The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1917-09-13

on the earth has Ii. A possible pur-
chaser has therefore, in their minds
to buy 1t regardless of price. Years
Of failure and weary waiting have
failed to alter their opinion. Hope
springs eternal in the promoters
breast--there is no truer proverb than
that. Having got this idea into Their
heads. they proceed to indulge in the
process (called, by the ignorant, one
of the attributes of good citizen)
known as boosting the property and
district. and not infrequently get
themselves advertised extensively as
enterprising citizens of their particu-
lar neighborhood; while all they are
accomplishing is much harm, harm
that takes years to overcome. The ir-
responsible booster whom the local
papers are fond of backing up, without
the ghost of an idea as to whether the
booster is right or wrong, is trouble
to his district. Multiply him by a
thousand and he becomes a menace
to proper progress. Boosting" just
because boosting" is habit, vir-
tue, is bad policy because 1t forgets
that the stupid booster administers
the greatest knock country can re-
ceive. The idea seems to be that If
one shouts. loud enough, man with
money will hear. Unfortunately, this
type Of shouting browns the voice of
the holder and promoter of areas
where reasonable production could be
commenced.
One Born Every Minute. n
] live in town of $4,000 inhabit-
ants, let us say, and, with the excep-
tion Of infants in arms, every citizen
holds stock in some Industrial or min
ing venture calculated in some glow
ing day of past regrets to bring riches
within the reach Of all. A latent sense
OF past foolishness makes most Of us
hold our tongues about such invest
ments; but nevertheless they were
made. as now and again the declared
wills of some of the most prominent
citizens disclose to our astonished
eyes heaps of worthless stock certifi-
Gates bought by men we have all come
to look upon as the embodiment of
cautious investment. These things
are memories Of long ago. Notwith-
standing that this is a good business
district, where We flatter ourselves we
do know something about business it
is rather wierd to discover how close
Is the connection in the mind of the
promoter between proper business and
the other sort Of enterprise They
call it bringing capital into
the country" or developing their own
neighborhod and deserving patriots
crown" We have had gold companies,
oil companies. steel companies, hos
iery companies and many another of
varied hue and species; the only COM
mon feature being the money they
We're to bring to their fortunate own
ers. How many millions of capital
have gone in this one district on en-
W. IA iScS iouHutu vi a wrong OASIS
started before the market was there,
or begun upon deposit of material
inadequate to meet the demands of
the plant. And if millions have gone
from this one small section of the
country, what must be the amount of
money poured out in other parts of
the land? Truly romance can not vet
be dead--the foot of the rainbow still
glamors.
There can be only one meaning TAX
on out of these examples of our ex-
traordinary methods of attracting
capital. They have been Inadequate.
iisorganized and haphazard in the
past; we have no sense of the useful
less of any of these proposals to the
and there is no balance in
'ur Judgment Of the rights of capital
n making new investments. Would
We not then have taken a big step
onward to increased development, il
We had two things done method or
program whereby the natural posi-
'ilities of each deposit, district, place,
ould be properly valued; and further
over any project proposed
or investment of capital?