Elbert County tribune and Elbert County banner., 1920-08-20

| as anything else. The trouble comes
in knowing when a mines a mine, and
when it's a swindle, and l guess you
have to be metallurgical shark to
know that anyway. But the way things
have been going. for the last year or
two. with all this speculation in the
metals, and all the fortunes that have
been made, SOFT of set me to thinking
that with good advice. you
Il beg your pardon" said billiard
| quickly. There's been mighty little
| speculation in metals, Mr.. Cullen but
| there's been a tremendous amount of
| speculation In stock. The difference
between West and East; the differ
| ence between insider and outsider I;
the difference between the capitalist
and the gambler is this-the East.
the outsider and the gambler buy
stock: the West. the insider and the
capitalist buy mines. Buy them out
right and develop them first aud ex-
plot them afterward. II they're good,
the West keeps them to itself and
pockets the profits; If they're shaky,
the West sells stocks to the East. and
gets its profit that way, and calmly
steps out from under The art and
science of underwriting -
Now you Just wait n second in
terrupted Angela, who had been fidget-
ing and playing with her wrist watch.
'Dad-Mr. Hilliard This is awfully
interesting, but dinners in just a few
minutes, and"
PLENTY of time" said Cullen, wav-
ing her OFF. PLENTY of timei Go
ahead. Mr.. Hilliard. This is too good
| to miss. Smoke cigarette for an
appetizer
THANK you" Hilllard. having de-
| cided to take complete advantage of
the present opportunity, marshaled
salient details as he held a match for
his host. We'll, perhaps l can show
you best by an actual example. I'm
out of the game entirely. as 1 said.
but I was invited a day or two ago
to join a New York syndicate in
financing a property / appraised my
self in 1914. It's owned at present by
| four boys with a shoe-string apiece.
They can't finance 1t themselves, so
they need help, and. they've come to
Wall street and whispered their Sc
cret through a megaphone. Now sup
| pose. just to make 1t clear all around.
that you and and Angela are to form
a syndicate to underwrite the com
papy." He was sustained by the re-
Election that even though he came in
the guise of a mountebank, there was
nothing dlshonorable about the wares
| he had brought to sell.
"Oohr' said Angela, joyously,
"Thanksi"
simultaneously her father gave her
little frown of affectionate remon-
STRANGE, and billiard gave her little
smile of affectionate esteem.
"Now, the boys who own It," said
| billiard, "are In such straits that we
can practically dictate our own terms.
| don't mean to imply that we'd take
| too great an advantage of them, but
| it's plain case of supply and de-
mand, and we're naturally interested
| in a bargain. We go over the mine
| very carefully, and find that although
1t isn't actually producing any copper
| Just yet, because the owners ran out
of money before they could get that
|
| guarantee at least ten thousand tons
a year for twenty years. provided the
| necessary equipment is bought and put
| into operation. That tonnage, with the
| price of copper where 1t is now
around thirty cents-and the cost of
| production what 1t is now. and other
| factors what they are now would
eventually mean a net profit of about
| n quarter of a million dollars year
So first we have these present owners
organize corporation, capitalized at
two million dollars"
Cullen smoked violently. and looked
puzzled
You're getting out of my depth.
How do you arrive at thatT
That's so as to insure ten per cent
dividends And the mine can pay ten
per cent, provided we can arrange to
get the capital. You see, Mr.. Cullen,
copper mine isn't like factory, and
you can't figure it the same way, be-
cause factory runs on indefinitely,
and If you simply replace the ma
chinery whenever it wears out, there's
nothing to prevent the same plant
from keeping on making the same sort
of product for a hundred years. But
every pound of ore you take out of u
mine leaves that much less for the
future, and eventually your ores GO
ing to be all gone. And If this par
ticular mine is going to be exhausted
In about twenty years, 1t stands to
reason that it's being exhausted at the
rate of one-twentieth. or five per cent,
year. You must take that always
into consideration. And therefore,
every stockholder is entitled to get
back at least five per cent of his
money each year to cover that de-
probation, In addition to whatever he