Adventure, June 1911 — page 22: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

208 who had jit up the stock as collateral to purchase more were butchered. The stock has since paid $3.50 in dividends. Its recent “low” in the market was $5.50 per share, and its “high” $7 a share. It must be evident that Wingfield and Nixon, both of whom are multimillionaires as the result of their mining-stock operations in Goldfield, were directly and indirectly important factors in the loss by the public of $300,000,000, as set forth above. It is admitted that less than $7,000,000 worth of ore had been developed as a reserve at the time $35,000,000 worth of stock in the merger was issued and a market manufac- tured to hold the stock at this fictitious price-level. . It is not of particular interest that Goldfield Consolidated, by reason of — sensationally rich mine developments at depth, has since given promise of returning to stockholders an amount almost equal to par for their shares, and that it now appears that those who were able to weather the ' intervening declines may in the end be out only the interest on their money. This is also evident: Goldfield Con- solidated stockholders had two chances at the outset. They could break even or lose—break even on their investment if the mine made good in a sensational way, which was a big gamble at the time, or lose if the mine didn’t. They could not,win. Mr. Nixon is a United States Senator from Nevada. He is also president of the Nixon National Bank of Reno, Nevada. He held both of these positions at the time the merger was made, and it was largely because of Mr. Nixon’s political and finan- cial position that the, daring market opera- tions of the mergerers which led up to the merger proved so successful. In the Nevada Mining News of May 25, 1907, Circulation 28,000, an interview ap- peared with United States Senator Nixon of Nevada, vouched for as follows: The manuscript of the interview was submitted to, and approved by, the Senator. Unchanged by one jot or tittle, it is printed just as it came from his hands. Even now the Senator holds a carbon of the original manuscript and may brand us with it if we have broken the faith we pledged. I quote from the Senator’s interview, as it appeared in that issue of the Nevada Min- img News: “What do you estimate the ultimate earnings of Goldfield Consolidated will be?” was asked. * Consolidated will be a bigger producer, I should Adventure — say, three or four years from now than it will be one year from now,” Senator Nixon replied, “and I believe I am _ conservative when I say that the property will be eventually earning $1,000,000 net monthly.” “Then, as an investment, the stock is easily a $20 stock?” “That is a minimum estimate of its future value, I should say,’’ was the response. As to that interview: Mr. Nixon said that within three or four years (the time limit is up), $20 would be a minimum price for the “shares. They touched $10 only once since then, or one- half of his estimate. Shortly after the inter- view was given they sold down aslowas $3.50. He said, further, that the mines would ultimately earn at the rate of $1,000,000 a month. This statement also has fallen far short of fulfilment. | Since George S. Nixon, as president of the Goldfield Consolidated Company, gave this interview, according to his own statement, he has disposed of all of his holdings, and at an average price, it is believed, of less than $8 a share. This is only a superficial rendering of the big event in Goldfield’s history, but it is sufficient to furnish an example of the effect of Get-Rich-Quick influences that radiate from high places and separate the public from millions upon millions, without being called to account. The dear American spublic has been falling for this kind of insidious brand of Get-Rich-Quick dope for years. It is being gulled into losing millions through its fetish worship of promoters with millions, who are really the Get-Rich-Quicks of the day that are dangerous. Greenwater, a rich man’s camp, in which the public sank from $20,000,000 to $30,- 000,000 during three months that marked the zenith of the Goldfield boom, is another case in point where a confiding investing public followed a deceiving light and was led to ruthless slaughter. (The public’s loss of $30,000,000 in Greenwater mining’ stocks,. the terrific crash that followed in Goldfield stocks, the loss by the Sullivan Trust Company of $3,000,000 in three weeks, and the great Rawhide, Nevada, stampede, in. which 30,000 people crossed the desert, of whom 12,000 remained and made the camp their abode for months, will be told by Mr. Rice in the July number.) Co JOO TMG CO S| SS