are the more prolific."

It is a difficulty, but it is one on which, I believe, I can offer
some practical advice. I have a plan to suggest which will reduce the
risk of opening up new cuttings to a minimum.[34]

[34] Or, "I have a plan to make the opening of new cuttings as safe as
possible."

The citizens of Athens are divided, as we all know, into ten tribes.
Let the state then assign to each of these ten tribes an equal number
of slaves, and let the tribes agree to associate their fortunes and
proceed to open new cuttings. What will happen? Any single tribe
hitting upon a productive lode will be the means of discovering what
is advantageous to all. Or, supposing two or three, or possibly the
half of them, hit upon a lode, clearly these several operations will
proportionally be more remunerative still. That the whole ten will
fail is not at all in accordance with what we should expect from the
history of the past. It is possible, of course, for private persons to
combine in the same way,[35] and share their fortunes and minimise
their risks. Nor need you apprehend, sirs, that a state mining
company, established on this principle, will prove a thorn in the
side[36] of the private owner, or the private owner prove injurious to
the state. But rather like allies who render each other stronger the
more they combine,[37] so in these silver mines, the greater number of
companies at work[38] the larger the riches they will discover and
disinter.[39]

[35] "To form similar joint-stock companies."