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Show I MINING AND FINANCIAL !At last the skeleton is out of the Columbus Consolidated closet. For a long time the man- agement was able to keep the door locked and M barred, but the deception could not be maln- M tained forever. The attitude of the company's IE creditors became more and more uncompromising, Hd as the hope of meeting its debts from new dis- K coveries of ore faded away. To avoid a worse is- K sue the Columbus officials threw the closet wido Kh open and all at once, without a word of warning H oi prepartion, disclosed to the eyes of the horri- Hf fled stockholders the grizzled and fleshless form of H the company's credit. The shock was the more M severe because of the hope cherished by many of R the share owners that another three months i would witness a renewal of dividend payments. fl' To this unexpected denouement is due principally Hf the latest blight on the stock market. To be H jollied along with intimations of a nice profit and H then thrown out of your airy castle with a touch H for a 25-cent assessment is enough to shake the ( confidence of any one in the eternal fitness of mi things, the perpetuation of our iree government Hf and an overruling providence. It sure jarred the H. traders on Cactus street and put them in a frame H of mind to view with suspicion everything that H cculd not be seen, felt, handled, weighed and tak- m eu apart. H The public may be obtuse, gullible, short- H sighted and "easy," but it is not so stupid as to H learn nothing from its misfortunes. It has read H7 as the moral of the Columbus false alarm: "In- H sist on the whole story." The Columbus ofllcers H have deceived, not by making false statements, H but by withholding a part of the truth. We have H heard quickly enough of every new strike made H at the property; of increases in output and aug- H, mentation of values, but nothing worth mention- H' ing of the heavy expense for pumping, prospect- H ing, ore hauling and other incidents of operation. H With no unusual outlay the Columbus would have H' made a lot of money last year. It shipped for a H long time GO tons of ore a day, much of it of H very choice quality. It was drawing its product H fiom no less than five different faces. An ofll- m cial statement gives the production for the past H year as 10,160 tons, dry weight, worth $158,569, H or $15.60 a ton, and 590 tons of concentrates H vorth ?1 2,521. The underground work, however, H comprised 2,527 feet of tunneling, drifting, cross- H cutting and raising a largo amount in propor- H tion to the earnings of the mine. The earnings, H however, kept pace with the current expenses and H the status quo might have been maintained in- H definitely but for the old debt of ?90,000, incurred H during the fight against encroaching water three H years ago. The maturing of a part of this obli- H gation brought a show-down and an assessment. H Public opinion might have overlooked the bad H showing and the assessment as unavoidable in- H cidents of mining, bin. it could not ignore the H i conclusions to be drawn from the recent market H' history of the Columbus. The confession of the H, directors put the brand of inside manipulation on H both of the advances made by Columbus during H the last fou months. That the little booms were arranged to enable someone to unload is now as H plain as a circus bill. It is equally plain that H the only persons with a purpose in unloading l were those who knew the actual condition of the H company. One could hardly ask for better cir- H; cumstantial evidence to convict company officials H of misusing official knowledge to the detriment of B shareholders. H The Columbus qase does not stand alone. It H' has focused attention on a reactionary movement B I in the Utah mining field. For months it has been H growing more and more difficult for stockholders H and prospective investors to get an insight into r Hj. the actual conditions of the mines. The tendency H is particularly manifest in the case of the Knight H properties. Jesse Knight was one of the pioneers H in the publicity movement. "We have nothing to H conceal," was the motto on his banner. The H policy paid so well that others hastened to adopt Wm it. The reaction commenced when Mr. Knight H discontinued the publication of a monthly state- H ment as to the financial condition of his com- H panies and has progressed until it is almost as H difficult to gather material facts about the Colo- H rado as it is to fathom the mysteries of Standard H Sioux Consolidated received such a drubbing H for concealing its original strike until the insid- H ors had loaded up with stock that the manage- H ment turned over a new leaf, and, for a long time, H' dealt frankly with shareholders. Lately it has H shown a disposition to fall back into its old H habjts. After permitting the public to expect a H dividend in March the announcement was made H at the eleventh hour that no payment would be H made; no statement was given out as to the H amount of money In the treasury, the value of H' the ore shipped or the production costs during H the first quarter of the year. The favorable ef- H feet that should have followed the payment of H liberal profits by the Grand Central and Victoria H was partly neutralized by the abrupt manner in H which the declaration was made and the absence H of a definite, business-like explanation of the H condition of mine and treasury. H Stealth, trickery and deception will be fatal to H the prosperity and retard the development of the H Utah mining field for an indefinite time. The H platform on which we have won popularity among H investors is straightforwardness, conservatism H and publicity. Take away these recommendations i and the Utah camps will have no pre-eminence H; over a hundred competitors. The public may be H relied upon to correct the evils of gum-shoe mine H management by shying away from the issues that H are known to be manipulated in the interest of H their officers, but this sort of cure usually kills H the patient. M H Everyone used to have a good word for the H policy of the Lower Mammoth. It kept its capi- H talization within reasonable limits; made full H and frequent reports to its shareholders, and H gave out the bad as well as the good news. For H this reason the revival of prosperity at this Tin- H tic mine is pleasing to a wide circle which has H no financial stake in its operations. |