The weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1878-1881, 1881-06-28
MINING EXCHANGES.

not result ed as fortunately as their founder
and organizers anticipated. 1t appears the
were started by parties who wished to unloa,
themselves of worthless, wildcat mimi!
stock and foist the same upon the uninitiatet
and ~credulous buyers. The schemes wer
soon detected and exposed sufficiently to ma
terially interfere with their success and a
the same time unfold to the New Workers tn,
dark ways pursued by sharp de alers in Ger
tain mining shares, by which they attempted
to dispose Of their worthless stock. There
were just enough of valuable mining proper
ties represented to give the enterprises an al,
of legitimacy, but the great mass of them
was What is there termed paper Mines
mines whose value is represented uron paper
their ores. The two exchanges to which we
refer, represented mines capitalized at $743,-
500, 900, while their market value only reached
the sum Of $50, 100, 200, or s per cent. OF their
par valuation.
1t can be readily seen that there was some
healthy swindling concealed somewhere
about these listed mining properties and that
the larger mass OF their purchasers were bad
ly bitten. The result could not be other
wise. A man who invests one dollar in an
enterprise and finds that his purchase repre-
sents a real value of only eight cents must
consider himself decidedly taken in. If the
effects of mining operations of this char acte-
could stop at the bitten buyer of watered
shares, legitimate mines and those dealing in
them would not suffer. But they do not
stop there. The swindled purchasers are not
at all backward in ventilating their ~grievan-
ces and generally conclude their invectives in
all anathema directed against all listed min
ing properties.
Ikcannot be denied that all his is attend
ed with a temporary setback to the healthy
growth of mining industries. Even those
mines that have recognized values suffer, to
some extent, by being found in company
with the 9 Wildcats Their association with
disreputable stock Injuries if it do not con-
denim them aud owners of many valuable
mining properties in various sections of the
country are hesitating in offering shares for
sale in some of the Eastern mining exchanges
for the simple reason that they do not drsire
them t" be damned as representing "wild
cats" Hence a large number of individuals
of means, possessing a knowledge Of mining
properties and the practical knowledge OF
working them intelligently and with econo-
my are turning their attention to their devel-
opment through personal efforts, discarding
he offered aid OF mining exchanges to realize
profits upon them. In other words there is
l:ss disposition being manifested to speculate
in mining properties and more for engaging
i'll working them. Mining on private &C.
cunts is destined t. extend rapidly, ard its
result Will be to put the business on a more
solid and reputable basis and to draw into it
a much larger amount of capital When
mining, says an exchange, has thus had a fair
chance Of demonstrating that, conducted with
proper care and prudence, it is as safe and
profitable as other industries, we may expect
to see a new class Of companies, organized
and managed under better auspices, entering
the field and e~nlisting a much larger degree
of public support than is now obtainable.
Every year D eApcllelCc uldheS IL more Cef-
tain that silver mining can be profitably prose-
cuted only on the same principle of economy
and strict management as are applied in all
other successful industries. Rich mines are
the exception; poor ores are the rule. Large
prices for land and ignorant and expensive
management can be nc longer afforded; and
tlie mining of the future must be conducted
with a proper recognition of this tact. Peo-
pie must be taught to invest in such enter
prises not upon the expectation Of realizing
attaches to q legitimate business conducted in a
legitimate way. We are not among those who
regard mining as necessarily a risky business.
Conducted with due prudence it would be
far more generally profitable than it ever has
Even the mining of low grade ores is
of being made far more profitable
han it now is; but good facilities of CAPT
al are necessary to snch improvement. Every
year, progress is being made in the
Of such ores and it
may be deemed reasonably certain
hat within the near future it will be found
10 treat LAe STeaL IlhSS vi STUBBORN
poor ores that nc smelter now cares to
When this time comes, as it shortly
Will, owners of mines instead of rushing to
eastern cities to make sales of a portion or
all Of them, will settle quietly Town to the
of working them. Their outputs
NAV find treatment in mills or smelters which
capital will gladly erect. AS it is not ALSO
lutely necessary for the wheat raiser to own
5rist mill, nor a wool grower to erect a wool
IN factory for the purpose of working up their
respective products, neither is it necessary for
he miner to build a quartz mill to treat his
,rac Wbon miDipo cboll ba oDD1,nta6 90