Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1864-03-15
CORPORATIONS.

There is, perhaps, no place on the giooe OF
,be same population as our Territory, whether
il be a commercial city or mining country,
tina, has as many incorporated companies as
exis. in Nevada. The great expense Of
money required to open our mines, and the
almost total uncertainty of their richness until
they are opened, requires union Of capital
to protect them. The unwieldiness Of large
partnerships, as well as the unlimited liability
of partners, makes it absolutely necessary to
have some other form of association; one
where capital can be gathered together and
placed in charge of few persons, to be ap-
piled to certain purpose under their direc'
ton. This want is so well supplied BY cor
porations that they have sprung up almost
without number. This form Of ASSOCIATION
did not originate with US to supply our wants
as great many Improvements and inventions
have done; but it is one Of the oldest lnStl-
buttons extant. Private corporations-that
is, those where certain corporate powers and
privileges are given to individuals by gov
ernment-are the legitimate offspring of pub
lie corporations which are the governments
themselves. Public corporations are CO.
existent with the formation Of government
itself; when men first formed themselves into
companies for mutual protection, they then
formed public corporations; but private cor
porations originated at later period from Il
spirit of mercantile adventure, and grew up
with trade. In the year l24S, company OF
Burgundians was incorporated in Germany
for the purposes of carrying on foreign conf
merce. This corporation existed for years,
and was well known throughout the world as
the Company of Merchant Adventures.
English corporations date back to very early
times. The charter of the celebrated East
India Company was granted in the year 1900,
and that OF the Hudson Bay Company in
1910. The histories OF these companies arc
almost like the histories Of States. Their
long duration and the extent Of their power
and wealth makes their influence felt wher-
ever it is given. Everybody in these western
countries knows something of the powers
exercised by the Hudson Bay Company, and
the extent Of the trade which they have car
ried on for the past century and half in
the Northwest, where the foot of no white
man would have trod had it not been
prompted BY adventure in search OF gain
The prodigious stride Of improvement made
BY the great rich corporations Of our own
Young Territory show how much We may ex-
pect in future from them. The ophir Mill
and the Gould & Curry Mill are both magni-
fcent evidences of their wealth and power.
When concentrated wealth is applied to de-
yeloping the country, its hidden riches will
be brought forth profusely, and improvements
will rapidly be made; but it sometimes hap
pens that the great powers and influence of 4
wealthy corporation are perverted from the
promotion of the object for which it was
formed by the persons who manage it affairs.
The wealth of the German traders Of the
Hanse Towns in the middle ages, which they
acquired under the protection OF charters
from the feudal Lords and Barons, enabled
them to form the Hanseatic League, under
the protection of which they were enabled to
extend their commerce and effectually resist
the extortions at demand, which were often
before made and enforced by those petty
sovereigns. The wealth of corporations in
this Territory may possibly be used to indu-
ence the action of our Legislatures, or con-
troll the vote at the ballot-box; but with
proper laws to prevent it, and proper exer-
else of the constitutional rights of the peo-
pie, will prevent such influence from proving
injurious to freedom; while, with the i'm
provements which concentrated capital only
can make, our mines will be developed and
our young country pushed forward to impor-
tance vifh UNPARALLELED raDidity