The times., 1897-05-27
MAKING PRECIOUS NE TAILS
Edw. C. Brice's Protest Against
Recent Treasury Investigation.
ALLEGES UNFAIR TREATMENT
The Experts Did Not Use the Ap-
paratus Required and Employed
Chemical Which Lessened H.
stead OF Increasing Results-A
New Commission to Be Appointed.


claims to have discovered a method or
process, for producing gold and silver from
the baser minerals, is very much dissat-
isfie.i with the recent Treasury investiga-
tions Into his alleged discoveries, and he
has uiasie application for further invesu-
CATION
Mr. Brice is cousin of ex-senator Calvin
S B,ice, and for twenty years has been
al expert chemist and metallurgist. He
has made a number of valuable inventions,
but none of them compares in Importance
to his recent one OF obtaining gold from
antimony. His laboratory is at No. 402s
WeniN orth avenue, Chicago, and its total
capacity et present is about ten tons Of
raw material per diem.
OF his discovery Mr.. Brice said to a
representative of The Times last night:
Gold is b compound oxide OF lead and
tin. The oxide must he solely produced
by heat, and not by solution. The ma
terials used are in their raw state. L
discovered this by an exhaustive search
OF lodes and veinstones, and then blended
the elementary substances found there.
The first material blended was from black
jack" found in the Black Hills, which is
tui Of-S s-ltN OAiOC VI 'AA- A'f"N
expcl iments and took up this line OF in
vestlgation without much hope Of ultimate
success After much experimenting, i
finally solved the problem, and applied for
patents.
Mr.. Brice drew from his grip number OF
documents and about score of pieces of
metal. which, he said, were pure gold and
silver, and were valued at about $4o0
ba axfr fad- Of
a letter written by j. A Fleming, financial
editor OF the Chicago Journal, which intro
duced the subject to Secretary Gage and
suggested that the Secretary receive Mr.
Brice and hear his story.
TIE reply of Secretary Gage was also
shown il ridiculed the invention of Mr.
Brice, but stated that Mr.. Gage would see
him and have ms invention investigated
The meeting led 10 the appointment of
Andrew Mason ,superintendentof the Assay
Office in New York: u. X. Tuttle, melter
AMI refiner at the Philadelphia Mint. and
DIR. Whitehead, assayer at the Mint Bureau,
Washington, as a commission 10 make the
investigation into the claims Of Mr.. Rrice
as to his ability TO obtain gold and silver
from base metals. When asked about This
commission MI. Brice said:
seems 10 1iit tlfdb Van NplhN w hO
other conclusion than that determined
attempt is being made by the money power
of this country 10 suppress this discovery.
Ny reasons for so thinking are as follows:
Mr. Edward Wheeler, who represents Pier
pont Morgan and consequently the Morgan
syndicate, has lately visited our works
In Chicago and endeavored in every way
to obtain controlling interest in this
foi.- hi. 20
thwart this design, knowing that with
this immense power inits hands the syndi-
cate would be merciless n its demands
unon the Government. In conversation
between one of my employees, Capt. Z r.
Cooke, of Penrth, Va, and Secretary
Gage, held April %, the Secretary made
the statement hat the Government would
be compelled to suppress this invention
He was answered by Capt Cooke that we
would avail ourselves of the constitutional
enactment which guarantees to every in
yentor the right to his invention for sew
enteen years. 1t is easy and natural to
couple this extraordinary statement of the
Secretary's that my invention must be sup
pressed with the attempt made by the
Morgan syndicate to obtain control
''In view of this statement of Secre-
JdTy o1St > we lOulb II bCNtcSniy W dP-
peal TO the Patent office for protection,
and In doing so the Patent Office sent
the matter to the Treasury Department
for Investigation, without our consent.
ION being compelled to go before the
Treasury Department, we were atthe out
get confronted with a commission which
was hostile, and which at once insisted
upon introducing into our process a for
ftra- -.r~l. ri nd
never been used and which could not be
used In our process. We naturally pro-
tested against the introduction of this
material, setting forth the injurious quai
files of the same. Alkalies of any kind are
deadly TO our process Irrespective of our
protest, the commission proceeded to use
and did use this ingredient. Notwitllstand
fng its use, however, they succeeded in OBJ
tanning in the second test d small quantity
of gold and silver from material which
they themselves admitted contained neither
Following this, another protest was
made to the director of the mint, in which
we set forth the fact that the commission
was not testing our process, but one OF their
own, and insisting that our process, In the
future, be followed The commission, at
this point dropped the investigation, and |
wrote a letter refusing to so any further.
We at once took steps to have a new COM
mission appointed, and made such request |
st the Patent office, aud we are now given |
to understand that the Patent office viii |
appoint new commission forthepurp |
testing our process and giving us Justice |
'Tne commission, and, i may say, the |
whole Treasury Department, maintained |
q spirit of hostility from beginning 10
end, not desiring to prove the facts, but /
apparently wishing TO prevent the whole |
matter being properly investigated. That |
impartial spirit of judicial inquiry which |
should be manifest on occasions of this
nature, was throughout notably absent.
"The commission further refused to use
an apparatus which is a necessary part
Of our process. giving the lame excuse
that they did not understand its opera
ton The commission at no time have
properly tested our process, nor have
they finished the one they started out 10
carry into effect, simply dropping the mat
ter, without further investigation. In fact,
when not permitted to do as they pleased
with our process, and distort its effects, |
they quit the game like spoiled children
This would be eminently amusing if it
were not so serious 1t is noway in which
to investigate the truth of an important
discovery.
AT no time could the Treasury officials
have tested the process as described by
me In the application Just filed, AS they
did not have the necessary apparatus with
which to perform the work This invention
relates to the use of certain ingredients an d
certain apparatus-both of which arc dis
kfnct fnventiens of my own hsripp haan |