Mohave County miner and our mineral wealth., 1922-03-03
WHAT ARE MY CHANGES FOR
 PROFITS BY MINING INVESTMENTS?"

, leSS Ol d SdInDle llldl pohel anu lCo0
 of an investment thar Liberty bonds;
 they represent healthy speculation, in
 which a large gain may be won at the
 risk of a comparatively small loss.
 This is the essential feature of sane
 mining venture"
 Fundamentally, this is the condition
 which both the capitalist and his eX-
 amining engineer should keep con stantly in the forefront of thelr
 thought as the search is made. Re
 gently a very attractive proposal, in
 volving the development of a mine,
 was laid before large operator, but
 at an inopportune time, because two
 development plans had recently gone
 badly with him.
 Forgetful of the percentage which
 both King and Peters had experienced,
 this operator said: "No more devel-
 opment programs for me. We will
 buy a mine, with ore already develop
 ed, at any price, but we will not start
 any more developments" At a mo-
 ment of pique he thus threw away
 the speculative profit right at the
 outset.
 Too often the examining engineer
 turns down a property which has the
 making of a big mine simply from
 the desire to safeguard his own repu-
 tation. I heard recently of an engl-
 neer who boasted, q have turned
 down seventy-five mines this. year,
 and thus far l have not recommended one for purchase"
 This comment, in it's phrasing, indi- cated that he was of the ultra-conser- vative type which will not take any . chances. Nor will his clients make
 any money. Unless he was the un- luckiest of mortals, it is hardly likely that seventy-five examinations would
 not include some property which might lead to the making of real l mine. This mental attitude may be congenital or it may be induced by 9 cold matter-of fact, selfish calcula' . tion, in either case, whatever the e cause, the unhappy result is the same The ultraconservative engineer ar gues that if he turns down mining
 property it is very likely that hl' n clients will follow it's future history : if it subsequently, becomes very val n uable mine they will give only cur . sory attention to the fact. On th' r other hand, if he recommends the pur n chase of property which fails to be e come a profitable mine, he fears hi h reputation will be clouded. '- Chances Part of Venture lt The man who hesitates to accept re + sponsibility finds himself in a pre- ' carious situation, and seeks safety il l. rejection. As a matter of fact, he il It wrong in not accepting the responsi $ bility. It was precisely for this dut! a that his services were engaged. H' e was expected to see further into thu
 ground than his client could, and h, y surely was not engaged simply to re 5 ject any and all fish that came t' U his net. y F.. One of our most careful engineer: o recently reported favorably; and ad d vised the purchase of mine. He wa d acting for a group of wealthy mel a which included several nationall! e known mining engineers. Under oper e ation the property showed a contin e ual loss, and the reporting engineel F was very blue and discouraged-s' d much so that he expressed his deel $ regret to the managing director. Thi o man, broad-guage, experienced min J. ing engineer, slapped him cheerily ol e the back and said, Forget it! w W can't all be right all the time." 1T Recently the manager of one of tn h large investment houses in Chicag Q, which deals in mining shares said t. n me:
 5 "Our clients do not ask for a sur
 thing every time. All they want l
 strong possibility of winning an i'd to be told in advance that their none, h. is going into a prospect, not into 1t mine. But they do object when the y are asked to invest in prospect a s. the price of mine and on the state l ment that it is already mine" to My own experience is directly in lin e with this comment. The experience re man of business knows the chance B. that run with new ventures, not onl n in new mines, but in new undertaking
 of every kind. If he is told freely an l. frankly what the relative chances arc le both for and against him, and if h D. understands that the opportunities il ir his favor outweigh those against him ,f he will swing into line and cheerful, ;e play the game.
 .o
 " Office of
 l. GEORGE BRODIGAN .sg ,- Secretary of State '' < E .'&y