The Alaska citizen., 1911-03-13

Press The great strides made by the mining industry in the last de caie have given golden proofs of the money '1 Ic made in mining. Last year the gold and silver mines of the world contributed close to $Ip".uuu.u"u in wages and dividends. These golden securities are proofs that mining pays
 Especially k this true of gold mining. and in no place is mining more appreciated than in the tinan- cial districts of New York, as the following editorial from the Wall Street Journal a'fosts.
 The greater part of the large fortunes in this country were start ed from investment in gold and silver mines From the time f dis covery To 1908. the United States has produced g. 2.26Ooeo.ooo in gold; Mexico at least $1>t.uop,ooo and probably twice as much. and Brit ish North America SIP oUo.ouu. The dividends paid by gold and silver mines are greater than the diVl- dends paid by all the banks in this country
 Conducted by Business Methods.
 Mining for precious metals today is the same as any other business and must be conducted along husi- ness methods. In order 10 make successful mining company the board of directors must he good business men. who have made sue cessful records as such. The men who are to determine the Charac. ter and formation. the dips and the trends of the veins. and the pro cess of reduction can readily he hired 10 do that wsrk, but il is harder t1 find the successful busi- nes man.
 Where such boards exist they apply the same business ideas and give the same application of busi- ness principles that would make success in any other undertaking. Under such circumstances. with good and thoroughly proved prop cIti,s Of large event, with good transportation facilities. and a req sonable cost of labor, there k no question about success. Two mcr- cantile agencies known he world over have declared in authorized reports "tha, more than 5o per cent. of mining enterprises succeed and only per cent of companies engaged in general business prove successful.
 Opportunities for Profit
 In mining for pr cious metals the oIportu,I,: Tor profits is greater than in any other line of human effort. The reader can !, asOn fl out for himself Tak" any line f business and you will find that the law of supply and demand, to- gether with the millslanes of com petition, grind profits 10 a moager figure. No enterprise depending for its supper; on the products grown in the ground can possibly make mere than 25 per cent. by the very best of management. In that line individual chall seems to reap as large reward as efforts directed by corporate interests.
 In this world of manufactured products a ( to 1p per cent. profit spells Ihe limited prosperity. l. is true that in the manufacture of specialties very large profits are made al times. but imitation and competition soon bring the selling price down 10 the level of all manu factured products, With gold and silver mining opportunities arc linn itless. Oftentimes the work of a day exposes ore that sends mining securities up to prices unheard Of ill any other kind Of stock. There is no limit to the amount of divi- dends a successful mine may pay, and there is no form of investment that offers such a rapid enhance ment of value.
 Where the product is gold, there is no competition and there is no variation in the price below $20,67 an ounce. That value is fixed by all nations and il is worth S20.G1 an ounce al any time in any DOT ton of the gl be. The only vari- ation is above that figure, when the price of exchange regulates the premium on gold in the various money marts. The first requisite of a mine is 10 have the ore opened sufficiently to prove what will be the extent of the production for five, ten, twenty or more years. Where these ore reserves guarantee your investment and your dividends, there is less risk in putting your money into the enterprise than there is in depositing it in a savings bank The gold in the ores is as much of a guarantee for the stock as is the gold reserve in the na- tiCnal treasury a guarantee for the redemption of the United States currency which represents your savings.
 What the Census Shows.
 All of us believe the United States census reports. We all know the inquiries made. An analysis on the returns from different lines of industry in 1900 shows more clear ly than anything else how large are the rewards of mining
 There were S,2S5,716 persons en- gagged in agriculture, and the amount produced per capita was $297; 521,- SOC persons were engaged in for est industries, and the net value returned per man was S42o; A. 41G,SS4 persons were engaged in manufacturing, with net per cap ita production of S764; 74,439 men were employed in the mining and reduction of gold, silver, copper, lead and zinc, with an output for each man of $1910.
 From this statement it will be seen that the men of the mines made a return of six and Cne-half times as much as those of the farm, four and One-half times as much as the man of the forest, and two and Onehalf times as much as the men