"My Christian friend," said I to him, "you seem to have a good
thing. How far is it from your mine dump to the nearest bank?"
"About five miles," he answered.
"In that case," said I, "it seems to me you don't need to sell a
hundred thousand dollars' worth of stock to build a stamp-mill.
You need only enough to buy yourself a good, strong wheelbarrow.
In two or three months you can thus build your own stamp-mill and
pay for it with ore, and still have your mine all in your own
hands."
He could not see it that way, and, pursuing his own method, he
took $72,000 in two weeks out of the city of Chicago, from some
of the best business men of that city. Now, perhaps he had a real
mine. I have no right to doubt that he had; but the point of
interest to the small investor is this: NEITHER HAVE I ANY RIGHT
TO BELIEVE THAT HE HAD. The thing for me to do, had I wished to
invest in this way, would have been to send an expert to see the
property personally.