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Show Mining and Financial Discussion of the "blue sky" bill In the state senate has developed a volume of stories that would make J. Rufus Walllngford melt in tear. From these recitals it appears thai while the mining brokers of Salt Lake City have been leaning back In tholr offices wondering why an investor did not buy a few shares of Yankee Doddle of St. Patrick's Day stock, salesmen In shoeps' clothing (with a feW cotton threads in it) have been seeking the Investor under his own vino and fig tree and leaving him with scarcely a fig leaf. One gathers from tho incidents related to show the necessity for a "blue sky" law that the principal reason there has boon no market of late for tho dividend-paying and other listed mining stocks Is that tho public has boon satisfying its appetite for securities with such "investments" as thb Koop-It-Dark Oil -company and tho Mlillon-In-A-Mlnuto Installment company. Scores of Instances have boon related in which it has taken everything but tho baby and the family bible to meet tho liabilities that followed the signing sign-ing of a contract with the stock salesmen, sales-men, -Tho stockholders ha not been convinced by those recitals of tho necessity for a "blue sky" law, but they have boon shown that thore is in overy community a considerable amount of money available and waiting wait-ing for profitable Investment. It ia evident that tho poddlors of shares in tho blue sky got much of this money because they saw it first and were gifted with the powers of persuasion per-suasion that enabled thorn to tickle tho fancies and silence tho doubts of those who happened to bo In tempo rary possession of the cash. Tho brokers, brok-ers, naturally, hove no desire to pro-toct pro-toct tho blue sky salesmen from tho righteous wrath of tho legislature, but they compare tho troatmont proposod in tho "bluo sky" bill with tho method of tho fond husband who drank hot whiskies to roliovo his wife's cold. Tho bill would certainly intorforo with tho little legitimate brokorago business that Is loft and have no particular ef feet on tho Itinerant stock-vendor. The strong card of tho bluo sky salesman Is his promise of extraordinary extraor-dinary returns on money. Those who are ignorant pf financial affairs usually usual-ly cling to the belief that there is a way, If only It can bo found, to double capital three or four times n yoav without incurring risk of loss. Having Hav-ing this notion thoy are prepared to listen to any good talker who claims to have the secret. Standard mining stocks do not make the samo appeal because the records show that they do not multiply In value fast enough and that they sometimes decline. Ordinary Or-dinary investments In mines conducted conduct-ed on approved business principles undoubtedly afford the maximum of profit consistent with reasonable, safb-: ty, but the Innocent Investor In bluo sky either wants more than he has u right to expect for his money or Is ignorant of tho distinction between real securities and insecurities. To meet tho first condition tho legislature legisla-ture might pass a law forbidding an investor to make a hog of himself and another requiring tho fullest publicity pub-licity of all concerns whoso shares aro offered for sale. If It woro generally known that an official bureau, such as tho Stato Bureau Bu-reau of Statistics, would furnish reliable relia-ble Information as to tho assets of mining and investment companies, those who bought stock In tho assure heavens would have only themselves to blame for their Indiscretions. Maybe May-be an appropriation big enough to enable tho Bureau of Statistics to collect col-lect and disseminate such data would make a, "bluo sky" law superfluous. Certainly no ono In Utah wants lo - discourage tho Investment Of capital in legitimate mining, or wants to withhold from thv public tho knowledge knowl-edge that ono can. find Investment hero at home In which there Is tho probability of largo profits, no possibility possi-bility of complete loss and no steel trap contracts under which the roof may bo taken from ovor tho head of tho widow and orphan. .No ono needs look beyond tho listings list-ings of the Salt Lake Mining Exchange Ex-change for investments. Thoso listings list-ings range from highly speculative prospects to steady old mines, but there goes with ovory ono tho guarantee guar-antee that thore is tangible proporty behind tho stock and on opon market In which the price is fixed. Tho hazard haz-ard of mining Investment has boon reduced re-duced greatly in tho last few years. Some of the mining stock dealers in tho oast aro pointing with glee to tho revuru oi uiu muling Himres us co.f -pared with tho Industrial securities on the New York curb. Since tho first of December tho standard mining shares havo boon fairly steady and oven strong while tho "safe and sane" Industrials, such as Underwood Typewriter, Type-writer, Baldwin Locomotive, department depart-ment and mall order stores, rubber manufacturers and motor stocks havs suffered tremondous lossos. Not .1 few of tho investors "stung" In the "safe and sane" socurltios aro In n mood to look with more favorable oyos on tho "speculative Issues," as tho mining shares havo been called in the east, Approvod mining stocks at least have this advantage over traOe-marks, good-will, patents, etc. their basic assets are anchored in one pluce and can be seen with the naked eye. At least two of tho active Sharon on the Salt Lake exchange combine tho features demanded by the Innocent Inno-cent Investors, high profits and pronounced pro-nounced safety. There are Severn l tlit the writer would classify In this manner, but the two now In mind are so well established that no one questions ques-tions their claims. Iron BloBsom. :s eaming 47 per cent on $1.40 a shaie and paying a dividend of 2.7 1-2 per cent on that price. In less than four years It will come pretty nearly paying pay-ing for Itself at that rate and no ono who knows the property suggests that H it will be worked out in four years, H or eight years, for that matter. Then H there is Prince Consolidated. Usln? H the best available data and paring H every estimate to the bone It is lm- H possible to avoid the conclusion that H Prince is qualified to earn annually 11 H cents a share for twenty years, or 28 jH cents a share fov ten years. Fourteen H cents would be 20 per cent on its H present selling price and 2S cents H would be 40 per cent H |
