New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-10-09
THE Duty ON MEXICAN ORES.
WHAT COLORADO PEOPLE THINK ABOUT THE
M,rTER-vIEws OF LEADING BusI'
NESS MAN OF THE sIAIH'

NESS MAN OF THE STATE.
,,. c,oodv NJ the Globe Smelling and Refining
c,n,r,, ~ nenver ono of tho leading mon IN Colo'
RADIO by reason Of his financial stahois -"u "D,,''
and the number of men he employs Is So ~ 'e
Fifth Avenue Hotel. Like all Colofano poop,e nc -
deeply Interested in the Mexican ieaa ORC q"e' "'
discussed II on Friday IN an hi"'
Ing among other things: - A. r.,..,
rho admission Of any lead ore into the United
c,,.s evan when II contains silver whose value Is IN
excess of the lead value, Is not ohiy e'nNS
law but Injurious to the silver ana ioaa Ni'"s -
forests Colorado and the entire "es' !" 1ni' "
asking that the duty fixed by law shah 10 'oi0 o'
our protection. Democrats and kePuonoaii' SIM Oe
l,evc Il 70 be no more than just Ex-Governor Grant
n.' -, - - q a nomocrat is as earnest for the
s,,n, a. any RepublIcan and so are other prominent
o, % both parties 10 Is not a question oil party
potcs with US but a matter OF policy ha' Is ING or
death 10 the state The bulk OF tle plO0'Ou" me
now produced in this country-fuHy 80 per 'on',
produced incidental to lead mining. II 'no i9au O'
comes improbable by reason OF ruilo"s I'm
netion the production Of precious me'ais VIII iai
~ ., tbo sarious detriment Of the whole country.
arbe figures for the last two years VIII snow you
ho,r tho Mexican ore importatons ehect 'nat psul'
The PRODUCTION of lead ore IN 1851 was i77'''o
TONS There was imported duty Tres i''oOo ''nN
The consumption was 164416 IONS i"o uin'''i'o
ros made nm by imported lead on which duty was
maid In 1888 there produced Vi uo''es.lo oIts
III O5o TONS and consumed 1o24'o 'on'' iNo uii
ference of 436 tons just about lhe diouh. tha
IN 1857 had been imported paying du'y' but 'he
,rou D.nar,ment ruling had encouraged the I'M
-, frce from Mexico so that 27,01S tons came In
e., Movlco or nearly 30, 900 tons moro than was
reouircd by the consumption demand ms resui'eu
I'm sending down the price OF lead u poii' ~ AZ"
that many mines producing lead ana s'i'er nave smut
down The Government. of course WAC choa'ou OUT
Of the revenue, which in two years "oud nave
amounted TO about S630000 The same orc tha' comes
in from Mexico duty free would be REQUIRED 10 pay
duty If brought from Spain TO New-AOrk
what would be the eHect VI meaning o"'"e'n
collections Of the duty ~
e In ono county I'm Colorado there are 500 mines
that could at once be put In operation, giving employ
ment TO thousands Of men, and adding enormously 10
the wealth Of the country I'm gold ana sVer' Desides
suppvjng the full demand for lead. The present
ruling makes us compete In labor for which We pay
30 TO 50 day with the halfstarved poems OF Mexico
who get 80 cents a day, wear nothing out Dreech
clout. sleep in the open air and live on bananas In
cold climate men must be warmly clothed, well fed
and securely sheltered You can SEQ tho direct sppl
cation of the protection principle TO this matter.
1.-THE Mexican lead ores are mixed with silver, and
that is where the trick comes in. Pure lead ores
pay the duty. The Department ruling is that all
ores are silver ore where the value OF the silver
is greater than the lead In 1t at the point OF
shipment, and as silver comes in Free all lead In
such mixed comes in free also The ruling
was made in accordance with the letter but not the
spirit of an old ruling in respect to iron in silver
bearing ores. The fallacy rests in the fact that
iron IS not extracted in conjunction with silver from
such ores, but goes 10 waste. Silver. gold and lead
are extracted at and the same operation IN the
smeters and the admission of sllverbearlng lead
ore I'm which the silver is OF greater value than
the lead. free OF duty is practically the same a all
hitting pig lead free Of duty. This ruling has lei
10 much sharp practice. such as the doctoring OF
the sVer-et The mines, to make II pass dnty FREQ;
II has gone even further than that, u positive fraud
In carload lots. $3.50
How was that done2 Why, a lot of ten ears
containing ores Of sixty per cent lean ana SILVER
had one car added to It. which would run go to
300 ounces OF silver per ion By which the average
ON tbe whole car lot was brought up 70 twenty-five
or thirty ounce, Of silver pr ron. and' the silver
i'm the whole lot being moro valuable than the lead
n ,'aescd duty free. The then returned
across the border bring in another lot OF ten cars.
and Tie same operation repeated again and again.