The Irish standard., 1920-05-08

~ medium of exchange. l Know IT'S
childish, but I've never been out there,
and it's hard to get over what we
learned at school," He surveyed his
vaunted garden less arrogantly; the
fountain, which in his moments OF
complacence had all the attributes Of
q geyser for him, was suddenly 4
feeble faucet, and the tidy lawn was
no more seductive than window-hox.
''The up-to-date schoolbooks." said
Hilliard, laughing, "have good many
changes in them. The West of the
early eighties is all gone, the atmos-
phere Is all gone, the old-style miners
are all gone; you used to see some pic
turesque sights even ten years ago, hut
nowadays you best realize how the in
dustry has changed when you see a
couple Of pals hunting for work in an
auto drive up to a camp, ask for a
Job, get it, park the auto, take :he
tools out Of the delivery body on he
hind, and pitch in. And you can i'm
agine the other changes that accom-
pany that one. OF course, that's es-
pecially typical Of Arizona, but we get
1t In Montana, too. I'm not saying that
the color has gone out entirely, be-
cause 1t hasn't, but in the old days the
West was the West, and now it's NOV
ing East as fast as 1t conveniently can,
50 that II you want to get the pure
spirit Of it, as it is today, you'll have
to go down to Wall street. That's
where 1t lives"
"Mining-mining!" mused Mr.. Cul-
len. Sounds adventurous just to say
it." He gazed at the fountain.
"And no industry Is less understood
even by intelligent men, Mr.. Cullen.
As matter Of fact, the public doesn't
even understand most Of the common
est terms. The buying public doesn't
even know what it is buying. That's
why it's so easy to sell worthless
stock"
"Oh, Mr.. Hilliard!"
"For instance" he said. II spoke Of
q certain number Of tons In sight, and
that's one Of the very commonest ex-
pressions in fake prospectus. sup
pose you know you couldn't see It.,
don't you?"
"Why. not" said Mr. Cullen, blank
ly. Couldn't II"
"You might actually see few thou
sand dollars worth"
"Why," said Angela, surprisedly. II
thought it stuck right out on the walls !
In gobs! And you knocked it off with
q plckax! And shoveled 1t up!"
mot, exactly that" said Hilliard
kindly. Sometimes you go at an ore
body with steam shovels, and other
times you don't. But when you remem-
ber that three or four pounds of cop
per to every hundred pounds Of rock
means very handsome profit. If your
costs aren't excessive, you have some
idea of how little YOU could knock n''
wall. No-yol tear down the whole
mass. You go at it wholesale"
"What I meant by romance" said
Mr.. Cullen, wasn't necessarily luck.
And besides, this yarn you've just told
us doesn't illustrate what I call a
business proposition. What I'm try
ing to get at is that you've got an oc-
cupation that isn't q cut-and-dried one
like the average. There's breadth to
it-vlsion. There's drama. There's
the outdoor side to 1t. There's"
"Don't forget" billiard warned him,
"that purposely gave you that illus
tration, and think you've missed the
moral. It was a business proposition.
My friends bought the mine for the
values they knew were there. They'd
have made money If they'd gone ahead
unwatering and timbering and develop
ing the old shaft-so that 1t wasn't
all bull luck, not by any means. And
claim that the romance and the
drama and the excitement Is in the
combination Of business sense with
that wonderful possibility of accident.
You don't 60 in at random; you use
your best judgment, and expect about
ten per cent on your money-ano it's
the chance Of getting thousand per
cent that keeps the game alive. Some
men don't even get the ten .
mighty few ever get the thousand
I'm satisfied, and more than satisfied,
that the gods have been good to me,
and put me somewhere in between"
II suppose for the people on the in
side," said Mr.. Cullen, "a mining prop
ssition is Just as safe and businesslike
,LuLfif~