MINING INVESTMENTS 1. Shadow on a great industry.—In the book of rules issued by Marshall Field and Company of Chicago, for the information and guidance of their employes, there is to be found the following para graph: Any employe found to have advised another employe or a customer (without the consent of the house) to buy, invest in, or otherwise become interested in any stocks and bonds of mineral and oil mining ventures, to have become a stock holder in or an officer of such corporation, thereby involving the name of the employe as being with Marshall Field and Company, will be immediately discharged.
An eminent mining engineer, Mr. Francis C. Nicholas of New York City, has said: Because mining is so good, and so profitable, there are many who by deceiving seek gain unworthily ; because right eousness is so good, and so desirable, there are many who by hypocrisy make false pretense; yet because of the hypocrites we do not turn from religious sentiments, and neither should we, because of the deceivers, condemn mining. The evils which have developed in mining investments are not because such investments are bad, but because they are so good that those who seek to gain by deception find in mining stocks a convenient medium for their operations. It is probable that greater loss follows the promiscuous use of capital in min ing transactions than in any other form of investment, ex cepting only speculation on margin, tho such dealings should perhaps be classed as gambling, and given no consideration among investments. If margin speculation is not to be con sidered as having a place among investments, then mining shares are the most uncertain. Vet among all investments, not anywhere are such profits obtained as in successful mill ing.
These excerpts give an idea of the cloud which, in public opinion, hangs over one of the great subdivi sions of industry. Honest mining is one thing; fraudulent promoting and ignorant speculation is something elese. Mark Twain called a mine "A hole in the ground owned by a 'liar,' " but John Hays Hammond' said a fairer definition would be "A hole in the ground sold by a lying promoter to a stupid investor."
Mining ventures involve all possible degrees of hazard. Bituminous coal mining is being carried on more and more by large corporations, and their se curities in many instances have attained a reputable standing. Anthracite coal mining does not involve quite as much risk as that involved in drilling a well. It has been financed in the past by coal railroads whose securities are among the leaders of the specula tive security market. Iron mining, especially since the discovery of the great bedded deposits of the Lake Superior region, has taken a standing only a little more hazardous than coal mining. Copper mining, as developed in the Superior and Butte districts. oc cupied a position intermediate between metallic and non-metallic exploitation in risk, but since the utiliza tion of the low-grade ores of the western porphyry companies, that standing has improved to a place but little different in hazard from quarrying. Further more, it should be noted that the risks of the copper industry are not so much risks of mining as they are uncertainties connected with the sale of the product on a fluctuating metal market. As we pass to gold and silver mining, especially those forms which in volve the exploitation of vein deposits, we come into a field of enterprise where the operations may be des ignated as speculative, if carried on with expert talent and upon a large scale, and as gambling, when carried on by amateurs in the development of single properties.
2. Reputation of a camp.—Mining ventures are commonly grouped, and rated to a considerable ex tent, according to the reputation of the camps in which they are located. The rationale of this lies in the fact that the ore deposits of a district tend to possess common characteristics as to the forces which caused the deposit of the ore, as to the shape, pitch, volume and regularity or irregularity of the ore bodies, and the physical and chemical state of the metallic content of the ore. Mining prospects of similar nature may be judged to a certain extent by the same rules, and exploitation may be carried on by similar methods.