The Pioche record. [volume] (Pioche, Nev.) 1908-1925, 1919-05-30
Capital, Labor,
Ore and Skill

The conservative man asks. If ores
which can be proftably handled exist
in this camp why are they not being
workedy' The pessimist says, what's
| the use2 The ore was taken out In
| early days and what is left must be no
| good else someone would be shipping
IL And the Ignorant man asserts
| The camp In no good. No ore IN IL.
Anyone trying 10 find.ore here is fool
| ish."
But the optimist. which means. OF
/ course, the average American. looks
over the production record and notes
| ten millions produced in days when
Il cyanide was known only to some white
whiskered. wise old chemists and the
cops. and when cyanide was thought
to be useful only to Kill bugs and In
convenient people. In days when con-
centration tables were unknown. ex-
cept TO enterprising leasers who used
horse troughs and a broom: IN days
when oxen were used for hauling
freight. and when swift delivery of
supplies took something like three
Then to later records turning. the
opttmtst sees the production record
quarter for each year. Lead me to
this camp" he cries; III other men are
producing a million and quarter there
may be a chance for me-" And IL, dur
ing the first half hour he fails to get
the million, he does not cry mo good,
no good, like the grape-eating fox OF
childhood's history. whose color, by the
way. was brilliant yellow; but in
stead the optimist says. Pretty lucky,
pretty soft for mel | have a job and
get paid while learning local oppor-
tunity."
And during the long evenings, thanks
to that daylight saving which shakes
the sleep while the stars yet shine. the
optimist meets his social obligations in
the early hours, and then, instead of
studying the philosophy of failures on
broken boxes amid strange smells, he
turns to that great American institu-
tion. the correspondence school, where
in such men may learn the simple
things, and learn to know the great
men of the world, who also study
simple things. And he sees the simple
things as he studies local opportunity
with ores.
ore must be found. This calls for
skill. Why this is so is quite as
strange as are all the simple things.
The mountain of Utah copper was I'M
seen by miners passing 1t in thous-
ands; unseen until it was discovered
Would 1t not have been strange IL Co
lumbus. sailing west. had missed the
Americas? And how simple was It's
finding, yet 1t took 500 years.
Even after being found ore must be
dug and sorted, trammed and raised
and dumped and milled. Each step
calls for certain skill while higher
skill Is needed to correlate this skill
Still greater skill is needed to plan the
work, before 1t has been started, and
this work is often new and unlike any
sem aa detss BUT sF aoas
cannot move pile of ore-the shovel
calls for muscle. So Labor joins with
Skill; and both must eat. That both
must eat Is such a simple thing that
only the wise men see 1t. although the
foolish feel 1t. 1t would not do to miss
all meals while sinking shafts and
building bins and making mills; so
How simple Ia the fact that ore will
not shout its whereabouts and must be
found. How simple that when found
How simple that skill is needed to run
mill or even plan the building and
machinery; And the labor must be
S What ean skill skill and dSI labor Herp do aloneY
They may do excellent tinkering on
some small job that can be finished be-
tween mealtimes, Capital and labor
Nothing can be done without knowing
what is to be done, and skill is needed
to furnish plans. Capital and skill
cannot lift the smallest piece OF ore,
however well they may know exactly
how to move It,
The explanation of ore remaining
camp. is simple. Besides the natural
resource three essentials must be
bought and brought together-the
combination of capital, labor and skill
This answers the conservative mans
question. The pessimist and the ignor-
ant are not worth reaching with ex-
PLANTATION.
And so the optimist studies the nat
ural resource, for the highest skill, the
richest capital and the strongest labor
cannot probably add the precious met
ais to the ore. After studying the ore
this good American tries to join the
simple combination of capital, labor
and skill. and II successful, and his
Judgment Of the ore was good, there is
unlocked to him the proper part of the
profit Of production, and, in addition,
that comes with the knowledge Of un-
shirked work and has that happiness
and contentment which creative effort
alone can give on earth.