Lyon County times. [volume] (Silver City, Nev.) 1874-1907, 1877-01-01
Stock Speculstions.

Tor all are liable to NUT. tions and
huctuatlons-and IN all of them. and
In hundred other pursuits fortunes
may be made or lost-yet no one
calls them gambl,ng.-Stock Report.
Our own opinion is that The Re.
veille is more nearly correct than The
Stock Report. If mining industries
were conducted honestly and if the
minority of stockholders had some
way to ascertain the value of their
property, stock specuations would be
no more akin to gambling than spec
uations in cotton, sugar or tobacco
are. When you buy any of these
staples on tee expectation that the
"rlce OF them will rise while on your
hnuds, all the conditions affecting a
rise or Il decline are as much before
yau as before any otncr Spectator,
however powerful he m.v to-. You
mHy calculate With G,gree If GER
ttiniy dependent upaa your per,pi.
cuity and power u reasoning rs t.
what i to come.
Bat suppose instead of The staple
articles of commerce yOu have shares
H. some mine and re IN the outside,
as they say. Yru may then he led t.
believe that Your property Is wortH-
less, AID in despair sell II. when 10
reality it Is more valuable shan yau
had dreamed Of, n the reverse may
oc the case with YOU. You have n
chance whatever u exercise ynur
reason, Ia MAKE estim AtcS o. probauli-
Itlcs OF u calculate. I,u ant see
the diamond drill borings or the faces
of important drifts, WINES, luclines
and So on. Your are entirely in the
dark rs to the facts, while the in
siders are bask my in the light of
every new disclosure.
Stock speculatinns are therefore
game, in which the Insiders have the
fixing Of the cards exclusively to
themselves. Ii Is II game IN many re
Spects very much worse than faro.
because at faro no continuation Of
circumstances can be produced IL
make YOU believe that the probabiii-
ties are more that Il certain card will
win than hat it will lose. There is
no set of players provided with APP
paratus <tor boring into the box and
ascertaining long before hand how
the cards are going to come out, and
when the cards do come out there is
no concealing the fact as to whether
YOU have won or loSt-you do not
have to depend upon rumor at all.
Legitimate mining by joint stock
companies, conducted fairly, would
be as safe speculation, perhaps, as
buying and storing cotton for II rise.
But that sort of mining has never
been attained. Maybe it will be some
time. Lawmakers and thinkers would
do the public service and assist
mining enterprise if they could de
wise some means for protecting the
minority against the schemes of the
majority. Until that is done specu,
lstions in mining shares must be re-
gardcd as shade worse than gam
Ding AT \ square game of faro.
If Il man buy II few shares in
Sierra Nevada, for instance, in the
expectation that ore Will be discov-
cred in that mine or in some immedi-
ately contiguous location and that
the stock will appreciate in conse-
quence, he ought to be told of dis
covery or an indication OF discovery
Just as soon as either Is revealed to
the most favored inSider. Likewise
if he were 70 short Justice, believing
the ore body to be small, he should
know from day to day the prospect
for = fultillment of his belief. Under
these conditions m'ning speculations,
would be MS Legitimate" AS any 9TH
ers But the reverse of these condi-
tons prevail, and The keveille is just
RIGHT wnen il says that for an out
sidcr t. buy add sell shares is To Jam
nie * the most hHzardnus game.