Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1901-03-02

! order to increase it's capacity and its
profits Rather would it save money
| to cover future deficits, and manage
| Il. get along with the old plant.
| 1t will occur to the average observer
that in case of a doubt about it's ore
supply. great mining company which,
with its auXiliaries is working 1900
men and paying them annually between
! twelve and fifteen million dollars in
wages. would not change the working
! day voluntarily from ten hours to
eight hours. thus considerably increas-
| ing its expenses, when such result might
be avoided or at least postponed for
many months by carrying the matter
into the courts.
1t will occur to the average observer
that a mining company whose ore sup
ply is failing is not likely to purchase,
at a cost of many hundreds of thous-
ands of dollars vast tracts of timber
lands for future use when it has already
enough available timber land to last for
d decade.
1t will occur to the average man that
! the purchase and development of great
coal fields and the building of coke
| ovens at great expense is not usually
! the policy of a great mining company
which has any reason to apprehend
either a shortage or reduction in the
value of its ore supply in the lower
| levels of its chief producers.
1t will occur to the average observer
| who knows the Anaconda Company
owns nearly one hundred claims in a
compact area that even if the bottom
OF the Anaconda mine proper had been
| hoisted to the surface and cut up into
post holes, and if the fire which is not
there but which is alleged to be there.
| We're traced to a downward connection
with the endless flames of Purgatory
below and could not be quenched by all
the rivers of the Universe-it would oc-
cur to the average man that the COM
pany still has ground enough between
| the Ground Squirrel and the Cora to last
over fifty years according to the esti-
mates of intelligent experts.
1t will occur to the average man that
! when great mining company is operat-
ing in a district which is on the verge of
collapse it is not likely through any of its
connections, to harness the power of the
Big Hole river twenty -tive miles distant
and contract for power from the Mis-
souri, river seventyfive miles distant for
the purpose of securing energy to keep
the machinery in motion. Nor is it likely
to build such a reservoir as is now be-
r sol at fha a
of the Big Butte. to secure water sup
ply for itself and the people of this city
unless the future We're bright with prom
ise, and the permanence Of it's mines and
of the city were beyond possibility Of
1 question as far as any indica tons in the
mines might warrant predictions of per-
manence.
Finally it will occur to the average man
that the capitalists who have invested in
this state the sum of one hundred mill
lion dollars in good faith and who are
closely identified with the greatest indus
trial enterprises of this country are not
of the sort to descend to the petty lar
ceny scheme of recommending to their
friends an investment doomed to failure
and collapse Within year from its in
ception. They have too much at stake
in the world of finance to go into an en-
terprise without the fullest investiga-
ton. When they sent their represen-
tatives to Butte to examine the mines
known as the Amalgamated properties
there was no doubt of the permanence
> of those properties or the stock would
never have been offered to the public
The original investors made full allow
ance for as low grade ore as all othercop
per mines i'm the world have had and fig
: ured that the economies Of operation un'
der joint control would more than coun
+ terbalance any changes likely to occur
, in the character of the ore bodies will
the attainment of depth. Happily
T however, the changes have been bu
, nominal and the result has been tina
the company in it's prosperity and salts
faction has of late met its employee!
, important labor reforms which would b,
!. simply impossible under the conditions
alleged to exist by the brilliant and re
/ sourceful liars of New York's ieadin:
"ye,lOw" newspaper.
> The bankers and business men of BUTT
owe all they possess to the mines locat
ed here. Their present prosperity is thu
: direct result of adjacent mining activity
Their credit is to large extent baset
upon the future of the surrounding cop
: per mines That future would be darl
indeed should any of the great proper
! ties of this district show signs of eXhaus
ton i'm the lower levels. 1t is the sam
with the miners, mechanics and laborers
Should the mines become discredited
| Shcn,l6 thev inlay ont ShOul6 CAN'T a