The Dickinson press., 1896-10-10

st silver smelters in the two countries;
Each gives employment to about 400
men: No one will traverse the great
plant at Monterey and doubt that the
Me- Mexican workman in thu. industry rem s
American employed in the Omaha smelt.
er. At Omaha there is little labor given
at $l.6O day. The wages in the various
grades ct the smelSer range as high as
81 q day. 1t will not place the average
too high to make it 81 per day. That is
American ~money-gold. Here the COM
ore by the thousands Of tons in the yards.
This same labor loads the ore into the
little iron tramcars and wheels it under
the sheds. where the more skilled work
men do the mixing of the ores in great
beds. This COMMON labor shovels and
lifts n pushes as hard as the $3.50
gold labor at Omaha and does it for 62H1a
cents gold. This labor works ten hours a
day for that price. Then there
is the twelve hours labor, 30 divided
to keep the smelter running night and
day. Here something besides muscle en-
tiers in. The iron barrows must be
wheeled upon the scales, and one kind
pf ore follows another in. as beam after
bteam tips. until the barrow is full of
just the right proportions of lead and
tAS IA oASS w sNAS
nut all of the silver in the smelling.
The Mexicans who do this are paid IS
cents a dry, worth 37h 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
asraw off the bullion. This is labor that
receives Re 81 a day in Mexican silver; or
oO cents a day in gold. The Stag pullers
get IS cents a day in silver. The fore
men of the yards, who moves about over
seeing n directing, are paid from So
to 70 a day. They are few in number.
Still fewer are the furnace foremen of
that ripe experience which is responsible
for the results. These get $500 a month,
the equivalent of 500 in gold.
me pay at the Omaha smelter aver
borers. the equivalent of $1,000 in Mexi-
can money. The pay at the Monterey
money, OF $500 for the 400 employees.
I: Here is n difference of $1,000 Mexican
money or 5000 gold in the daily pay
rolls. The Mexican silver smelters arc
said to be making $40 in Mexican money
,Mnere the American shelters are profit
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 us the Mexican smelters do. The
mand the best of Mexican labor: The
lowest rate, 62hc, is nearly double that
paid for ordinary common labor. 1t
brings TO- the works brown men with
muscles like steel. who trot along with
800 pounds of ore in a barrow. These
MeXicans shed all clothing but sandals,
strawhat and cotton drawers rs they
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 ms it is, before the whistle blows for
the change of shifts from night to day.
men nave begun work, the little brown
women come stringing in with the beans
anu the corn cakes and the bit of meat.
Laborers' Wages.
At Cerralvo. in the state of Nueva /
Leon. is located the Benavides smelters. !
From this smelter there has been
shipped since the LIST of January, by OK !
carts, 100000 pounds of bullion. This
Cerralvo district was a great mining ZEN
ter 800 years g It 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
ernment and the coming of railroads
mining in Mexico took on new activity.
to feel the spirit Of revival. The rail.
roads passed by and left this ancient
town in the interior. Three years ago
neglected district. A smelter was built.
The highly successful operation of this
plant for the past three years. ninety
miles from a railroad, affords one of the
best possible illustrations Of the cheapen-
ing of silver production in Mexico. The
manager. of the smelter is MI. 81. @. Har-
rison, who has had a good deal of ex-
perience in mining and smelling. He
furnishes the actual cost Of operation
from his books and makes a comparison
with the cost of a like smelter in the
States. These are his figures:
Smelter operation in Mexico,