156' MINING. 



government. This is all wrong and will ruin the strict 

 sense of honesty in any people, and destroy business 

 and government as well, and is especially bad for the 

 mining business on account of the impossibility of see- 

 ing what is being done under ground, or judging of the 

 conditions of the mine at any time except through the re- 

 ports of the manager in charge. All mining operations, 

 especially below ground, have to be entrusted to the 

 honesty of employees, and when dishonesty rules the 

 head the rest of the members are apt to follow the lead, 

 and distrust takes the place of confidence throughout 

 and ruin must follow, sooner or later, as a matter of 

 course. 



Mining populations are generally very cosmopolitan, 

 and possessed of great individuality. Human nature is 

 met, stripped of its covering of polite and cultivated 

 attempts to appear in the reigning moral fashion — human 

 nature is seen in the rough — men and women are gener- 

 ally known and taken for what they are worth, and 

 their characters are very clearly defined. A keen insight 

 into human actions is the natural result of mining ex- 

 periences. There is no use in putting on airs or pretending 

 to know more than you really do or to hide your real 

 character, for it will all come out in a very short time, and 

 yon are named, classified and weighed up so quickly that 

 it is astonishing to the tenderfoot. The unassuming man 

 is the most deceptive man in such a community. There 

 are found some of nature's noblemen, real self-made, 

 honest and sympathizing men, educated by contact with 

 nature and their fellowmen. Again, some have had 

 college educations or have been raised in the lap of luxury 

 and refinment, others have been dissatisfied or unfortu- 

 nate in other walks of life, but all have drifted to the 

 mines in search of fortune, adventure or seclusion, and 

 becoming infatuated with the free, wild life of the mining 

 regions, have followed the bent of their own inclinations 



112 



