The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-12-27
MINING AS A CERTAINTY.


The Chicago Inter-Ocean the other
day had a most sensible editorial on
! the subject of American gold mines.
1t expressed itself as having but little
I patience with the gentlemen who fill
the newspapers with communications
on the worthfessness of American gold
mines. eve know says the editor
ial. that fraudulent mining compan-
! les have been formed and will be
! formed. but we also know that fraud
ulent railway schemes have been
Matched and marketed 1t then pro-
/ ceeds to say that people have not
lost faith in the capabilities of rail-
ways because of the fraudulent issues
of railway stocks, and then argues
that neither should people loose faith
. in American gold mines because of
! fraudulent mining ventures.
But it is said that mining is a risky
business. Very true. But so is rail-
reading. 1t is said that comparatively
few mines pay dividends. Very true.
But what is the proportion of railways
that pay dividends to those that are
unremunerative to the stockholders?
What is the proportion of men who are
successful in law, or in dry goods SELL
Ing, or in grocery dealing to the unsuc-
cessful? It reasonably may be doubt
ed if mining. when wisely managed, is
much more risky than cotton spinning.
1t certainly is not so risky as stock
broking
That is the most sensible utterance
on mining we have heard for some
time in newspaper east of the Mis-
sissippi river, and the Inter-Ocean is
to be congratulated upon it's plain,
common sense talk on a subject usual
ly treated in a manner that borders
closely on the nonsensical. 1t seems to
be agreed upon by a general consensus
of opinion that the only thing ahso-
lutely certain in this world are death
and taxes. The element Of uncertainty
seems to attach to everything else.
Most assuredly it does to all forms of
business. To domestic commerce there
is the rise and fall of markets, railroad
wrecks and delays which may ruin
the goods or absorb the profits of the
sales. AS to foreign commerce.
though the risks since the days of the
original S!lylock of the Rialto have
been vastly reduced, still ships are
but boards. sailors but men: there be
land rats and water rats, water
thieves and land-thieves." by which
the old jew meant pirates; land then
there is the peril of the waters, winds
and rocks" Manufacturing is scarce
" more certain of being profitable;
whole fortunes have been lost in 1t as
we'll as made; and so with merchan-
dizing. and banking, and all the forms
OF industry and business in which
men engage. What, then, shall men
not venture into these branches of in
dustry or business because there is a
possibility Of failure or proba bilitv
Of being swindled? Such an argument
would not be listened to patiently for
moment when applied to other forms
OF industry or business except mining.
II men have been disappointed in
their mining schemes it grows out of
the fact that they have failed general
ly to apply plain, common-sense bust
ness principles and carefulness TO
@HSAA AdAliHS ventures. Let investors
in gold mines only be as careful in
that business as men are in other pur-
suits and it will be seen that 'luck'
Is no more factor in mining than in
any other branch of industry.
We look upon the expressions or
opinions such as this in the Inter
Ocean as especially fortunate now.
when there is a distinct revival of
gold mining in the inter-mountain
west. Of which Utah is destined to be
a great centre. The recent develop
ments in the Mercur district, and the
surrounding country, giving evidence
OF very extensive gold fields within a
radius Of few miles from Salt Lake
CITY is one Of the most pleasing and
certain prospects before the Z -ople Of
titan. and is to be counted upon as a
resource of wealth to the inhabitants
OF the forty-fifth state, as the .agni6-
cent water power Of the New england
states is to their inhabitants; or that
the climate and fruitful soil of tbe
South is to her people.