Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-11-21
OTHERS WON'T CARE
SUPPLY Is INSUFFICIENT AMI
PRICES ARE SOARING.
Scarcity of Rough Stones Alarms the
Trade-The Big Mines Of
South Africa.

Written for The Evening Star.
A diamond famine is on! The world 8
last rich diamond mines are nearly ex-
hausted! The end of their vast supply Is
at last in sight! So says the trade. with
nervous tremor in it's voice.
That solitaire which you bought two years
ago for 500 is now worth $125; tnat sun
burst for which you then paid $1,000 Is
worth 81 $50 today Since February the
white gems have thrice jumped In the mar
ket. Now they make leap of 10 per cent
for large stones, of per cent for small.
There Is an ominous scarcity Of ''roughs."
The big New York diamond importers have
had orders booked for three months, and
are still waiting. The foreign marts are
we'll night depleted. What does 1t all mean
Is this really the beginning of the end?
Only the De Beers people can answer.
They have been supplying 90 per cent of
the diamonds of commerce. while we have
been using more than five-eighths of the
worlds output So rich and apparently In.
exhaustible have been their South African
mines that historical facts and traditions
have been arrayed to prove that the long
lost king Solomon's mines were these
same, in Rhodesia. from which more than
half billion dollars worth Of trough
equal to over a billions worth of cut dia-
monds) have been taken in thirty-five years
diamond trade, unless some new mines are
discovered. In Brazil India and Borneo
the Old diamond fields have ceased to yield
A Big Monopoly.
The De Beers company has a monopoly
on the worlds supply. 1t not only mines
all but 2 per cent of the diamonds of com
merce, but 1t controls the syndicate which
sells them to cutters 1t has been called
no Ri
thirteen years it's dividends have incyaa sed
from to 40 per cent, and it is directed by
a board of life governors, of which Cecil
Rhodes was one Its shares have never
been used for purposes of stock speculation
Five diamond mines are operated by this
company. OF these the Kimberley mine
has been the richest in the world, it's annual
product having averaged 81, OO0, 600 for over
thirty years. Next to this in richness has
been the De Beers mine. Then there are
three others, larger though less rich That
the two older and richer mines would soon
be exhausted has been foreseen But it ha &
been figured that their diminution would be
to a good degree offset by the three newer
but less productive ones.
The diamonds of these great mines ara
found in a volcanic deposit known as
blue. In 1889 an average load Of this
when taken out IF the Kimberley and De
Beers mines yielded over IL carats of dia-
monds. Last year the yield was q carat
per load. The newer mines have never
yielded more than $40 carat per load. But
last year the company encouraged the trade
by reporting that it had the enormous total
of 100000 loads of blue in sight. not
yet mined. This is even more than the en-
tire quantity taken out of the rich De Beers
and Kimberley mines in fifteen years The
trade would like to know whether this I'M
mined blue has shown a disappointing
yield in the past year.
Government Experts Opinion.
gem expert of the geological survey. this
enormous quantity of unmined blue
should offer an abundant prospect for the
worlds diamond supply, regardless of the
fact that the new ''blue" already mined
gives much lower yield of diamonds per
load than did that of the old mines. He
says that the De Beers company's report
of last year attributed the reductions of
work In the old mines to scarcity of both
labor and coal. The rise in the diamond
market seemed at first to be a compensation
for this partial shutdown. This years re-
port of the great corporation will be await
ed with interest by the diamond trade
Less than fifty years ago the British col
onial geologist trampled the diamond fields
of South Africa. but saw none of the pre-
cious stones. He even walked over the
site of Smithfield. where diamonds were
afterward picked up on the town common
age. In 1867 a poor Boer farmers child
found, on bank of the Orange river a
bright pebble. which he brought home His
mother gave it to neighbor who had ad-
mired it. and the neighbor put 1t into the
hands of travelling trader The latter
showed it to several gem dealers at
Hopetown, who pronounced it to be a topaz
not worth buying. The trader finally sent
the sparkling stone to geologist and was
stunned when the word came back that 1t
was a diamond worth $500: that there
were probably plenty more where it came
from. The story went abroad and miners
tive found 1.-The Star of the South" So
carats. which was sold for 100000. The
camps of the inrushng miners stretched
as far as Kimberley to the north, where in
the seventies the demonstrating mud era
tiers were opened and where was located the
blue of the richest diamond mines on
earth. In five months the town of Kimber-
ley grew to be fiourishing center. Out of
the desert hotels. shops and houses sprung
up in the night like mushrooms.
The many conflicting interests of the
great diamond fields thereabout were
finally fused into one dominant organiza-
had gained his executive ability and gem
eral knowledge through experience in
California, was made general manager.
He at once introduced American methods
He sunk shafts through solid rock out
side the mine areas and ran horizontal
galleries into the blue ground beneath
the fallen masses OF the former open
pits from which the precious stones had
before been taken. Applying his i'm
proved system, the vast blue layers were
ramified with galleries after galleries, at
successive depths of thirty to forty feet.
AS each gallery was worked out he al
lowed it to fall and set to work beneath
it-a process which admitted of being
carried on indefinitely, SO long as the
blue" was in sight.
Digging the Diamonds.
The story of the diamond from the time
it leaves the blue earth until 1t reaches
your jewel box Is one which you have
never heard since the very latest dia.
mond methods have been applied. For