Bisbee daily review., 1919-04-13

try has been deluged with a flood or
 oil promotions. fostered by recent de- | velopments in the north central Texas ! fields It is only recently that the Warren District has received its share of the attention of interruptions pro- motors, but it has already absorbed vast and indigestible quantity of so called oil investment securities. This hysteTical fevet for speculation which
 sweeps the country periodically Eal-I
 ways gives birth to a litter of wild
 cats. The last epidemic of the sort
 centered in the Jerome, district in
 1916 and particularly virulent form
 of the disease it. was. Most of the
 companies organized at that time are
 now defunct, many without even havr
 ing started to develop their proper ties, while a few of the more success | ful financed are still spending their f remaining funds in an attempt to
 find another United Verde Extension
 bonanza. It is "a startling proof of , the inherent, minimizing optimism. of human nature that the very victims of
 the Jerome awakening are now. eager.
 to take a chance on the more distant , and less familiar and consequently
 more aIluring oil fields of Texas. The oil literature of today shows the same , disregard for the truth, the same neg , lect to mention important facts, and f places, the same emphasis on valuable
 discoveries on properties in many } cases miles away, as the copper pros s pectus of three years ago.
 s There are several important oil
 fields in north central Texas, of which 3 Ranger is the best known and most t spectacular It is a mistaken idea l. that this. is an entirely new area, j. however The first we'll at Ranger, y the McCleskey, was drilled in October s 25, 1917 It was not long before many s of the large oil companies and inde- g pendent producers had acquired T. leases on the most favorable acreage l. in an area Of f150 niles wide by 200 e miles long, after careful and exhaus- l tive geological surveys had been '- made. Six months ago, when the first f of the new stock companies was form e ed and its stock floated, only areas ,- which for some reason or other had r been passed up by the geologists Of
 the big companies could be leased and = those were held at greatly inflated
 prices It should be remembered that
 boring for oil even in a proven field
 is a decidedly risky undertaking. The ; reward of success should be and often
 is great enough to compensate for the 3, risk of complete failure But in buy 0 ing shares in new oil venture the [ prospective reward and the risk of
 failure should be, carefully weighed 5. so that the gambler will at least get
 "a run for his money" This he rare ly finds in a company planned and ' organized as are those now scatter
 ing their stock broadcast. Many fac ' tors should be considered in this con '' nection and these factors are usually
 the very ones that are never men
 toned in the average promotion liter e ature. An analysis of the risk involv- e ed is far from the thoughts of the L. oil promoter.
 % Almost without exception the wells n which haze, come in have had a def r. nite relation to either surface or un- ,r derground structure. These structur ?, al features guide the experienced oil
 operator in making his locations but
 are given scant consideration by the II t wild cat promoter Even favorable . structure has in many instances failed -- to yield oil because of local pinching
 of the oil sand, condition that can le not be foreseen. It is evident, then r. that even with favorable structure at there is a large chance of failure but
 without structure almost a certainty
 of it. To keep the inherent risk factor
 as low as possible a careful study oi
 the ground should be made by an oil " geologist and his advice followed.
 lt Most of the companies of this na lg ture fail to mention ill their literature
 Al. n -.AN --G1 n
 which have been issued for service.
 or leases of doubtful value. Contro
 is usually vested in the few original in organizers who have made only a nom IT, inal contribution, while the public a in large finances the whole proposition l3 for only a minority interest in tn,
 possible profits. A statement of thu gs promotion stock issued as well as o in the total authorized amount should b. )f- made so that prospective purchase he can determine for himself what share a. in the future profits he will have if oi Id is found To protect the stockho1der
 the promotion stock should be placed
 in escrow until production is secured n- or the funds. are exhausted. The Ari n- zOna blue sky law is remiss in man. ir- particulars. The. mere fact that al
 organization is permitted to sell stool
 does not mean that it has the tacit az
 iprovaI of the Corporation commission 10 As a matter of fact most of them ar to unincorporated and are merely selling Til shares in an association.
 lk Another important consideration
 the. heavy expense of prospecting thi
 field where the most productive sand
 are in the neighborhood of $500 fee
 deep. only company with ample rt nk sources should attempt it. A singl he hole costs between $40,000 and S60, ,00( elk and many a hole is lost before react or ing it's objective Sufficient funds fo
 at least two or three tests should b n available, for by the law of average M the first, even if completed, is likel 3 to be dry. 1t is furthermore nece:
 sary for the protection of lease {
 he DreDared to drill offset holes L