The Rhode Island Republican

A Bad Debt. -Some months ago
one of the partners of an old and long
dissolved firm, recollected that at
the property of the company there
was an estate at the South which had
been taken, rather than nothing, for a
debt; and that it lay some where near
one of the regions lately become so fa-
vorable for gold. The musty deed was looked
up and the land examined, when sur-
prisingly enough a mine was discovered of sin-
gular richness. As the best means of
bringing the property into market a
charter was obtained for a company,
the estate put in at the round sum of
one hundred thousand dollars, divided
into five thousand shares of one hundred dol-
lars each. Lest half a million should prove
to be an inadequate guess, the stock
was chiefly distributed among family friends
Well, the work was commenced, and a
stamping machine was found to produce
fifteen hundred dollars per day, with an
expenditure of three hundred dollars
a day. A startling beginning! Twelve hun-
dred dollars a day is three hundred
seventy thousand dollars a year calcu-
lating six days to the week, which by the
way is the mode of calculating which
produces most gold from all mines. To
it is only necessary to increase the num-
ber of stamping machines in order to
double, treble. or quadruple the product.
Four stamping machines operating a
clear profit of twelve hundred dollars
five thousand dollars a day, more or less
We state round numbers, for a few thou-
sand dollars one way are of no con-
sequence in such a concern. Five thou-
sand dollars a day, is a million and a half a
year. We stop here. Others can calcu-
late the effect of a still greater num-
ber of machines, and go on till numbers in-
Suffice it to say, the shares are current
at five hundred dollars each.-N. Y.
Journal of Commerce.