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Show I MINING AND FINANCIAL H One of the superstitions from which the east- K em mining brokers seem unable to break loose is that there is a sort of community of interest be- Hj tween the stocks handled on the big Wall street H, exchange and mining securities. Every occur- 1 rence supposed to make for better conditions in M the chief market is paraded as a reason why M, mining shares should go up. They do not go so strong on the contrary proposition that a droi B the general market menaces mining valeus, but H that is the inference that will be drawn by every H client who has been misled by the "community of H interest" superstition. Salt Lake, with a fairly B important mining stock market of its own, was m long ago freed from the belief mentioned. Trad- M ers here act on the theory that dullness in rail- B road and industrial issues is a stimulant for the 1 mine offerings. Sometimes they are fooled, but m the theory wins so often that its successes must m be due to something more than coincidents. M When you come to think of it there are a H good many conflicts between the interests of the H railroads and those of the mines. No one has M complained more lustily of the high freight rates H than -the mine owners. It may help railroad H stocks to boost rates a bit, but it has a tendency M to curtail the profits of the mines if, indeed, it B does not put them out of business altogether. H Even though ore hauling rates are kept down an H increase in commodity rates makes mining ma- H chinery and supplies more expensive and adds H to the cost of labor by making It more costly M for the miners to live. Miners' wages do not m fluctuate much, but the most skillful men leave H the camps where wages are lowest and living H Wjrhest, thus decreasing the labor efficiency in Hi such camps. Industrial plants, as consumers of metals, are happiest when metals are low, and so H their interests conflict to some extent with the H interests of the mine owners. B In addition to the actual diversity of inter- H ests which puts mining on a different plane from B other investments, is the disposition of investors to keep their money busy. If the railroad and H industrial stock market does not prove attractive Hl they look about for investments that are not af- H fected by the depressing factors operating there. H Mining, uusally, is immune from the specific all- H ments of other stocks and is most promising H when the outlook in other directions is gloomiest. H To prove the piont one need not go back further M than the early spring of 1908. While the big H stock market was still paralyzed from te 1907 H panic some of the Tintic shares were enjoying H one of the greatest booms in their history. When H the public really understands the relationship H of mine securities to other stocks there will be a H complete reversal of the eastern brokers' form of H argument. H An argument that has its amusing aspects H is that now going on between the Pioche King H people and the promoters of the new Eastern H Prince Gold & Silver Mining company. It all H hinges on the course of the ore-bearing fissures H opened in the eastern part of the Prince Consoll- H dated. For some time the Pioche King has been H running a crosscut cast to tap these Assures. H Now comes the Eastern Prince and alleges on H knowledge and belief principally belief that the H Assures come north outside the lines of the H Pioche King; namely, through the ground of Hi the Eastern Prince. The amusing feature of the H, controversy is the fact that neither party has Hj more than the vaguest evidence to back up its Hj contention. The ore in question is covered every- H where by a capping of sahle, the Pioche King H has not reached it with the crosscut and the EH; Eastern Prince has no workings at all beyond a H 40-foot prospect shaft which proves nothing. One man's guess is exactly as good as another's on such a proposition. Fortunately both properties are located In territory of demonstrated value, and If they do not get the Assures they are looking look-ing for they are quite likely to get others. The Eastern Prince holdings Comprise eight claims. A block of the stock, of which there are a million shares, will be placed on the market at 5 cents a share and the proceeds used In sinking a 300-foot shaft. It is, frankly, a prospecting enterprise. en-terprise. If succesfful it will broaden the working field of the section of Pioche camp known as the Prince Consolidated ore zone. Murray C. Gcdbe is down there jiow superintending the erection of machinery on the old prospect shaft of the Eastern Prince. The present talk In the eastern paper of a billion dollar copper combine under the protecting protect-ing wing of J. P. Morgan & Co., is simply a revival re-vival of the rumor exploited so freely aLout a year ago. That rumor simmered down to the semi-official statement that no big merger would be attempted until the legal status of such a combine could be established. As noth'ng has transpired to clear up the law question involved the new talkfest bids fair to end In the sate sort of statement. All well-informed mining men anticipate a merger big enougu to control the copper markets of the world, but such men are not misled by half-baked reports, deyined, doubtless, to exert a temporary effect on stocks. A dozen things miht be cited if it were necessary, neces-sary, to prove that lI.o billion dollar combination is a long way off. Such proof is not required, however, in the absence of a single bit o2. genuine evidence that such a merger is imminent. Under the new regime the Nevada-Utah i. ra-pany ra-pany is stirring things up all along the line. Pioche, of course, will reap the greatest bcmflt from its activities, but Utah, directly and Indirectly, Indi-rectly, will come in for some of the advantages. The Utah holdings of the company alone :e extensive ex-tensive enough to give a foundation for two or three separate incorportions. Salt Lake ias i ot forgotten the fine offices maintained in the Dooly block a few years ago by the Imperial Gold & Copper Mining company, nor the glowing accounts ac-counts given by well known engineers of the mineral showing in that property. Well, the Nevada-Utah has the Imperial group now,, the Comet claim in the same district (Frisco) and the Last Chance claim next to tho Utah Copper at Bingham. All three estates have been idle for years. The Inauguration of a new policy was heralded last week by the leasing of the Last Chance to a private operator. Fred Woolley has been looking over the Beaver county properties and will, it is to be presumed, recommend some plan of development. The Imperial has a long tunnel in which 100 feet of 5 per cent cjpper ore is said to bo visible, as a starting point The Comet was a mine before the Newhouso was heard of, and has some of Its old resources still in evidence. |