Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 25, no. 627: March 20, 1880: Supplement

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s UPPLEMENT TO Real Estate Record. TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN. The Eecokd presents to its readers to-day a supplement containing hints which may prove of Talue to those 'wise enough to heed them. It seems to be an] opportune time io call upon in¬ vestors to halt and examine more closely than they have hitherto done the various plausible schemes which of late seem to be so temptingly spread before them, and it]is the wish of the editor of The Eeooed to lay before its readers in char¬ acters so large that he who runs may read, the extreme danger that they are in should they allow themselves to be seduced into putting their monej into these worse than wild cat enterprises, for such must be called nineteen-twentieths of all the mining stock companies'^to be found, in New York to-day. In doing this we are well aware that wejare tread¬ ing upon the corns of many who are already rich men,and more who hope|tojbe,Jbut thatjfact does not deter us in the least, and should this note of warn¬ ing so much as save even one of [the reaaers of The Record frwn an unwise investment the editor of this paper wili not consider the work as having failed of bearing fruit. We believe that anything worth doing at all, should be well done, hence in¬ stead of distributing'what we have to say in a series of articles in The Recokd, we at once launch out with enough of them to atti-act attention to the subject matter interested. The working of gold and silver mines is, in it3elf, a perfectly legitimate industry. If conduQted by individuals, business firms or private corporations, it is, we believe, a reasonably lucrative means of investing money. Senator Jones, m his speech in the Senate on the silver question, doubted whether, on the whole, mining investments paid more than 4 per cent., that is, taking the entire expenditures and offsetting them against the total bullion product. The public hear all about the great strikes in the bullion mines, but there is no record kept ot the heart-breaking failures; of the vast sums of money invested, of wnich there is no return, nor hope of any. All the great prizes in the lottery of business are very rare aud mining is no exception to the rule. We publish this supplement as a " danger signal," to warn the investing public against the excesses which have characterized previous specu¬ lative frenzies, such as the petroleum fever and the speculation in railway stocks which ended so disastrously in 1873. We do not promise to keep this matter up. We publish it in supplement form so as not to interfere with the regular matter of The Real Estate Recoed. If there should prove to be a demand for a journal dealing honestly with mining or other investments we may con¬ tinue these supplements or isauea paper designed especially for the information of investors in securities. In any event we have done our duty to the wealthy interest represented by The Real Estate Recoed by issuing this one supplement. THE PATHER DE SMET. We have every reason to believe that this is one of the finest properties in the Rlack Hills, but nevertheless v^e warn the investing public that there is a risk in purchasing it. There are three factors to be considered in purchasing the shares of a mining company. In the first place the prop¬ erty must be a good one. In the next, it must be wisely and economically handled, and last, but not least, it must be honestly managed. We have admitted that this property is a good one. We do not know that it is dishonestly or unwisely managed, but in view of the fact that it is a California property in the hands of Cali¬ fornians, that it is selling for a much higher price in New York than it ever could command in the State where it is organized, and also from the fact that it is an assessable property, we would advise our readers to keep clear of it. The Pather De Smet is owned mainly by "Archie" Borland, a shrewd and lucky Pacific coast operator, originally a working miner, who has made his money by driving good bargains, by understanding his busi¬ ness, and, like most rich men of the Pacific coast, by getting the best of those with whom he had dealings. Mr, Borland brought this property to New York, it having a splendid reputation in mining circles. He was, it seems, unable to affect a sale to New York capitalists after trying the market for several months. He had the advantage of Dead wood and Homestake, sell¬ ing at extravagantly high figures. His is as good if not a better property, and it is now offered at a less price than they are selling at on this market. People who purchase the Pather De Smet should remember that it is managed by Pacific coast operators, and that it is assessable stock, organized under the laws of Cali¬ fornia. They should remember that sometime or other all California stocks are assessed. No mat¬ ter how good the mine, the assessment comes sooner or later. If we are not misinformed, cer¬ tain New York capitalists examined this property but did not purchase it, and the reasons would not be far to seek. The Black Hills are distant, the grade of the ore is low (from seven to ten dollars to the ton), to make a profit it requires an immense outlay for machinery and very economical man¬ agement. There must be no waste, and there must be no mistakes. The prices at which Home- stake and Deadwood and the Father De Smet are ofl-'ered to the New York public is altogether too high. At thirty cents a month per share mining property should never sell for more than ten dol¬ lars. Indeed, the axiom is frequently laid down by those who understand mining that no stock should be sold for more than fcwo years' pro¬ duct. The price of Homestake is absurd. True, it is an immense mine, a huge gold quarry, bufc the grade of the ore is low, the amount of ma¬ chinery necessary to use and use up is very large (two hundred stamps are now employed) and yet the yield does not begin to compare with that of the Standard mine in Bodie, which employs only thirty-five stamps. Even the Lifcfcle Bodie Con- solidafced, with its ten stamps, has turned out far more in a month than the Homestake with its two hundred stamps. Then we do not yet know what change will occur after the water level is reached. So we tell our readers thafc if they buy into the Father De Smet they are assured of pufcfcing their money into a good mine, only it is too high priced. Ten, or, afc the most, twelve would be the proper markefc valuation, but even then, not knowing who the managers are, and the property being afc such a distance, there is no assurance that in the long run the shareholders will get their money back. LITTLE PITTSBURG REVELATIONS. The Mining Record deserves a greafc deal of credifc for having given to the public a full list of the stockholders of the Little Pittsburg Mining Company, together with the amount of stock "held by them just previous to the break in the price. If a list of the stockholders after the stock was first subscribed for could also have been furnished, it would have been still more valuable, but even the present one will attract a great deal of atten¬ tion, especially from persons who are loaded with the stock, which they bought upon the recom¬ mendation of the directors and others, who seemed to have got oufc of their stock before the break. Of course, all the directors of the Little Pittsburg are high-minded gentlemen. They stand very high in the community, and are sup¬ posed, naturally, to be men of wealth and repute. They gave their names to float the stock of the company; they induced their friends to subscribe. We have henrd pitiable stories of poor people, women and others, who came to the oflSce of the company when the stock broke below twenty, to ask what was the matter. They were told it was a raid upon the part of Gill and some others for stock jobbing purposes. They did not suspect that the mine had been gutted and badly man¬ aged, nor did they dream that the very respect¬ able gentlemen, who formed the Board of Direc¬ tion were so well'aware of the true state of the case that they had disposed of their holdings while the price of the stock was sfcill high. Gene¬ ral Charles C. Dodge is a very reputable and wealthy gentleman. The firm of Dodge & Potter sold large quantities of the stock oi the Little Pittsburg, but it seems that General Dodge himself, if this publication is cor¬ rect, owned only one hundred shares on the 13th of this month. Of course, being an honorable gentleman, he must have informed all his friends and customers whom he induced to purchase the stock to sell afc the proper time. Mr. Henry Havemeyer, also one of the directors, was very active in getting the stock placed, yet he, it seems, had only one hundred and twenty-five shares when the list was taken, although W. J. Havemeyer is down for seven hundred. Mr. C. L. Perkins, another director, had only one hun¬ dred shares, at last accounts. Mr. J, E. Babcock, another director, does not appear in the list afc all. Mr. Dam had in his name some thirteen hundred shares when the stock broke. Ifc will strike him as remarkable that his associates on the Board were so much more lucky than he was. Mr. H. A. W. Tabor, also, the honest millionaire miner from Leadville, who made such immense sums of money out of the original sale of the Little Pittsburg, is down for one hundred shares. Some little bird must have told him what was coming. Then the honorable Ex-senator J. B. Chaffee, who fathered this great enterprise, and who added to his enormous fortune by another for¬ tune in seUing the mine, is down for only one hun¬ dred shares. Px-om February 21 to March 5, he and Moffat transferred fifty-one thousand shares. Ex-Congressman Abram Hewitt, the honesfc poli- fcician, owned originally, ifc is said, four to five thousand shares of fche stock Doughfc, ifc is be- ieved, upon the recommendafcion of his partner, Rossiter Raymond, who was the expert chosen to examine the property. He seems to have sold out and did nofc have a share of stock in his name when the break occurred. Now, who told Mr.