The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1915-10-28


against the fraudulent promoters OF
mining stocks. He makes two sug-
gestions that are good in so far as they
go. which is only a little way, but
are neither novel nor broad-reaching
in their practicability. One of them is
that the mining journals Of good
standing should be more energetic in
their pursuit Of the Wildcats; the 9TH
er is that mining engineers should or
ganize and dlsbar from the practice of
their profession any member found
guilty of improper acts.
Now, 1t is hardly the duty of the en- :
cheering journal to act as grand jury
and prosecuting attorney in the case
OF every suspicious promotion. The
editors of paper can not even with
the assistance of all Of their corre-
spondents, become aware Of all the
schemes that are being put through
to inveigle the public; nor can they
spare the time and expense to run
down more than an occasional one Of
tHOHC Llldh GOiIlt w tHEtl dlLCHblOli.
This may be done now and then for
an example, for the sake of drawing
public attention to an evil, but to ex-
pect more than that is unreasonable.
ton. without owing the responsibility
to the public that the journal does.
There Is not a mining engineer whose
eye does not fall often on some ad-
thinks suspicious-nay believes to be
fraudulent, and would not hesitate SO
to advise any client that might con-
suit him. But there is great differ
ence between opinion and knowledge
The client that has confidence in the
engineer accepts his opinion. The en-
gineer would hardly be justified In
communicating to the public any UNI
solicited opinion, through the medium
Of the press or otherwise. If he had
knowledge of fraud being perpetrat-
ed 1t might be his duty to expose It.
Such exposures are not uncommon.
knowledge and Belief.
II Is precisely the distinction be-
tween knowledge and belief that con-
stitutes the whole difficulty in SCOTCH
ing the fraudulent promoter If one
Of that ilk had been advertising pro-
cess of extracting gold out OF sea wa
ter and had been caught in diving
suit putting gold on the submarine
plates that he had represented as ex-
tracing the precious metal from the
brine. there would be no question
about his fraudulent intent or his con-
yiction Is the officers of the law could
lay their hands upon him. The chances
are. however that he would previously
have skipped by the light of the moon, |
Just as the Rev. Mr., Jernegan did
Let another artist appear, however,
with an Adirondack gold mining COM
pany or the supposed extension of an |
ore body beyond a fault; he will, If |
cornered, maintain that he honestly |
believed in the things that he intim-
Gtcd, that he relied upon his "geolo-
gists," engineers" etc, and 1t Is like
ly to be impossible to prove the con-
trary although everyone experienced
In mining may be firm in the convic-
ton that the scheme was fraudulently /
from the outset Nobody OF
Intelligence ever was under the illu-
sion that George Graham Rice and
Julian Hawthorne ever had any mines
of consequence, yet how long and ar
iuous was the adducing of legal proofs
IN the courts? And even today AL
bert Freeman, who pulled the wires
hat made poor Julian Hawthorne
lance, is contesting his conviction on 1.
appeal.
Fakes That Made Good.
1t happens on occasion, moreover, /.
hat chance may redeem even the
'aldest kind Of a fake. Suppose, for
that Chicken Bill, of Lead
lille fame, had promoted q stock COM
ANY after he had sailed the Chryso-
tie mine, instead of merely selling II C
0 II. A. w. Tabor, The experts would
ave testified against him to a man,
ct his dupes would have forgiven
i'm, as no doubt Mr.. Tabor did, and ;,
he experts would have been blamed h,
or not being able to look into the \
round. The case of the Cananea =
lines was quite different. There we're !
reat outcrops there, great indications a.
ore. but Colonel Greene, who was a :,
ian of the Colonel Sellers type, was n
ardly justified in making the prom !,
les he did. The promotion of his q,
line through the medium Of newspa- a.
er broadsides impressed most con- !,
ervative persons as having all the a.
irmarks OF a fake, but the thing q,
ade good Hence the need for eau a.
on in summarily condemning some Or
amboyantly offered enterprises. n,
The position of mining engineers -
18th respect to fraudulent promotions ma
perfectly clear The mining engin- N
II is like other professional men, nei-
eir better nor worse. There are %
lyster lawyers and also there are NJ,
lining engineers who prostitute them w,
Ives. If the public be not discrimin or
ing 1t is the publc's own fault. IN
iere are organizations--the Institu- N
IN Of Mining and Metallurgy in IN
eat britain and fha Mintno 80