Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1896-10-16

est silver smelters in the two countries.
Each gives employment to about 400
men. No one will traverse the great
plant ut Monterey and doubt that the
Mexican workman in the industry rem
ders equal labor, man for man. with the
American employed in the Omaha smelt-
err. At Omaha there is little labor given
ut s.. 30 day. The wages in the various
grades of the smelter range as high as
& a day. 1t will not place the average
too high to make it So per day. That is
American money-gold. Here the com
mon labor unloads the cars and heaps the
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 shovcls and
hits and pushes as hard as the $1.5n
gold labor at Omaha and does it for G2sll:
cents cents a day Mexican silver. or BIZ
day for that price. Then there
is the twelve hours labor. so 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
Of ore follows another in. as beam after
.sPss stHeh a6tIloM is luIl VI
just the right proportions of lead and
iron end lime and various ores to take
o., out al of the silver in the smelling.
The MeXicans who do this are paid %
cents day. worth 37N cents American
money. Then come the feeders and the
furnace men. who know just when to
dunn. in the barrow loads ut the top
and just when TO tap at the bottom to
draw Oft the bullion. This is labor that
receives 81 a day in Mexican silver. or
'n cents day in gold. The Stag pulers
get 20 cents day in silver. The fore
men OF the yards. who moves about over
soeias sc " a, and nd DIRECTING. are paid from $"
20 S,;i, IL fa,,y q day. They are few in number.
mat ripe experience which is responsible
Tor the results. These get 5000 II month.
the equivalent of 500 in gold.
The pay at the Omaha smelter aver
ages - a day, or $500 for the 400 la
borers. the equivalent of $1,000 in McNi-
cam money. The pay at the Monterey
money, or $500 for the 400 employees.
Here is a difference of $1,000 Mexican
money or 5000 gold in the daily nav
rolls. The Mexican silver smrltcrs arc are
said to he making $40 in Mexican money
where e, the American smcltcrs are profit
free silver i'll the United States would
raise the Mexican money to the Ameri.
can money or lower the American to the
Mexican it would require the .Amcricnn
smclters to pay only twice as much for
labor where now they pay four times as
much as the Mexican smcltcrs do. The
wages paid at the smeltcrs here COM
mand the best of Mexican labor. The
lowest rate, G2lac. is nearly double that
!Hld tor ordinary common labor. 1t
brings to the works brown men with
muscles NM like steel. who trot along with
3Vo pounds of ore in barrow. These
McNicans 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
nut you can not teach the Mexican wom-
pie rs 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.
Laborcrs' Wages.
AT Cerralvo. in the state of Nucyo
From this slncltcr there has ber:i
shippe1 since the LIST of January. by OK
carts. 1.S0O,O0O pounds of bullion. This
Cerralvo district Was IL great mining cen.
ter 800 years ago. 1t had Il government
mint. and turned ont quantities of coin
during two centuries under Spanish do
miiiion. When the revolutionary period
set in mining ceased. Titles l;,psrd
With the establishment of stable roy.
ernmcnt and the comm. of rnilrn.ds
mining in Mexico took on new :ctivity
The Cerralvo district was one of tbr last
to feel the spirit of revival. The rail
roads passed hy and left this ancient
town in the interior. Three wears ago
American enterprise found this long
nngicctcl district. \ smelter was huff
The highly successful operation of this
plant for the past three wears. ninety
miles from 81 railroad. affords one of the
hest possible Illustrations of the clc;,,,nn-
ing of silver production in Mexico. The
manager of the smcltcr is MIR. H. q. Hnr-
lison who has had IL good deal of cx-
Lercnce in, mining and smelling. He
furnishes the actual cost of operation
IRON his books and makes comparison
With the cost of Il like smclter in the
States. These are his figures:
| Smclter operation in Mexico.
| Per day in
,, Mexican money
.rrMo Mo iofci'cii. at H4..:............... 500
Wn ore Wel%hcrs. ut Sl.............. BOA
| ;nssa!ef ......... ...:................. 400
mWo engineers. ut 81. l................ 900
| Two luriicemell. at Sl............. 300
Two feeders. at t''c ''c................. 1.50
! -Four Stag men. at G2lsc. $50
| lWo ore men. at 62iac. iac............... 1.115
| Two chircoai men. at 62lac. .......... 1.225
| Two patio men. at t2iAc. c........,.. o5
4 Ten side men, at ilc lc......... IN