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Show I LETTER FROM GOLDFIELD. j Goldfleld, Nevada, Juno 13. There Is a certnln humor In the stock sltua- tlon here thc-KO days. The slump in j mining stocks which followed the San Francisco disaster Is creating no consternation. con-sternation. In fact, it seems to have caused a certain amount of Joy which bubbles up in spite of all the efforts of the joyous ones to keep a sober and mournful mien. Thoy are goirg about with eyes alight and fingers on their lips, and buying, buying, buying. Among those that have thus swallowed swal-lowed hugh blocks are such men as John Cook, the banker, Prank Golden, president of the Nye & Ormsby County Coun-ty bank, L. M. Sullivan, of the L. M. Sullivan Trust company, and Dr. Ward, brother-in-law of steel magnate I Schwab, hero on a visit a few days ago. A great part of that buying Is ot I Manhattan stocks, which suffered most from the effects of the earthquake earth-quake shock. Tho searching for the reasons for the depreciation In Man-j Man-j hattans make a rather Interesting little lit-tle disseratlon in economics. In the first place, it must bo remembered remem-bered that Manhattan Is a young camp, even In this region of baby mo-i mo-i tropollses. Roughly speaking, Tono-i Tono-i pah is five years old, Goldfleld two I and a half, Bullfrog ,ono and a half, while Manhattan counts only six months. ' Now enters Mr. San Francisco In vestor in the problem. When, five years ago, Tonopah sprang up full-fledged full-fledged and panoplied in her golden armor, Mr. San Francisco Investor 1 was in skeptical mood. Even with the goods under his eyes, ho shook his head and smiled a gentle, sad smile. Ho passed up Tonopah, and it was the east that got in on tho good thing. Two years and a half afterwards camo tho great Goldfleld strikes. Again tho excitement found Mr. San Francisco blaso and indifferent, and again the east jumped In and took the gold right from under his nose. Then camo Bullfrog a year later. Mr. San Francisco woke a bit, yawned a lazy yawn, and bought a little, but again the enst bought tho bulk. Within six months camo Manhattan. Manhat-tan. By that time, Tonopah, Goldfleld nrd Bullfrog were aroar with activity, their stocks had soared above tho In'ouds, and Mr. San Francisco felt foolish Indeed. Ho started to make up for his past sloth. So eagerly did he demand Manhattan, so fast and voluminous were his purchases, that this time the east camo too lato. When tho smoke cleared, It was found that tho stocks of the Manhattan proper-I proper-I ties were nearly all In the hands of San Franciscans. So, this was tho situation on April 17. A large proportion of tho Goldfleld, Gold-fleld, Tonopah, and Bullfrog stocks was hold by eastern and local capital. The greater part of the Manhattan 3tocks was held by San Franciscans. Then camo tho San Francisco larthqunko and Are. Out of food, out if clothes, their buildings and homos 'nirned, their business temporarily -ulned, San Franciscans became crazy "or cash. Thoy began selling their Hocks. Mining stocks of the Manhattan Manhat-tan properties nvnlanchcd upon tho market, and of course tho market had to break some. Even then, It mlgM ot have done so If tho local Tonopah, Goldfleld, Bullfrog and Manhattan Tipitallsts hnd been able to buy. They wanted to, bad enough. But unhnp-nily unhnp-nily tho San Francisco banks were Hod up, and tho mining camps here bank largely at San Francisco. It was 'n exasperating situation. On one side, San Francisco was pouring out Hock which the local men wanted to buy. and on tho other hand tho same San Francisco was witholdlng the money with which thoy could have boucht. It was tho torture of Tantnlus over ngaln. This has ceased now. The bnnks are open again. Money Is obtainable, ob-tainable, and vciy rapidly, indeed, it 's being turned Into Manhattan mining min-ing stocks.- Tho local men are buying, buy-ing, and buying heavily, on every do--lire. Thoy regard the situation as i picnic. A recovery is bound to re-Hilt. re-Hilt. Of course the destruction of no ilty can long affect tho voluo of Manhattan Man-hattan stocks. These .stocks ropre-ent ropre-ent mines, these mines are valuable and the San Francisco flro has not melted the cold out of them. There Is another and subsidiary cause for the decline In stocks. This 's tho rapidity with which now discoveries discov-eries are being made In southwestern Nevada. At first sight, this seems a paradox, but It Isn't. Tho effect of opening up a new ;amp is always a temporary decline in the market value of tho stocks of he older ones. There is, after all, only a certain amount of capital In 'he world. .When capital pounces upon a new camp, it abandons, to a certain degree, tho older ones. Thus-when Thus-when Goldfleld was discovered, Tonopah Tono-pah suffered a temporary slump. When Bullfrog was opened to tho world, Goldfleld suffered a temporary decline. When Manhattan sprang up, It was Bullfrog that suffered. In theso cases the drops were very slight nnd the recoveries very rapid, because nch camp was well established bo-ornitho bo-ornitho now one camo along. Two -vnd'r- a half years separated Tonopah mil Goldfleld, one and a half years Iddlleld' and Bullfrog. Not so with Mnnlnttan, lunycver. Manhattan camo a bare six months nftcr Bullfrog. Bull-frog. Tonopah,' Goldfleld and Bullfrog Bull-frog woro bound to fool its sudden birth. With tho "Sin Francisco disaster dis-aster on top of that, It Is not nt nil y.o bo wondered rit that Tonopah, leldfleld, nnd Bullfrog should suffer. What Is extraordinary Is that the "dump should bo so slight. Tho reason rea-son for this Is the heavy buying of 'ocnl men who have the properties inder their ,oyes and know thnt the Hock Is selling far below its intrinsic value. With San- Francisco' on Its ''cot again In the fall there Is bound o be a sharp and big recovery. History will repeat Itself. The history his-tory cf the mining camps of this part qf tho. country has shown that slumps rpllovlng tho opening up of now nnmpa aro but temporary: that they ro followed by brisk recoveries. Manhattan Man-hattan cannot f rovo an exception to what Is an economic law. Its stock must' rise again. |
