Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1872-02-22
MIME mANrpu1Ar1oN.

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No mines In the world are more
subject to the interested money max
ing manipulations Of the Trustees and
Superintendents having them In charge
than are those of the Pacific coast.
Regardless of the rights Of stockhold-
ers, or their amenities to those whose
property they hold in trust to work to
the best advantage and profit to all
concerned, In many instances these
controlling officers have operated and
still operate the mines selfshly to their
own private gain, resorting to various
expedients for that purpose, such as
falsely reporting rich strikes, shutting
the men down in the mine, or, when
they wish to ..bear" the stock, cover
ing up or avoiding good ore, not work
ing it, levying assessments, and all
that sort of thing. When some I'm
portant development Is about to be
made, as for instance when a drln
from o new and deeper level
from the main shaft Is about
to cut the ledge, it has become a regu'
lar custom to prepare for 1t before
hand, and at the critical time when the
indications show the ledge to DO i'm
mediately at hand, shut the men down
below for a few days, allowing no
communication whatever with the out
side world until the character Of the
new development, be 1t good or bad,
Is fully investigated and these ofi-
GERS have taken advantage of their
private knowledge thus gained, In
their stock-dealing transactions. Or
course, on the other hand, there arc
also many other cases where 1t would
be totally inexpsdlent and Impractical
BILE to allow all who choose, to visit
such new and Interesting development,
as it would obstruct operations, and
there are honorable exceptions, where
the true condition of the mine Is stated,
or published, whenever asked, and
where the interests Of the stockholders
are truly and effectively considered
and attended to. 10 those, Of course,
our remarks do not apply. On this
subject the San Francisco Alta says:
"One of the greatest evils In mine
management Is the almost unlimited
power of the Superintendent to make
or unmake the market value Of mine.
This Is so we'll understood that where
there is q disposition to work the mar
ket rather than the mine, q collision
between the Trustees hero and a Su-
perIntendent on the spot causes the
profits or expenses Of the mine to rise
and fall exactly in accordance with
the stock account Of the operators.
This Is of course far from being always
the case, and a considerable proportion
of what the public hears Of rings
Jobs 'collusions and 'conspiracles'
are the mere conjectures OF badly i'll
formed or spiteful busy-bodieS. There
are gentlemen who own and control
companies. Of perfect integrity and su-
perior business habits-men who, al
though naturally DESTROYS Of acquiring
as many clean dollars as possible, will
reject a dirty on any terms. They
will not suffer wrong doing If it Is pos
sible to prevent it. Nevertheless, they
are themselves sometimes the dupes Of
the designing Superintendent, who can
make flattering reports, select ore,
make large returns, suppress expenses,
force up the price OF the stock, and
swindle alike the Trustees and the
stockholders. On the other hand, with
a Superintendent Of strict integrity,
giving the exact condition Of the mine
1nderstandingly, there would be little
room for fraud. The British public
have long since run through expert
ence of every possible fraud, and have
devised means Of lessening them to a
certain extent. Among these means
Is to require an entirely correct map OF
all the works In the mine, shaded 80 as
to show where the ore exists, where 1t
has been taken out, and where the
mine is barren. The Superintendent
is then required to state every day how
many men are employed, and show
upon the map where each gang Is at
work-whether opening out ore or use
lessly employed where he knows there
is none. The stockholders can then
see how their money Is spent. II they
see the men employed getting out ore
with satisfactory results II day, and
then see them cease working that spot
and employed In a barren portion OF
the mine. while the receipts diminish,
they understand the trouble and apply
a correction. The
Trustees who assume to manage the
property of others are, at common
law, responsible. and may be held Ia
bic for any misconduct In office; but
thoy are themselves subject to the IRE
sponsible action Of a Superintendent.
There are we'll managed mines, with
superintendent Of the highest charac-
ter, and In such cases the results are
satisfactory"