Smyrna times., 1883-03-07
The Mining Mania.

years since whose business frequently
called him into some of the mining re-
gions of the West. One day he was
approached by a wealthy neighbor
who, difidently suggesting that he
must see opportunities for excellent
investments, finally offered him $50, 900
to be invested in mines. "Do you
know anything about mines 2" asked
his friend.
"No, nothing"
Would you intrust me with $4,000
to be invested i'll railroad stocks or
some manufacturing enterprise, accord
ing to my judgment?"
No, don't think would"
Then in Gods name, man." shout
ed the excitable Ex-Governor, "why |
should you blindly give away your
money to be sunk in holes in the
ground of which neither you nor I
know anything?"
Had Mr.. Gilbert L. Crowell been
favored with an equally sound adviser,
he might have been prevented from
appropriating trust funds and sinking
$775,000 in hole in ground" And
mining, which in the last two years
has come to be an unsavory odor in
the nOstrils of Eastern people, as the
condition of the market has testified,
might have been spared this last blow.
Yet it is not unlikely that no advice
could have healed his infatuatiou.
The mining monomania is disease to
be commended to the study of psychol-
ogiSts. People sound on every point
go utterly daft ON the subject of mines.
Men like the one quoted above, who
f would never dream of investing a dol
lar in any legitimate manufacturing or
[ commercial business without thor
ough knowledge and close examina-
, tion, have again and again sunk their
} thousands in some wildcat mining
scheme on the strength of the assur-
l ances of promoters" the reports of
f experts and the richness of tray
: of sample ores" The idea of finding
, precious metals in the earth exercises
}, the same influence that is felt by the
!. man who hunts for the buried treasures
l of Captain Kidd, or the gambler who
: pursues the phantom of fortune de-
V pendent on a lucky" turn of the
e cards. Now it is worth pointing out
: that there are too classes of people who
rarely make money out of mihes-the
Y Eastern people who buy mining stocks
II and the western prospectors who are
y the original locaters of claims, but who
# as rule, lack money for the necessary
development and are forced to sell
The men who find mining most profita
bic are, on the one hand, those who
- living in the West, combine capital and
:, thorough knowledge of the business
and on the other, the unscrupulous
mining speculatOr who haunts oui
Eastern cities. The stock of the really
valuable mines is usually held by ;
comparatively few persons as privat,
- enterprise. The stocks representa-.
" properties of any worth which are pu
~ upon the market are few in number.
:, But stock gambling is one thing
: mining another. Those who have sui
- fered by such ventures as State Line
Little Pittsburg, Chrysolite and Robin
~ son are apt hastily to confound tn
two. There is no necessity for goinj
% over frequently trodden ground t.
"a show that mining properly conducte
is legitimate business. The develop
! ment of the States and Territories Yves
~ Of the hundredth meridian is yer
= largely due to mining For the te
- years from 1870 to 1880 the value {
the precious metals from the Wester
60 and Pacific States and Territories wa
$500, 900, and for 1881 alone $S4
-. 504,417. 1t should be remembered
- too, that mining ranks second only I
~ agriculture among our national indu
~ tries. Happily there has grown u
=. here and in England during the la
two years a more prudent and ration
id spirit regarding mining enterprise
"a Men have learned that knowledge an
or experience are necessary in this bus
nv ness, as in any other, and that there
"a more truth than poetry in the old sa
or ing that it requires a mine to work
.so mine-a saying which Mr.. Grove
,on could abundantly confirm. Such
10 spirit is more healthful than the blir
infatuation which characterized Il
49, palmy days of the comstocks and Il
development of Leadville. The disa
trous failure of Mr.. Crowell will not
'iu' without its use If it serves to he
nu' others bitten by the mining mania al
nu- hasten the day when mining shall
carried on only by intelligent al
'ng legitimate methods.-N. Y. Tribune.
ex-
s The sugar bushes of Vermont al