The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1914-03-26
STOCKHOLDERS SHOULD RE-
cEvE REPORTS.

A few days ago The Miner received
a letter from a nonresident stockhold-
er in a company engaged In mining
development work in which he dis
played much bad temper on account
Of the manner in which he assumed
the affairs Of the company were being
conducted. He had been paying as
sessments with considerable regularity
for a long time, and the value OF his
stock having failed to advance In an
tictpation Of dividends, and not hear
ing anything from the company as to
the progress of development he ar
rived at the conclusion that he was
being systematically robbed by the Of
ficers Of the company and he so stat
ed in language both forceful and plain
Similar letters have at various times
been received from stockholders in
other companies.
This paper can state with confidence
that the writer of this last letter and
of the others referred to are wrong In
their conclusions, but at the same time
1t must be admitted that they are not
without a measure of justification
When men are called upon periodical
~ to put up money for specific pur-
pose and particularly if they are far
removed from the scene Of operations
to which the money Is being devoted,
they are entitled to have furnished to
them regularly an itemized statement
Of how every dollar was expended, the
results accomplished for the eXpendi-
ture and the balance on hand. 1t mat
ters not how much stock a man holds,
ne Is entitled to know what the COM
pany Is doing with the money he pays
In. Many Of the development COM
panies do this now; in fact most Of
them do, but the few which do not are
the ones which are responsible for the
complaints here referred to.
None Of the companies Of which
complaint has been made to The Miner.
according to the best information OBJ
tainable, have been guilty Of misusing
money collected through assessments,
but they are certainly deserving Of
censure for failing to keep stockhod-
ers informed of operations and advis-
ed In detail of the disposition of the
money collected. AS a matter of fact,
1t Is quite likely that in most cases the
failure to send out statements show
ing in detail the operations is due to
a desire to economic on the part Of
the company management. The de-
sire to make as big a showing as pos
sible in development work leads the
management to cut other expenses as
far as possible, and that of printing
and mailing statements for the bene-
fit of stockholders is too frequently
one Of the expenses eliminated. This
is not only false economy for it de-
prives the men who put up the money
of information they are entitled to
know, but it also supplies basis for
suspicion on the part of stockholders
that they are not getting "a square
deal"
Every man who parts with money
for a specified purpose wants to know
that 1t is being used for that purpose,
and it is his right to know. Let every
shareholder understand from the start
that it takes money to make mine
out OF a prospect, render a statement
at regular intervals showing how the
money has been expended and what
has been accomplished, and as far as
possible the plans of development, and
upon this evidence Of good faith the
stockholders will as rule pay their
assessments cheerfully and as long as
there is a reasonable prospect of de-
veloping mine.