The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1907-01-12


or mistakes" John hin. Jr, of the
Chicago Board of Trade, who has done
such valuable work in driving swindlcrs
out of Chicago, writes me in similar vein.
The Denver DAILY Mining Record"
militant champion of corporation pub
licity. carries in its columns daily n list
of twelve hundred mining companies, mot
entitled to public confidence" "Thc
trouble with many companies" the edi-
tor tells me, "is that those who want to
sell stock are too enthusiastic" Yes, en-
thusiasm runs riot when the promoter
discovers he can convert his reams of
stock certificates into real money by
spreading his enthusiasm over the adver-
Using pages of the newspapers.
A Graveyard of Buried Hopes.
How many of all these one hundred
and fifty companies of 10O1-O2 are maxi
ing money to-day and paying dividends
to their stockholders? One-iust one!
Just one of these one hundred and fifty
companies that sold many millions of dol
lars of stock to the public is to-day pay
ing dividends 1t has paid two dividends
of one per cent each year, and its stock
is selling i'm the open market at less tran
half what investors paid for it five years
ago. although its promoters asserted then
that "it is doubtful whether anything
has ever been offered to the public for
subscription which gives so much promise
from so small an outlaJ
In all this brave array of wonderful
ventures that were to make fortunes for
the credulous, one company is paying a
dividend-and dividend smaller than
that paid by the savings banks. One
other is n going manufacturing concern
that ignores my request for information
a third is a going real estate company,
that repurchased from investors the stock
sold to them fourth is a plantation
company waiting for its rubber trees to
{ grow up; two are struggling oil COM
, panies i'm need of money; eighteen are
| gold mines, still hoping to strike it rich,
and nearly all are in need of money.
, Of the one hundred and twenty-six other
} ventures, twenty-five may be classed as
p moribund while the remaining one hun
t dred and four are dead and gone, for
5 gotten by all but the investors who brave
= " put their money into them.
And now to look behind these cold
r figures of buried hopes
G The man WHO set tire pace for the Wild
h cat promoters of 1901 was l.. IL. Pike
- of Hartford, Conn, dubbed by Mr.. Ste
d vens "the notorious Pike" Pike spent
It in 1901 and 1902 not far from Sl0OOOl
e in advertising-profitable advertising. hl'
l. famboyant poster broadside in the news
= papers made all the little promoters gasI
# in envy. Recklessly, ridiculously extra
e VACANT in their promise and prophecies
It these big, black-type, circus-blll appean
h to small investors reaped rich harvest
d The whole problem with Pike was now L
e sell a maximum amount OF stock at
minimum advertising outlay. To sci
800 worth of stock at an ADVERTISING
: cost of $50 was poor business; to sell
= at n cost of $40 was good business. Ill
: cared little about the intrinsic worth o
- fire properties he exploited hole il
e fine ground was, in his mind, a gold mine
d and. after Pike had turned the Engllsl
- language loose on it, it became one OF TN
- richest properties on the face of the earth
Y, His Washington Copper and Mlnln'
= Company. claimed to be 'the riches
lie property in the United States" had moth
= ing more than fifty-foot hole in a grave
i bed.
If Around the World in an Hour.
y l am using the past tense IN telllh
the story of Pike But Pike is not
lie memory, like his companies. He is il
&c Hartford to-day, and even now may b
10 poring over his dictionary for new ad
, iectives with which to decorate more cir
a cus-bill tales of fortune making in OF
h or gold or marvellous inventions. | won
8. der that the new craze for mining stocks
le RAPIDLY growing into the proportions
lg the South Sea Bubble, does not brin
l. Pike out of his hiding place. lie ha
ID a fortune sailed away, and it may b
Of THAT he is not avariciOus. But, earle
re in the year, before the Sunday news
III napers began to carry pages of compan
D. advertisements, Pike did venture Tor
ne little while into the market place. Ill
tx bait for fools this time was Martin
re Giant Revolving Globe and Panoram
e. Trip Around the World Pike descrt
" ed it in this wise: "a wonderful al
he chitectural structure, a realistic repre-
at scntation of the whole world on g
1g gantic globe. The interior of this II
a. volving world is entered by thousands {
rs visitors daily, who make the entil
ce grand tour of the world, visiting a
nd countries and all climates seeing all nj
Mt tions and the inhabitants thereof e.
of most stupendOus and overpowering a
ut traction grand and gorgeous spe
tacle . ever presented.
This ''grand, gorgeous, stupendous, o.
ti- empowering" mathematics, might be visi
Its ed in n summer by 25,00000O peopl
w "At twenty-five cents EACH" figured Pix
70 "that makes $6,25O,0OO. But let us
se conservative. Suppose only 2,5OO,O00 V
n sit our attraction. That would mes
ny 1925, 900 annually. This would met
in that you would receive the first yea
,st and every year thereafter, nearly thr
his times your original Investment in div
I'M dends alone, These are facts-undenit
cd BILE facts-which guarantee a brillial
ay success" Pixies trip to New York mu
lave been a failure, for he soon clos,