Show UNCLE JESSE KNIGHT public favor is a fickle thing in a great many cases nothing is too good for the man in the swim but let dame fortune withdraw her smile from the fortunate individual but for a minute and a clamor is raised against him by the very people who have bave been the most bene fitted by his enterprising spirit and who have made small fortunes by following his lead the above applies to uncle jesse knight of provo utah who has done more to stimulate the mining industry of utah than can be accredited to almost any other man in the state the great trouble with the masses has been that they have looked upon mr air knight as almost a god when in fact he is only human and has his limitations the same as any other mining operator the successes which have attended the various mining enterprises of mr knight have been almost unparalleled in the history of mining in the west his mines have been big dividend payers and dealers in knight stocks almost without exception have made barrels of money until the slump of the past few years had a paralyzing effect upon the industry at large had mr knight been possessed of the powers ascribed to him by nine out of ten of stock investors he could have foreseen that all of his ventures could not prove successful and could have made millionaires of all of his followers but while exceedingly strong in his personality and endowed with excellent judgment he was not infallible and therefore was forced to bow to unlooked unlocked for circumstances and conditions just the same as any other individual v dual and in doing this he has been met alth jeers on one hand and with unkind comment and criticism on the other there are those however who actuated by a sense of justice have rallied to the support and defense of mr knight and who resent the attacks which have been made upon him included in the number being nels larsen of provo who recently contributed tri buted the following able article to the daily telegram of salt lake in the mining columns of the last issue of a salt lake weekly appears an article ariti bising jesse knight for engaging in new mining ventures in a development way before he has made all of his other property pay and it is intimated that mr knight is under moral obligations to make his properties or refrain from further development work on new properties because his eulo fists have placed him on a high moral plane the criticism will captious and unreasonable to most people especially as mr knights eulogists appear from the article in question to be the parties responsible for the moral test which it is sought to apply il to 0 mr knight his own claims of moral status give no justification for demanding a higher degree of financial morality from him than from any other honest man whether or not he fills this measure is probably fully decided by the public and needs no argument but that mr knight should protect holders of his stocks from the wiles of stock gamblers seems a little exacting especially in view of the fact that he himself does not gamble in stocks and that most of those who have suffered losses by holding knight stocks as well as other stocks have bought them for speculative purposes and in view of the further fact that there is not one of the purchasers of knight stocks from the knight companies but has had ane opportunity to sell at a profit all this however is beside the question of opening new veins by men of capital the usual course pursued by them is to go into a proved district and gather up some of these tombs of the sweat stained savings of the poor for a song and develop them into paying properties there are very few of the leading mining men of utah or of any other state who open up ne new districts they let the poor prospectors do this and then they come in and take the reward whether mr knight will develop any new district remains to be seen but he is trying and that seems good to the people who have f faith aith in the country he is trying take the provo springville district there is a differ ence of opinion as to its value many miners and prospectors consider it full of favorable indications for ore others do not but the wealthy operator has been satisfied to let the poor man try it out mr knight comes in and proposes to test the country with his own money in addition to this he has bought mining claims from poor men who have tolled toiled for years to make a showing but without success for lack of means to do thorough and extensive work he has paid these men more cash for their claims than anyone else would pay and besides has given them sufficient stock in the company formed by him to make them wealthy if the ore they expect to find is developed he has done this against the advice of some of his closest associates they realize that it is not the orthodox way for a capitalist to make money but mr knight is a determined man and somewhat impatient in his methods and not particularly fond of taking advice and then he wants to see what there is in those hills before the poor claim owner can disclose it that is the way he is going at the development of this district and he is doing it without asking the investment of a single cent of the sweat stained savings of the poor he is probably and most likely doing the same in the other districts named in the article referred to but this does not involve or imply a promise that mr knight will guarantee a profit to everyone or to anyone who may secure and gamble with some of this stock mr knight needs no eulogist his private benefactions bene factions and public munificence are before the people and he certainly needs no apologist if he is in developing paying mines here or elsewhere who is hurt besides mr knight if he succeeds who will not be benefited the people generally even the f fair air minded among those who have lost money gambling in knight stocks except the writer who has set out for himself the big job of knocking knight glory in his pluck and wish him success and above all wish that other men who have taken millions from the utah mines would follow his example to a greater degree than they are generally doing |