Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1896-10-13

est silver shelters in the two countries,
Each gives employment to about 40O
| men, No, one will traverse the great
plant at Monterey atd 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
at $l.50 day. The wages in the various
grades of the smelter range as high as
So day. 1t will not place the average
too high to make it 81 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 1t under
the sheds. where the more skilled work
men do the mixing of the ores in. great
beds. This common labor shoyels and
lifts and pushes as hard as the 1.50
gold labor at Omaha and does 1t for 621a
cents a day Mexican silver, or 31E
cents gold. This labor works ten hours
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
beam tips, until the barrow is full Of
just the right proportions of lead and
iron and lime and various ores to take
out all of the silver in the smelling.
The Mexicans who do this are paid rs
cents day, worth 371a cents American
money. Then come the feeders and the
furnace men, who Know just when to
dump in the barrow loads at the top
draw off the bullion. This is labor that
receives 81 a day in Mexican silver. or
5O cents day in gold. The Stag pullers
get 20 cents day in silver. The fore
men OF the yards, who moves about over
seeing and directing, are paid from So
to 80 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 month,
the equivalent of 500 in gold.
The. pay at the Omaha smelter aver
ages 81 day, or $500 for the 400 la
borers, the equivalent of $1,000 in Next
can money. The pay at the Monterey
smelter averages 81 a day in Mexican
money, or $4O0 for the 400 employees.
Here is difference of $1,000 Mexican
money or 5000 gold in the daily pay
| rolls. The Mexican silver smelters are
said to be making $40 in Mexican money
where the American smelters 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 shelters do. The
| wages paid at the smelters here COM
| mand the best of Mexican labor. The
| lowest rate, 6215c, is nearly double that
| paid for ordinary common labor. 1t
brings to the works brown men with
| muscles like steel. who trot along with
500 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
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 LIST of January, by OK
carts, I,oOU,UUU POUNDS or bullion. This
Cerralyo district was great mining CEN
ter 300 years ago. 1t had 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 esta blishment of stable gov
eminent and the coming of railroads
mining in Mexico took on new activity.
The Cerralvo 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 cheapen-
ing of silver production in Mexico. The
manager of the smelter is Mr.. III. G. 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 comparison
| with the cost of like smelter in the
States. These are his figures:
Shelter operation In Mexico.