Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1910-07-20
Stories Of Hidden Gold Of Aztecs
Inventions Of Historians.
Greatest Store Of Precious Metal Was
Found In imperial Palace and
Promptly Shipped to Spain by
cortex-Amount 10 Small.

San Antonio. Tex.-According to
Jose Ramon Palafox. Mexican jour
nalist. who recently passed through
this city on his way to Washington,
there are no hidden Montezuma treas
ures.
mo doubt the stories circulated
about the hidden treasures Of the Az
tee emperors have their origin in the
sadly exaggerated accounts of old
Spanish histoYians-men who swal.
lowed the yarns Of the conquerorsl Of
Mexico and whose judgment had been
upset by the few shipments of gold
and silver made to Spain shortly after
the taking OF the Aztec capital" said
Senior Palafox.
The amount Of gold and silver in
the possession Of the Aztecs at any
time was comparatively small and In
the case gof the people consisting Of
little more than few personal orna-
ments. The greatest store of these
precious metals was found by the
Spaniards in the imperial palace and
this was promptly shipped to Spain by
Cortez. Compared with the wealth. of
today even this was mere drop in
the bucket. The statement made by
historians that fernando Cortez sent
ship loads of gold and silver to his
king should not be taken literally, for
In all probability 1t means no more
than that heavy shipments Of these
took place.
THE accounts OF this Montezuma
treasure Is merely counterpart Of
similar extravagances found on many
pages of history. We read Of the
fabulous wealth of the people of the
Euphrates valley. of the ancient Egyp.
tians. of India and other parts and SO
lar have never found trace of It, In
their day. no doubt. these people had
certain amount Ct gold and silver.
but they never had enough to cause
US moderns to call them rich. Dis.
persed among them in the form of
currency. as is the case today their
wealth in precious metals would have
made very poor showing. Gold and
silver, then. as in the case of the
Aztecs. were not used at all as medi-
ums Of exchange or were used only in
very limited way. Rulers paid and
received tributes in the form Of gold
and as rule coverted 1t into articles
of practical value or objects OF art.
The old records show this down to a
very late date. The tribute collected
by the kings of Egypt, for example.
were gold and silver vases, statuettes
and the like. We see Rameses reward
the services Of his generals by hang.
ing golden chain around their necks
and SO on.
Conditions in Mexico when the con-
quistadores got there were the same.
Metals did not figure to any extent as
money or its equivalent. In the pal
ace of the emperor gold and silver
were found in the shape of cooking
utensils, toilet articles and wall COW
erings. Perhaps small store Of gold
and silver ingots was also discovered
and so, no doubt. was small quantity
Of precious stones.
The socalled Aztec Goddess telling
of the whereabouts Of hidden treas.
ure are all spurious and are sold to
unsuspecting foreigners for fancy
prices. It is an industry somewhat
analogous to the making of antique
furniture and Jewels. OF course only
the most credulous are taken in and
usually one experience suffices to tell