El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-08-30
? WASHINGTON. D. c.. Aug. 80
~ Nothing contributes more
NJ 49, IL IA onnafri1... = -

w Nothing contributes more
leo today than the peculiar mining sit
uation that obtains there. From the
very earliest times of Spanish rule in
Mexico its silver mines have beer.
among the richest in the world and
many have been the castles in Spain as
well as in Mexico that have been built
by the silver that has been taken out
Of the mines of Mexico. The bonanza
kings of our own western country
made vast fortunes out of their mining
properties, but these were small in
comparison with some of the great
piles of wealth heaped up in Mexico.
With the advent of the mining and
metallurgical engineer a waning in
dustry was reviyified and made to
yield new streams of wealth With
the cyanide process came the utiliza-
ton of the vast dumps of mine tall
Ings, and of the dirt that was passed
over as Improbable to work, many an
abandoned mine has been forced into
a yielding operation with / result that
the mines OF Mexico nave been one of
the principal sources of the national
wealth and income.
Eighteen Thousand CLAIMS Registered
There are today N Jrc than $4,000
gold and silver mining claims regis
tered with the Mexican government,
their total area aggregating 900, 900
acres. In addition to this there are up
ward Of 10000 acres of claims cover
ing deposits of other minerals than
gold and silver in which the ores of
the precious metals abound, and com
prising more than 1900 claims. The
bulk of these claims are to be found
in that region where the revolution is
most persistent, and consequently il
has hit the mining interests of the
country very hard
The total output of silver before the
revolution was close to S5O0O0,0OO an
nually in our money, and the total out
put of gold Appropriated $4,000, 600
annually. Add to those the 10000, 600
worth OF copper and other minerals in
proportion, and II VIII be seen that
Mexico is one fthe mineral produc-
ing regions OF the earth.
The Mexican silver mines felt the
result Of the defeat Of 10 to IN the
United States in 1896, but promptly
rallied from that, and had smooth
sailing until the Grand Trunk Pacific
railroad builders in Canada discovered
vast silver deposits in the northwest,
and finally forced the production up
TO 100000 ounces of line silver or
more year. This knocked the bottom
out of the industry for awhile, but by
the opening OF the revolution prices
were profitable again.
The Natives Pittance.
The mines of Mexico, at the time
the revolution began, were giving
employment to $4,000 natives, some
of them having reached the point where
they could earn, as native miners, 90
cents Of our money day, but the
vast majority of them being rated only
as common labOrers and drawing %
cents a day, our money, for their Ia
Dor When one remembers that fire.
quently they have to carry ore material
out of the mines by climbing up a
rawhidel runged ladder with perhaps
1000 rungs, each rung two feet away
from its neighbOr, and that the load
mounds
in a rawhide bag, 1t will De seen how
burdensOme has been the life of the
mine worker.
And even then his quarter a day is
more apparent than real. The peon
must buy his supplies from the mine
cOmmissary, and the prices of supplies
well with those OF the fashionable
shops and stores of big American
city. If MS pay wlen spent in these
places does more than keep soul and
body together for the labOrer and his
family no one is aware of the fact
In point of fact, the Mexican mine own
er has long since found that pay
ing a peOn too much is vastly worse
than not paying him enough If the
peOn gets more than he can spend lie
, Ultimately he goes to drinking and
gambling, ard these things rum an
otherwise good worker 1t IS a kind
OF business philosophy that one hears
expressed by the army engineers al
Panama, when they say that if the
as much the majority of them would
work only half as lOng-another way
! Of saying that anything beyond q iy-
ing wage promotes idleness and evil
indulgences. Naturally the labOrine
( men do not agree with such senti-
ments issuing from the Wellfed mer
seated in comfortable club chairs with
their drinking glasses alongside.
Poems Cult Mines to Fight.
The revolution has made a heavy de
I mand upon the mining industry of the
/ northern part of the republic. Thou
sands of poems have left the mines &c
enter the army of freedom They
! have seen the mine owners amaSsine
! great fortunes out of the sweat OF
/ their faces and giving them only The
I most meager living. OF course short
/ age of labor IS a most serious evil II
4 itself. But when d heavy price tol
/ mine operating privileges is demanded
! and when all the supplies of a mine
! including its cOmmissary supplies anC
! the revOlutionists need so much art
/ many mines and to inflict great hard
/ ship upon those dependent upon them
! There are a large number of Amerl
J can mining companies operating IT
/ Mexico, and the majority % them are
in the territory most affected by th'
! revolution. The majority of these are
/ interested in gold, silver and copper
mines, but some of them are interested
] in iron as well. At Monterey, known
as the Pittsburg of Mexico. the Ameri'
I can Smelling and Refining company
I has large iron works, and operates