Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1896-10-08

est silver shelters in the two countries;
Each gives employment TO ABOUT
men. No one will traverse the si .hs
plant at Monterey and doubt tha' .%e
Mexican workman in the industry r.n,
American employed In the Omaha shiea.
er. At Omaha there Is little labor giNr ra
at $1.50 day. The wages in the various
grades of the smelter range as hlgn %
So day. II will not place the averase
too high to make 1t 81 per day. INA. -
American nloney-gold. Here the con-
mon labor unloads the cars and heaps tne
ore by the thousands of tons in the yards.
This same labor loads the ore into lne
little iron tramcars and wheels Il unuer
the sheds. where the more skilled "orh.
men do the mixing Of the ores In grea,
beds. This common labor shoyels anu ~
lifts and pushes as hard as the Sa 51C
gold labor at Omaha and does II for 20 ~
cents day Mexican silver, or oI12
cents gold. This labor works ten hours
day for that price. Then mere
is the twelve hours labor, so diViue9
to keep the smelter running night ana
day. Here something besides muscle en-
tiers in. The iron barrows must De
wheeled upon the scales, and one KIND
of ore follows another in, as beam alter
beam tips. until the barrow is fun OF
iron and lime and various ores 10 take
ont all of the silver in the smelling
The Mexicans who do this are paid 20
cents day, worth 371h cents American
money. Then come the feeders and the
furnace men, who know just when to
dump in the barrow loads at the top
and just when to tap at the bottom to
draw off the bullion. This is labor that
receives 81 a day in Mexican silver. or
ha In al
get 40 cents a day in silver. The fore
men OF the yards, who moves about over,
seeing and directing, are paid from. 50
TO 20 day. They are few in number.
Still fewer are the furnace foremen OF
that ripe experience which is responsible
for the results. These get 5000 month,
the equivalent of 500 in gold.
Inc pay at the Omaha smelter aver
ages 81 day, or $500 for the 400 la
borers, the equivalent of $1,000 in Mexi-
can money. The pay at the Monterey
smelter averages 81 day in Mexican
money, or $500 for the 400 employees.
Here is difference of $1,000 Mexican
money or 5000 gold in the daily pay
rolls. The Mexican silver shelters are
said to be making $40 in Mexican money
where the American shelters are profit
ing 81 In American money. Whether
free silver in the United States would
raise the Mexican money to the Ameri-
can money or lower the American to the
Mexican it would require the American
smelters TO pay only twice as much for
labor where now they pay four times as
much as the Mexican smelters do. The
wages paid at the smelters here corn
mand the best of Mexican labor. The
lowest rate, 6219c, is nearly double that
paid for ordinary common labor. 1t
brings to the works brown men with
muscles like steel. who trot along with
200 pounds of ore in barrow. These
Mexicans shed all clothing but sandals,
strawhat and cotton drawers as they
push and pull the ore down the incline
of the long roasting ovens. They have
only one bad habit. They will come TO
work before breakfast You can teach
Mexican labor to smelt ores to perfection
but you can not teach the Mexican wom-
an to get up and prepare breakfast. sim
pie as it is, before the whistle blows for
the change of shifts from night to day.
And so. an hour or two after the brown
men have begun work, the little brown
women come stringing in with the beans
and the corn cakes and the bit of meat.
Laborers' Wages.
At Cerralvo. in the state of Nueya
Leon, is located the Benavides smelters
From this smelter there has been
shipped since the 1st of January, by OK
carts, 100000 pounds of bullion. This
CerralVO district was great mining CEN
ter 300 years ago. 1t had a government
mint, and turned out quantities of coin
during two centuries under Spanish do
minion. When the revolutionary period
set in mining ceased. Titles lapsed.
With the establishment of stable gov
eminent and the coming of railroads
mining in Mexico took on new activity.
The Cerralyo district was one of the last
to feel the spirit of revival. The rail-
roads passed by and left this ancient
town in the interior. Three years ago
American enterprise found this long
neglected district. A smelter was built.
The highly successful operation of this
plant for the past three years, ninety
miles from railroad, affords one of the
best possible illustrations of the cheaper
ing of silver production in Mexico. The
manager of the smelter is Mr.. III. G.. Har-
rison, who has had good deal of ex-
perience in mining and smelling. He
furnishes the actual cost of operation
from his books and makes n comparison
with the cost of like smelter in the
States. These are his figures:
Smelter operation In Mexico.