Arizona weekly citizen., 1881-01-01
MINES vs. PROSPECTS.
The Views of Wm. A. Simmons on Mines and Mining Some Excellent Points Well Taken.
Letter to the Boslon Economi.t.l

about the Empire. l certainly have DO objection 10 telling you all l know about lhe Empire mine. It was pur- chased of 4. W. Stowe in November
 of last year; the price paid was S40,-
 600 cash, and some 5000 shares of the capital stock. The original pro- jectOrs believed in the property, and have expended more than $50, 900 to develop it; nine-tent of all the
 money put into this development was put in by the original purchasers. Every share of treasury stock sold, if remember rightly, was purchased by the various mem bers of the board oi
 management. They believed in the
 enterprise, and the only trouble with
 the prupertJ to-day Is, that II has eX- pended all of it's available funds be-
 fore reaching the producing point {;
 aud whenever any mining corporation l organized upon the present unde-
 servedly popular non -asseosable"
 plan reaches this point, il must stop,
 because, by the very principle of its organization, the avenue for obtaining
 means for its further development lis closed, and unless the stockholders voluntarily come forward and furnish the means, the mine becomes practi- cally worthless. l can cOncieve of no greater good that representaIlve
 mining paper like your own can ac- complish al the present time than 10
 vigorously and pei sistentiy attack thls
 system of non -asseseable corporations.
 l was told the other day by au old Boston broker that If ihe Calumet ana Hecla Company had not been able to make assessments in it's early days, IL
 Is more than probable that the enor-
 nous richness of Its property would
 not have been brought 10 light. or course, the great prerequisite Tn all cases is an honest and economic man.
 agement, and coupled with this, ID
 my judgment, there should always be
 the power to collect from the share ! holders q sufficient amount to develop
 the property. 1 have an answering ! faith in the future richness Of the Elm ] piIe mine, anu whenever it~ stock holders are ready Iu c-me forward aud | furnish the money necessary for de- velOpmeni, l believe the Empire will prove d very rich and valuable prop erty.
 The trouble nowadays with inves-
 tors is that they rush headlong into
 an investment, without knowing or seeming 10 care what the corporation
 is, or what the prospects for future ! developments are. They simply look
 to see whether any prominent names | ale connected with the enterprise, and then invest their money on their ialth | iu such names. If the result be tn- | ancIal success, then everything l.
 lovely; if perchance it be otherwise, then maiedic tions are poured upon
 the heads of the management, though,
 as is uflentimes the case, the mana
 gers have never invited a single in l Vestor 10 purchase the stock of the corporation. l have in mind one not
 able instance, where large Arizona
 mining property was offered 10 sever al gentlemen in San Francisco at
 about SlO per share. These gentle.
 men made inquiries concerning the
 property and declined to purchase.
 Not long afterwald several of the | leading Financial men of Boston did purchase the property. IL was put upon our market for something nke ! SEQ per share, boomed up to $40 or
 $50, and suddenly collapsed one day
 10 S6 or $S. The hIgh-price purchas-
 CTS, as is usually the case, imme-
 diately turned their vials of wrath upon these leading Boston men, who | probably were no more tO blame in the matter than you or l. The prop erty was undoubtedly purchased in ! good faith, and the men who pur- chased it believed in it's great value i; luI simply because il aid not turn out l as we'll as was expected, the original
 purchasers must not only lose a good | portion of the money they originally put in, but be content to receive the l gibes and criticisms of every man who
 happened 10 purchase share of the stock above the present market fig l ure. l maintain that every man who l invests in an undeveloped mine should
 do so with the distinct understanding, with himself al least, that he buys d
 "pig in a bag" and he knows, or
 ught to know, that every such ven- ure k, in nIne ca>es out Of ten, a
 mere ticket in a louery-a sim. ole l game ot chance-Hnd when he invests l he Is lust us liable to lose the whole as 10 reap bonanza return There
 are, in my judgment, but two classes of mining investments, one in a well-de- veloped, dividend-paying mine, the other a prospect to be opened In the hopes of becoming a dividend paying mine. He who invests in the first is
 generally compelled to spaysa very handsome price for hIs investment, because he buys "A sure thing, and therefore expects to pay high for it. He who invests in the second class should do 50 with the understanding that he buys something out of sight;
 it may prove to be poor dirt or rich ore-he buys the risk. Ii it turn out
 the former, he loses his money; if IL turn out the latter, be is liable to reap an enormous return. If be be not
 content lu take this risk and abide the consequences without grumbling, he mas no business iO invest.
 People come to me every day say
 InS, "What do you think of Empire
 ur Sycamore or ConientmentY" or some OkuGE SlOGA NllA W uANu NAG AnAAh AAlE familiar. 1 have one unvaryIng an-
 swer: If you bought for turn, don't let the stock reports worry you to
 death, sell out and be at peace. If
 you bought for investment, let the
 stock reports alone and wait patiently
 until a proper development of ihe
 property is possible" Of all classes
 ef investors in undeveloped property,
 deliver me from those who have no
 patience, and who buy for flyer.
 Take the Conleniment mine, with
 which you are entirely familiar. One
 of you has been over the ground a
 dozen times. You know that it Is
 nothing but a prospect-practically
 undeveloped-and yet beth you and l
 know that il lies next to the richest
 mine on the American continent, and
 from its position is liable tC prove as
 valuable as its rich neighbor. Men
 v-ho invest in if for a ouiCk iurn may