Now let us examine conditions not infrequent in the United
States, by no means assigning wings to all English mining men, or
hoofs to all Americans:
A prospector discovers mineralized rock. He locates one or more
claims as controlled by the laws of the district where he is.
Perhaps others also locate more ground. A little work is done,
and then the claims are up for sale. A claim is perhaps sold for
a few hundred to several thousand dollars; sometimes the seller
receives in addition stock in the company to be formed. No
attention is paid to the geology, but a company is formed
ostensibly for the purpose of mining, with a capital of one
million shares at one dollar par. Perhaps four hundred thousand
shares are placed in the treasury to be sold for development
purposes. Of course the whole thing is as yet on a wholly
gambling basis. The property is still a prospect and not a mine,
and hence it is not possible to put it on an investing basis.
Comparatively few companies have ever used the services of a real
expert, although very possibly the company furnishes a report
made from a purchasable local "mining engineer," one of the
cheapest commodities in any mining district, where the wide hat
and the high-laced boot often take the place of a mining
education and a reputable character. This is the stage at which,
this is the basis on which, most of the mining "investments" of
America are made.
In this state of affairs grafters find their opportunity. Prices
in a boom camp are always above any sort of industrial warrant.
There were literally millions of dollars poured into Goldfield
and Tonopah for claims which never had any careful examination by
competent men. Fortunes were made by local promoters and
"operators" out of claims which could not show ten feet of actual
work. Sometimes the entire capitalization was sold out, and the
promoters put the money in their pockets. One operator of this
kind sold $130,000 worth of stock, and omitted the precaution of
putting even ten per cent. of it in the treasury. Fortunately, he
got into the penitentiary. Many of his fellows never had actions
brought against them except under the postal laws, which
naturally are inefficient. There was one shaft of a hundred feet
which cost twelve thousand dollars, charged up to the
stockholders, the names of dead men being used on the pay rolls
as "laborers." The mine boss and the local officers got big
salaries to keep their mouths shut. The real mine was in the
savings banks of America, in the pockets of non-residents. In
Nevada alone, in the past four years, more than twenty million
dollars have been invested in WORTHLESS properties. One engineer
with a government certificate could have saved the clerks,
stenographers, widows, washwomen, and orphans of America fifteen
million dollars at the cost of, say, five thousand. Would that
have been a good investment? What could a dozen do? What could an
efficient corps do? Is there here yet one more future task for
our patient and long-suffering United States Army? What police
work would pay better dividends?