The herald., 1897-09-18
THE INVESTOR
CONDUCTED A DoBINsoN

on the capital invested, but not on the ex-
ira securities issued. There is a passing
of dividends, a partial default of interest
payment, and people who thought they
had high-grade investments find them
selves in the possession of worthless paper.
Their money is gone. 1t is in the possess
sion of men who sold them the shares
which were issued in violation of the spirit,
if not the letter, of the law. They were
caught in an attractive bunco game, and
the men who thus gather in riches are rob-
bers, just the same as though they had
deliberately taken the money out of the
pockets of the defrauded investor.
Many of the enormous fortunes Of the
day have been made in this way, and hun
dreds of thousands of small investors have
in this manner contributed to the great
accumulations of the few. All sorts of
enterprises have been overcapitalized in
the manner here described. for the pur-
pose of enabling few men to gather in
the small possessions of thousands. Some
times the overcapitalized industry has
been made to pay steady returns on the
watered stock, and small purchasers of 1t
have not been robbed. In those cases it
is the general public which suffers, for
the people have to pay for the services
performed by such corporations more than
should justly be collected from them. In
either case a favored few are enabled to
on ,,1o To ic-
honest means by reason of the fact that
laws relating to corporations are either in
adequate or are not enforced. 1t should
not be possible for any incorporated COM
pany to issue stock or bonds beyond the
actual sum of money invested in the pos
sessions of such company, and rapid
enforcement of the law in this regard
would save small investors from losses
that aggregate millions in the course of
every year.
natural mistake that is altogether too
common is for a corporation to name a
bank as treasurer Of it's fumes. Frequent
ly the bank named is not even consulted in
the matter. The appointment is made
either as compliment or as a convenience.
Sometimes, it is feared, the motive is less
praiseworthy. AS a matter of law, a bank
cannot act as a treasurer of a corpora
ton. because that involves personal la
bility. Corporations in naming banks as
the custodians of funds should designate
them as repositories and not treasurers.
The functions of the two agencies are en-
tirely dissimilar Those of treasurer are
personal, and usually he has no discre-
ton whatever in the handling of the funds.
The fuOptio0c nf hank m arct11
1t can and does receive tine deposits of
corporations, the same as from firms and
private individuals, subject to check, but
it performs none of the acts Of a treas
urer, and should never be designated as
the treasurer of corporation. They SIM
ply act as repositories.
An advertisement In London for S. 900, =
600 in India canal bills on the 7th drew
forth proposals for $4,000 900 at an aver
age of a to 1-16. Tenders at " to 3-32 re-
ceived. II. per, cent Of the: allotment and
those lower In full
Five miles from Llano Texas, gold is
said to have been found in paying quanti-
ties, in one case running s400 to the ton.
The onyx deposits of Arizona are to be
developed. deposit near Mayer is be-
ing worked under 100 ton contract to
eastern parties.
+ 4 =
In Montana, Utah, Colorado and else
where the increasing value of lead will,
it is thought, lead to the reopening of sew
eral silver-lead mines, closed on account
of the decline in silver, and the novelty
will be witnessed of '1ead" mines in full
operation, producing 25 per cent of lead.
with IS per cent of silver as "by-prod-
uct."