Los Angeles herald., 1905-05-25
MEXICO AND ITS
GREAT OPENING
WONDERFUL CHANCES FOR
DEVELOPMENT
ONE GERMANS BIG SUCCESS
Louis Ducker and His Uncle Have
Become Fabuously Rich, Though
They Started With
Nothing
ONE GERMANS BIG SUCCESS

which would outrival the wealth Of
Haggard, a man who is today rearing
In the heart of the Mexican wilder
ness city priding itself in possession
of all the public utilities of the most
modern American municipalities, Louis
Ducker has been a guest at the An
gelus for the past three weeks without
even the alert desk clerks knowing his
identity until yesterday.
A quarter of a century ago Louis
Ducker, then young mining engineer
just out of Heidelburg, in Germany,
with his uncle, Carlos Wilhelmi, a
year and half older, arrived in Mex
leo City, possessing scarcely enough
to purchase food and nights lodging.
Carlos became a bookkeeper for one
Of the large mines, Luis pursued the
course of his earlier training at Heidel-
burg. Each recognized intuitively the
possibilities of wealth which the coun-
try offered, and both, with the dogged
persistency and energy of the Teu-
tonic race, set about to gain a portion
of it.
Foundation of Fortunes
Louis left the capital and went into
the state of Durango, there to discover
the wealth which lay within the sides
Of Lorenzo mountain. Carlos soon af-
ter followed and the foundation of
their fortunes began.
Recently they sold to the Guggen-
helm smelling syndicate for Sc, ,000, 900
the smelters they had built and por-
ton of their mining properties near
Velardena. They still retain vast
holdings, composing what might we'll
be called a little principality twenty
by forty miles in dimension and in
cluding within it's confines almost the
entire range of the Lorenzo mountains.
The consummation of their plans
have been entirely through themselves,
as in their careers as mine owners
they have never directly asked the aid
of other capitalists or sold a share Of
stock
AS the close friend of President Diaz
they are among the most prominent
business men of the Mexican republic.
"To Carlos must go the credit" said
Mr.. Ducker last night at the Angelus.
"He is the business man and L am the
mining engineer. l have found and
he has developed.
How did we come to settle in Mex
leo and purchase holdings on Lorenzo
Mountains" We realized the poss-
bilities of the country. that is all. The
wealth of the Lorenzo mountains and
other mineral properties in the vicinity
is fabulous. You cannot pick up a
piece of rock on Lorenzo mountain
which will not assay some mineral in
large enough amounts to make the
smelling profitable.
Had Many Difficulties
"Once we knew the value Of our
find we set about to obtain possession
of it. Yes, we worked and worked
hard. 1t was not easy sailing in the
earlier days. l have been held up,
robbed and shot at. but have managed
to come through it all.
Thanks to President Dlaz those
conditions have entirely disappeared.
He has changed the black into white
if l may use the simile. He is Mexico's
great man and to him today the coun-
try owes it's peace, rapid progress and
prosperity"
rs not the investment of American
capital and business enterprise hamp-
cred by Mexican authorlties?" he was
asked.
Amy statement made to that effect
Is far from the truth" he replied. I'm
no country are such opportunities
given the investment of capital. What
country is there besides Mexico which
is willing to subsidize large invest
ments by freedom from taxation for
from ten to twenty-five years?
For the American unable to speak
Spanish and having no capitaI Mexi-