Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1863-10-29
Freeze ONT.

dicton of that great author. The I'M
known founder of the game, perhaps,
hardly fathomed the real depths thereof,
nor the vast Importance which it would
achieve among the list of 'swindling
sciences. When the unknown philoso-
pher, fixed his eye single to the bringing
of the excitement of the noble and fasci-
mating game of "poker" within the reach
of the most limited purse, he insti-
tuted the economical game Of "freeze
out" Great streams from little foun-
tains flow, and tall aches from toe-corns
grow. In the infancy of the game " big
hands" governed it; now, in its later
day of magnitude and power, the player
at the game wins not according to the size
of his "hand" but by the number of his
"feet." Mining stocks, and not beans
and checks and whisky, are the stakes to
which the congealing process is applied.
The poor devil who may chance to own
stock in mining company where the
controlling interest is in the hands of
few, and he not one of that few, has about
as much show of reaping rich harvest
of dividends therefrom as in the more
humble, primitive game-he who held no
pair against a full hand would have Of
winning the pot" The modus appran-
di of the game as played with "feet " IS
we'll illustrated by recent writer in the
Carson Independent, whom we suspect to
have been a victim of the frigid game.
The writer enters very fully into his sub
iect, and tells us of the favorite mode
adopted by the " freezers," to dishearten,
overburthen and finally crush out all
stockholders. Among these are general
ly included the original discoveries and
those who have invested years of labor
and their last dollar in opening and
prospecting the mine. When after
long and patient labor and exhaust
ing expense, lead has been discover
ed to be really valuable, and CAPT.
tai is required to purchase the requisite
machinery for working the mine, if the
discoveries are, as is almost invariably the
case, poor men, the sale of large amount
of their claim becomes necessary to pro-
cure the required funds. The stock is put
into market, and controlling interest
soon falls into the hands of few men of
capital. Then comes grief and woe for
the stockholders of small means. Assess
ment after assessment is levied, amounting
in the aggregate to many thousands Of
dollars, and when the impatient and ex-
haused stakeholder, who has sold foot
after foot of stock and hypothecated the
balance to meet this constant drain, be-
comes curious as to the disposition of this
vast fund, what does he find: Instead of
an economical application of the funds to
the legitimate purpose of putting the mine
in immediate working order, extracting
ore and placing the affairs of the Company
at once in the position of dividend-pay-
ing. instead of an aSsessment-levying con-
Germ, he finds thousands upon thousands
of dollars lavished and squandcred upon
the surface of the claim in the erection of
"palatial' brick edifces, furnished in
sumptuous style, for the accommodation
of its resident servants, smooth grades and
costly terraces, parlor-like stables, etc.
Under ground, the money of the stock
holders is exhausted in running new tun-
nels and galleries, and "opening up the
mine, preparatory to extensive operations
in future years, instead of making the
mine itself pay for these improvements,
and relieving the present embarrasSments
of its owners. This course of manage
ment is persisted in until the poor share
holder, no longer able to support his
"rich" claim, is forced to sell out to his
richer associates, or, making default in an
assessment, has it sold at auction. The
job is ended the mar is "froze out" 1t
is against these assessments for expensive
and useless luxuries that the Carson man
complains, which, to use his words,
"while they tend to dishearten and pre-
vent small capitalists, and that to us,
most valuable class, the laboring portion
of the community, from becoming inter-
ested in our mines, they also sicken those
who have to make such frequent and oner-
Gus payments, without seeing any pros
pect of their cessation or of their becoming
beneficial to them. This is subject well
worthy the attention, not only of the mine
owners in the Territory, but of those in
California, and they should take measures
to ascertain the necessity Of these assess
ment calls, and also the manner in which
they are expended"
IRoN-cLADs TO BE LAUNoHED.-The fol-