nature gives but one crop, with the production of which man has not assisted, and where all the knowledge demanded is to secure the production at hand by the most expeditious, economical, and safe means which experience and science furnish. (Gregory Yale, Titles to Mining Claims.)

The arts of mining and geology mutually support and illustrate each other. As the geologist is indebted to the labors and observations of the miner for many important facts relative to the formation of the crust of the earth, so the miner must possess some degree of geological knowledge if he desires to ascertain the presence of useful minerals in his district, such as ores, precious stones, rock salt, &c. He who abandons the simple and correct way pointed out by geological experience, runs the risk of groping in conjecture and doubt, and this is of particular importance in mining, for it is an enterprise brilliant and full of promise, and at the same time expensive, and often illusory. (Professor R. C. Von Leonhard, University of Heidel berg.)

Of the importance of an increased product of the precious metals there can be no question. The ablest political economists of Europe and America are unanimous upon that point. Mr. Seward, in the course of a debate in the Senate shortly after the admission of California into the Union, said:

The objects of the United States in regard to the gold mines in California should be, in the first place, to bring to the general public use of the people of the United States the largest possible acquisition of national wealth from their newly-discovered fountains; and secondly, to render the mining operations conducive to the best and speediest possible settlement of our vast countries on the Pacific coast, which are so soon to exercise boundless commercial, social, and political influences over the eastern world.

Mr. Benton was (6 decidedly of the opinion that the United States ought not to undertake to make a revenue out of the mines; that the United States ought to content herself with getting the wealth out of the bowels of the earth itself."

Sir Archibald Allison, referring to the wonderful effects of the gold discoveries in California and Australia, makes use of this emphatic language:

That which for five and twenty years had been wanting-a currency commensurate to the increased numbers and transactions of the civilized world-was now supplied by the beneficent hand of nature. The era of a contracted currency, and consequent low prices and general misery, interrupted by passing gleams of prosperity, was at an end. Prices rapidly rose; wages advanced in a similar proportion; exports and imports enormously increased, while crime and misery as rapidly diminished.

Mr. Conness, always earnest in his advocacy of great measures for the development of the material resources of the Pacific slope, said, in the course of the debate on the mineral land bill:

I will not undertake to extend this debate or the consideration of this question by entering into an esti mate of what the production of gold costs. It would be mere guessing at best; but I undertake to say that there is no commodity which the enterprise and commerce of our country and of the world require so much as the addition to our circulation of the precious metals. I need not waste a word in stating how it incites the trade and commerce of the country, and of the whole world.

Mr. Nye said, in the course of the same debate:

I beg the Senate to bear in mind the fact that every additional dollar of gold and silver that we produce lays the foundation of our financial structure on a more stable foundation. Let it be known that we can produce gold and silver to make our credit always secure and sure, that the interest will be paid in the precious metals, and our credit will stand as high if not higher than that of any other nation of the earth.

The importance of such an increase to the United States has been forcibly presented by the Committee on Public Lands of the House. Mr. Julian, the intelligent chairman of that committee, who very ably supported the policy of granting absolute titles in fee to the miners, though opposed to the form of the bill reported by the Senate committee, says, in a report on the mineral lands, dated June 5, 1866:

In the judgment of the committee there is very great need of an increase in the quantity of precious metals. The disproportion of gold and silver to other values, and to our commercial wants, is very remarkable. If practicable, it should be reduced. The property of the United States, within the last ten years, has increased about $900,000,000 per year; and this increase is estimated to be more than two hundred times greater than the increase of coin during the same period. It is believed that some policy which will secure to the government a fresh and liberal supply of the precious metals will be found absolutely necessary.

Mr. Robert J. Walker, the distinguished statesman and financier, says, in a recent able letter:

All the benefits of skill and experience derived from years of devotion to business pursuits, are lost through fluctuations in the currency, which no sagacity or skill can anticipate. When we reflect that each nation is but a part of the great community of states, united by ties of commerce, business, and interchanges, and find the rest of the world sustained by a specie currency, which is of uniform, universal international value, how can we who are dealing with depreciated paper expect to compete successfully with those countries whose money is gold, or its actual equivalent? No nation has ever tried this experiment without vast sacrifices and great failures. So long as the currency of the world is gold, any nation departing from this standard impairs its own power of successful competition, and gradually drives its products from the markets of the world. It is true that it may, to a certain extent, so far as smuggling does not open the safety-valve, keep out foreign imports for a time, thereby annihilating its exports; but prices soon rise at home in a ratio corresponding with the augmented duties, and, the check becoming ineffectual, is sought to be remedied by augmented tariffs. It is totally impossible for a nation like the United States to withdraw from the business operations of the world, and it is equally impracticable to carry on successful international exchanges when the money of the country is depreciated paper.

December 2, 1867, Mr. Stewart, United States senator from Nevada, asked, and by unanimous consent obtained, leave to bring in the following bill, which was read twice and ordered to be printed; December 3, 1867, referred to the Committee on Mines and Mining; February 20, 1868, reported by Mr. Stewart, with amendments.

A BILL to establish a national school of mines.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the tax levied and collected upon gold and silver bullion in the States and Territories situated in whole or in part west of the eastern base of the Rocky mountains be set apart, so long as the same shall be collected by the government, as a special fund for the endowment and support of a school of mines, to be located on the line of the Pacific railroad, west of the Rocky mountains, as near as practicable to the centre of the mining States and Territories.

[SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That cach State and Territory located in whole or in part west of the eastern base of the Rocky mountains may appoint one member of a board of directors, a majority of whom shall constitute a quorum; and in case of failure on the part of any State or Territory so to appoint, the President shall appoint such member by and with the advice and consent of the Senate; but no part of the fund herein provided for shall be expended in salaries, travelling or other personal expenses of the said board of directors.]

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the management of the institution shall be under the control of eight directors, a majority of whom shall constitute a quorum. The directors shall be selected from the mining States and Territories, and appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, and shall hold their office for four years, and until their successors are appointed and qualified: Provided, That the following named persons shall constitute the board of directors from the first day of July, anno Domini eighteen hundred and sixty-eight, until the first of July, eighteen hundred and seventy, namely: Sherman Day and William Ashburner, of California; F. A. Tritle and D. W. Welty, of Nevada; A. C. Gibbs, of Oregon; of Idaho; A. J. Simmons, of Montana; and John Pierce, of Colorado. In case of failure of any of the above-named persons to serve, or should a vacancy occur from any other cause, the same shall be filled as hereinbefore provided. The directors shall receive no compensation for their services, but their actual travelling and other expenses incurred while attending to the business of the institution shall be paid.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the said board of directors shall have power to make rules and regulations for the organization and government of the school; shall appoint its professors, teachers, and officers, and exercise supervision and control over the fund herein appropriated.

SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That no professor or teacher for other officer] of this institution shall be removed except upon charges and specifications duly investigated by the board of directors, and the decision of the Secretary of the Treasury, to whom the facts and the evidence shail be reported, shall be conclusive.

SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That tuition in this institution shall be free to any citizen of the United States who may present proper evidences of qualification, to be determined by the faculty; and it shall also be free to students from other countries, duly recommended by the authorities of the schools in which they shall have become qualified; but all expenses for books and stationery, and all personal expenses for lodging, subsistence, and travelling, shall be borne by the students themselves.

SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That the primary object of the school being an increase of the bullion product of the country, by the practical application of science to mining, and the diffusion of correct knowledge among miners as to the best methods of treating the ores, no charge shall be made for assays, tests, metallurgical or other experiments, except to cover the actual cost of material used.

SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That the Secretary of the Treasury, on and after the first day of July, eighteen hundred and sixty-eight, shall set apart the fund hereby appropriated for the purpose named in this act; and he shall, after receiving a report from the board of directors, locate the school and furnish plans and specifications for all necessary buildings and improvements, which shall be plain and substantial, and upon the most economical plan consistent with the purposes of the institution.

SEC. 8. And be it further enacted, That in order that the board of directors may be placed in possession of the most approved systems of education, the Secretary of the Treasury shall cause an examination to be made of the principal mining schools of Europe, and a report to be prepared upon the same, the expense of such service to be paid out of the [unexpended balance of the appropriation heretofore made for the collcotion of mining statistics] funds of the institution.

SEC. 9. And be it further enacted, That the duties now performed by the special commissioner appointed by the Secretary of the Treasury to collect mining statistics in the States and Territories west of the Rocky mountains, shall, upon the organization and completion of the school of mines created by this act, be per formed under a permanent system by the faculty of said institution, and their report shall be transmitted to the Secretary of the Treasury, to be by him laid before Congress.

SEC. 10. And be it further enacted, That the professors and teachers, under the direction of the president of the institution, shall make [annual] visits to the principal mining districts, accompanied by their respective classes, for the purpose of examining the mines, mills, and modes of working, and instructing the pupils in the practical operations of mining and metallurgy; and the said professors and teachers shall also, as far as their time will permit, give free lectures to the miners on geology, mineralogy, metallurgy, and mining engineering, and kindred subjects. And the faculty may require, as a part of the regular course of instruc tion, the pupils to engage for a prescribed period in practical mining and milling.

- SEC. 11. And be it further enacted, That the Secretary of the Treasury shall require from the directors and from the disbursing officer or officers appointed by the board of directors such bonds and vouchers as he may deem necessary for the security and proper disbursement of the fund.

SEC. 12. And be it further enacted, That from and after the expiration of the fiscal year commencing July first, eighteen hundred and sixty-eight, not exceeding one-half of the fund arising from the tax levied upon gold and silver bullion shall be expended by or on behalf of the institution, the [remaining half to] remainder shall be set apart by the Secretary of the Treasury and invested in government securities, which shall remain, both principal and interest, a permanent fund for the support and maintenance of the institution; and no part of the moneys so reserved, [half] either principal or interest, shall be drawn so long as the gov ernment shall continue to impose a tax upon gold and silver bullion, but after such tax shall have ceased the interest on the reserved fund shall be used for the purposes hereinbefore mentioned.