JOHN SUTCLIFFE. • 156 



this deplorable branch of the mining business, whose 

 object is the obtaining of wealth for themselves, not by 

 abstraoting it from the pockets of a mine, but from the 

 pockets of the public, using the mining operations only 

 as a blind to attain the ends desired ; and it is a sad fact, 

 that many highly respectable and apparently honorable 

 men, occupying high positions in public, professional or 

 private life, lend their names to be used in such enter- 

 prises to assist in this confidence game. 



The character of the mining business and the surround- 

 ing conditions under which its operations are carried on 

 also enables it to be used for speculative and fraudulent 

 purposes, and its loss or gain to be kept secret more than 

 most other public businesses. 



This is a great temptation to those in immediate control 

 of the management and operations to take advantage and 

 rob their co-partners or the public generally, even when 

 such operations have been started and operated in good 

 faith. 



Especially is this true where largely stocked com- 

 panies and unknown stockholders are concerned, and in 

 the present state of the public conscience as represented 

 by expressions of public opinion in society, the news- 

 papers, the verdicts of juries and the acts of legislatures, 

 and even of our courts of justice, such acts of theft, or 

 in polite language, breaches of trust, are not looked 

 down upon as they ought to be, but on the contrary the 

 successful scoundrel is worshipped and applauded like 

 any other hero, and really looks down upon and despises 

 less wealthy persons who have not taken advantage of 

 their position to obtain wealth at the expense of 

 honesty. It is an old saying that corporations have no 

 souls, and are they not generally treated as if they had no 

 rights? Not alone is everything considered fair in love 

 or war and politics, but also in dealing with the public 

 in any corporate capacity, whether for business or for 



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