The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-08-02

world. Mr.. Moffat?"
They will increase it immensely" Re-
Piled the mining millionaire. They are al
ready increasing it and there is no telling
how much gold we will eventually have.
Why. Colorado rs just at the beginning of
its mineral development. Only the small
est part of the State has been carefully
prospected and the few spots where the
rich veins have been uncovered only go TO
prove that the mineral wealth of the State
is scattered over its entire surface. / be-
lieve that the time will come when all OF
our mountainous countries will contribute
to the output of gold and silver. And then
the African and Australian mines will still
turn out great quantities of gold. All over
the Rocky mountain region there are good
gold prospects, and the new processes Will
surely make a revolution in mining. l don't
know what will be the outcome. l have
thought a good deal about it. 1t may
equalize the value of gold and silver
Il understand that the most of you peo-
pie out here are for the free coinage Of
silver"
Yes" replied Mr.. Moffat, I'VE think here
that it is best for the people of the United
States to adopt the silver standard. We do
not believe that it is possible for this great
Nation to do business on the gold standard
alone, and in my judgment 80 per cent. of
the vote of the State of Colorado will go
for the silver ticket. This is SO, notwith-
standing Colorado produces more gold than
any other State in the Union"
How does Senator Teller stand here?'
1--WE regard him as the ablest man we
have in the State. ard as perfectly sincere
and honest in his silver belief
no ~NnD II n
''This gold production ought TO make
times good in Colorado" said i.
Yes. it helps matters" replied Mr.. Mof-
fat. 1--WE are better off than any other
State of the Union. Many of you people
look upon US as having nothing but a lot
of rocks and deserts. The truth is, Colo
RADIO is the richest State of the Union in its
natural resources. If a Chinese wall could
be built about us, and we could be shut off
from the rest of the world for a hundred
years. We would be able to raise everything
ourselves. and in the end we would have
here a nation more rich. more progressive
and better equipped than any other nation
on earth. We have all kinds of minerals.
and our iron ard coal will make us a great
manufacturing State. We have immense
silver mines, which will be developed when
SllNeI Ollc up ~ ~ go W
about 400, 900 people in the State and there
are 100, 900 men now at work in the mines.
At four to the family that means that we
have enough work in the mines alone to
give the head Of each family employment.
1t takes an immense amount of food for the
miners, and the result is that our agricul-
tural products are marketed here at high
prices. And then our wealth comes from
natural resources and not from speculation
or trading. We add more than s4o,0 DOC, GOO
every year to the wealth of the world by
our precious metals. Think of that. That
is 800 for each man, woman and child in
the State, or about $500 for every family.
This does not include our other important
products. which are large"
..But how is this money distributed, Mr..
Moffat? 1t goes nearly all to the big capt.
talists, does 1t not?'
Some of It does, but a great deal of 1t
goes to the people. I know scores of men
who were poor who have got rich through
mining. There are more than a score OF
such instances at Cripple Creek. Take
Stratton. the owner of the independence
mine. He is worth his millions. He was a
carpenter working by the day five years
ago."
How about mining, Mr.. Moffat; is there
really much chance for the small fry in
the mines to-day?"
'Yes. I think there is,'' was Mr.. Moffats
reply, but success in mining is just like
success in any other business. If you pro-
posed to be a lawyer you would work for
years at il before you made much money.
and at the end you might possibly fail.
If you went into mercantile business you
would have to associate yourself with some
one who was thoroughly posted in 1t, and
you still might fail. I doubt whether the
percentage Of loss in mining is greater
than that of other businesses, and the
profits are often enormous. The trouble is
that too many men go about their mining
as a man goes about playing policy. They
apply no more knowledge than a person Sc
lecting three lucky numbers at a drawing
A LEGITIMATE BUSINESS.
Then success in mining is not a matter
of luck?"
mot altogether, by any means" replied
Mr.. Moffat, though there is a large ele-
ment of chance in it. Mining has. however,
become a legitimate business. 1t requires
intelligence, experience. economy and CAPT
tai. There are some prospectors who make
fortunes by finding gold mines. If you car
uncover a good vein or body of ore you
can easily find the capital to develop IT.
Bona fde mining is a gambling Dropo-
sition. The prospects of a mine after 9
short time can be easily estimated, and
the probable returns can be almost surely
counted upon. To get the gold out Of the
ground requires costly machinery, and the
men who go into mine developing with
capital and experience usually make
money. Those who come out here. how
chance often lose it. A man, for instance
who has all his life been measuring clotf
in a dry-goodS store comes TO the noun.
tains. He looks about for a few days ant
then buys a mine. Is it strange that h,
often loses or that the properties into which
he gets his friends to invest fail to max,
money? You would not expect to succeed
by such methods in any other business
You can't do it in mining
Then only expert miners can max,
money in mines? Is that SOP"
NO. 1 don't mean to say that" replied
the mining king. But the men who com,
out here should be men of good bushes.
judgment. They should wait and look int,
matters themselves before investing. /
they have not the knowledge themselve:
they should get the Judgment of men O
experience. There are plenty of reliabl,
men here. If such investors are men O
ordinary business ability they can easil,
learn enough TO prevent them from being
taken in. Why, all that L know about min