ntor, the Government, has
neither knowledge nor control"; that in the evidence taken "it was
repeatedly shown that two or three prospectors, camped in the
wilderness, have organized a mining district, prescribed regulations
involving size of claims, mode of location and nature of record,
elected one of their number recorder, and that officer, on the back
of an envelope, or on the ace of spades grudgingly spared from his
pack, can make with the stump of a lead pencil an entry that the
Government recognizes as the inception of a title which may convey
millions of dollars; that even when the recorder is duly elected
he is not responsible to the United States, is neither bonded nor
under oath, may falsify or destroy his record, may vitiate the
title to millions of dollars, and snap his fingers in the face of
the Government; and that our present mining law might fitly be
entitled 'An Act to cause the Government to join, upon unknown
terms, with an unknown second party, to convey to a third party an
illusory title to an indefinite thing, and encourage the subsequent
robbery thereof.'"

These strong statements are made by a Government commission composed
of able and impartial men, who were guided in their patient search
after the truth by the evidence of "a cloud of witnesses," who
spoke from personal knowledge and experience. The character of
our mining laws is therefore not a matter of theory, but of
demonstrated fact. They scourge the mining States and Territories
with the unspeakable curse of uncertainty of land titles, as
everywhere attested by incurable litigation and strife. They thus
undermine the morals of the people, and pave the way for violence
and crime. They cripple a great national industry and source of
wealth, and insult the principles of American jurisprudence. And
the misfortune of this legislation is heightened by the probability
of its continuance; for it is not easy to uproot a body of laws
once accepted by a people, however mischievous in their character.
Custom, and the faculty of adaptation, have a very reconciling
influence upon communities as well as individuals. Moreover, men
absorbed in a feverish and hazardous industry, and stimulated by
the hope of sudden wealth, are not disposed to consider the advantages
of permanent ownership and security of title. Their business is
to make their locations according to local custom, and sell out to
the capitalists; while the men who feel the burden of