The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1901-07-26
BADGERS TAKE RISKS.
There is Much Speculation in
These Days of Easily
Made Millions
FLYERS IN OIL, GOLD, COPPER
Would Be Wiser To Be Content with
4 Per Cent-A Prayer and Farm
School at POynette.


times are attended by the usual
speculation and there is considerable
imitation, dreaming and long-range in
yestment all about us. Mining and
Texas and California oil are the main
talk; even in a slow, careful town like
Madison one is surprised at the large
number of his friends who are taking
"f1yers," some on no better basis than
an Illuminated prospectus. The klon-
dixie has it's followers and not a few
are confident of the Rainy Lake region
north of Duluth. Each day brings in
vitations to go into oil, though
travellers in the west and south have
warned us against the paper capital
Zation at the same time affirming the
Importance of the industry. There is
a contingent looking for news of cop
per and even gold in Wisconsin;
and one of our men who lately
declined an offer to sell Kentucky
Oil for cents a share, keeping
one cent for himself learns that the
stuff is now cents a share. We have
Black Hills investors and strong
Mexican and Central American planta-
ton crowd. In fact Wisconsin
abOunds in the eXpectant.
Poor Men Can't Take the Risk.
1t is good advice that only the we'll
TODD can afford investments with a
large element of uncertainty in them.
Or to put it differently, only that sum
should be risked that one can afford
to lose For a period of years a safe
investment at or ) per cent will
emulate more than a succession of
flyers" You place $1,000 here and
$500 here in Il ''sulre thing" ground
floor privilege Suppose i'll the course
of ten years you do this half a dozen
times. And take a rosy view of it;
let us suppose the $1,000 investment
was a winner and you sold at a large
advantage and the interest on another
was enormous, and so on. But some
one of the "Sure things" went badly.
You lost not only the interest, but
the principal was wiped out.
Now, young man, average up your
investment in gold mines and patent
rights and flyers" Compare the net
result with your neighbOr who plunked
his in the savings bank or bought his
home, or did some other simple, unrO-
mantle thing, almost always he comes
out ahead and you borrow Of him at
goodIy interest to keep the wolf from
the door.
Fairy Stories from California.
But advice is poor stuff to bring to
market There are no takers. 1t will
be more fascinating to know of Call
fOrnia.
1t is but little over u year since a
new impetus was given to oil indus
try by the fortunate discovery of a we'll
in the Kern river district, and now
vast forest of derrick's meets the eye
on every hand. Land that could have
been purchased a year ago from
$1.25 to $3.50 per acre cannot now be
had for less than $500 to $4,000 an
acre. The wells very from 600 to 1900
feet in depth and cost from $4,000 to
$4,000, and produce from 50 to 1000
barrels and over per day each. The ex-
pense of pumping is estimated at one
half cent a barrel, or less.
Assuming that the oil sand is only
200 feet in thickness-in many locali-
ties it is found nearly three times this
thickness-each we'll would draw from
a cube POO feet in dimensions, which
would contain at lowest estimate $780,
900 barrels
Petroleum is One-third cheaper than
coal, and has Il heating power double
that Of the best coal, which fact will
make the state of California one or
the greatest manufacturing states in
the union, anyway we hope so.
Where Poor Youth Get Power
At Poynette POrtage county, is an
academy which perseveres. 1t is
headed by Rev. Dr. Green, once a
Madison Presbyterian pastor. and a
rOusing contest he put up when the
state was agitated over the question
of the place of religious instruction in
the public school system. The Poy-
nette academy has a board of trus-
tees, among which are Professors
Russell and Williams of the university
faculty, and Rev. NJ. Bigler, also Of
y Madison. The academy circular be-
gins:
''POynette academy grew out of the
intense conviction of its founder, Rev.
W. L. Green, d. D., that the Bible
should be- taught in all schools. That
especially in our church schools thor
ough and systematic course in the BIZ
BILE should be carried on side by side
with mathematics, languages, and the
sciences. He had been pastor Of the
little PRESBYTERIAN church i'm POynette