EDITOR'S NOTE.—It is time vigorous efforts were made to stop the
cruel frauds perpetrated on the name of one of the world's greatest
industries. Mining is a legitimate and honorable enterprise. It
contributes immensely to the national wealth. It has been the source of
some of our great fortunes. Because there is something magical in the
suggestion of gold or coal or copper taken out of the ground, sharpers
have made mining an instrument of successful deception. They have
tricked people into investing their savings in worthless or even
non-existent mines. Perhaps you who read this have bitten at an
advertisement in a reputable publication, which pretended to place the
wealth of some western El Dorado at your feet for a few hundred dollars.
Doubtless your money has disappeared. It is for the purpose of giving
you the protection of a knowledge both of legitimate mining and of the
ways of thieves that this article is published.
