring principles of sound business A department would not alone be of great assistance to the prospectors miners and reducers of ores but would aid in harmonizing mon izing mining and allied industries by making scientific information available to these who most need it for their own protection tec tion and through such legislation as intelligent tell igent experience shows to be in the interests of those who are not in a position to insist on legislation in their interests and well being mining employs a large el proportion of the american people A department would aid in placing mining on a sound legal basis a basis in harmony with the highest development consistent with a just protection of individual rights and in harmony with all the varied branches of mining A department would aid in placing mining an on investment rather than a speculative basis A department would encourage lefiti mate matei mining and the promotion of the same all dishonesty is not included in mining propositions and management but mining offers a great field for such methods because of the great profits possible this is all the more reason why every safeguard within reason should be thrown around such promotion and management A department would discourage illegitimate mining promotion and management would this be in the interest of mining and the american people if so then its importance is conceded and our government should be so equipped that its influence could be felt in this regard A department would aid in harmonizing all branches of mining and allied occupations it would help develop a scientific system of what now is confusion in the minds of the american people this makes it possible for illegitimate fortunes to be acquired in a manner not possible in iff any other calling and incomes expanding as our wants increase by tributes unreasonable and undeserved 1 I now believe as firmly as I 1 believe in my country and its destiny that a department of mining would bring to the prospector the forerunner of promise and to the miner that scientific information concerning mineral formations the character of various ores and their proper treatment to convert them into a condition of usefulness that would return to the american people a far richer legacy than the department t of agriculture is bringing and will bring them |