Gilpin observer., 1909-05-27
What is Validating?

Recently our attention was called
to a statement that the investing
public regards as wildcat" any
mining scheme which takes the mon
ey of the public and does not return
dividends-that all mining schemes
are wildcats" until they reach the
stage where they return the money
which has been put into them.
We take issue with that statement.
The investor does not regard as a
wildcat" a mining proposition in
which his money has been spent hon
estly, even though the mine never
produces an ounce of ore.
All business propositions are gam
bles. When the farmers wife buys
setting of fancy eggs, she only
hopes they will hatch. When a mer-
chant buys stock Of goods, he only
hopes and believes that he will be
able to sell them for more than ha
paid for them. When a man takes
out an endowment life insurance pol
icy, he hopes that he will be able to
keep up his payments and not lose
what he has put in, and at the same
time he hopes he will live until the
policy natures.
There is uncertainty in everything
Life itself is uncertain-the most un-
certain thing of all. So, when man
spends dollar in the ground him
self, or gives it to another man to
spend dn mining for him, all he can
ask is that the dollar be honestly
expended. He hopes that he will get
results. If he does not get results,
he does not say that the proposition
into which he put hia money was
wildcat" On the other hand, If
he gives another man a dollar to put
into the ground and that man puts
the dollar in his pocket, or on the
it to one of the vestals of vice, the
man whose property the dollar was
is justified in saying he was bitten by
wildcat" scheme. 1t is simply an
other name for embezzlement.
Your American is both a good
spender and good loser. He places
a thousand dollars on a horse, and If
that horse is honestly and we'll, but
loses he accepts his loss with a smile,
and tries again. On the other hand,
il he is convinced that the horse
upon which he placed his money is
kept from winning the race by dis
honest methods, he is not graceful
loser. and keeps the balance of his
money in his pocket.
A run for his money" is all the
investor asks. His money must be
spent honestly and intelligently by
the man into whosd hands he en-
trusts It. else he spends no more,
or spends it himself He is agreeable
to having certain proportion of the
no.ey be spent in advertising and
publicity work-for he remembers
that he has to advertise to sell his
shoes. or his automobile, or his soap
or pills. But after this necessary ex-
pense is paid, he insists that the bal
ance of the money be spent in ths
ground. in the purchase of machin-
cry and the wages for actual labor.
Does he lose, he is cheerful about it.,
for he has taken his chance and had
run for his money" And he says
nothing about Wildcats And he
usually tries again.
Dun's, Bradstreet or Lloyd records,
kept for decades, will show the
doubter that honest, intelligent min.
ing is no more risky speculation than
Ifnvestment in any of the so-called
regular" business lines. They will
show that banks fail, merchants fail,
that industrial enterprises, land in
vestments, all are subject to failure.
And the same records will show you
that there are fewer failures in hon.
est and intelligent mining ventures
than in any other form of business,
pnd that the profits are greater for
the money actually expended than in
any other known industry. But the
investor demands run for his mon
ey."-Goldfield News.