Omaha daily bee., 1914-08-30

livia Is taken down to the seacoast in the
ore and shipped off to England. where II
| Is smelted and then carried across the
Atlantic to be used in our factories Mr.
| Knowles thinks that the enormous cam
ming industry OF California should estab-
lish its own tin plate mills. and that the
tin ore should go north along the Pacific
coast from the mines to the mills
AT present 1t costs about $50 to get tin
! from these mines to Liverpool and OF
this. sl5 covers the freight to the sea-
coast. The other s45 is taken up in vari-
Gus charges. including S13 for carrying the
| ore from Antofagasta to Liverpool. The
| distance to San Francisco. Los Angeles
| or Puget sound is very much less, and
the great saving in the charges OF tho
| go-betweens who handle the tin between
! England and the United States would
| make a fine profit for the American fac
tories. We are now using almost $4,000
COO worth of tin bars and blocks every
year. The export of Bolivia is worth
much less than this. and the United
! States could take all of its product and
still not have enough to satisfy its de-
mands.
In the meantime tin prospecting Is TO
ing on in many parts of this country, and
the new railroads, now building, will open
up highly mineralized territories that will
! probably increase the tin product The
| old mines are being re-equipped with
modern machinery, and many think that
| the future output will be such that it will
/ drive the more expensive Malaysian tin
out Of the market. At present they are
using 1,9O0-pound stamps to crush the
! hand-sorted ore. which is then run
through screens of from six to sixteen
meshes per inch. After that the tin IL
concentrated and shipped off to England.
| In the past the ore has been taken out
of the earth in the most wasteful ways.
| Much OF IL was carried out Of the mines
| in buckets Of rawhide, up ladders on tho
backs OF Indians. Thousands of tons of
the richest ore were crushed between
stones and then washed out In streams of
water by the Indian women. Much OF
this ore so treated carried from 20 to 50
per cent OF metallic tin; the lower grades
were rejected because they would not pay
for the labor.
Titles Are Not Secure.
Before leaving the subject of Bolivian |
mining ! would say that the future Of the |
country depends largely upon the passage |
|
and congress Just now the protection of |
mining investments in Bolivia is not so |
good as in Peru. There is a regular busi- |
ness in the contesting of titles by the law
yers and in fighting for mines that other |
men own. am told that there are many |
shyster lawyers and others who make a |
practice of laying claim to every mine
supposed TO be good and OF contesting its |
tg
OF the leading railroad men of Bolivia. TO
me yesterday Il might go to the heart
of the backwoods in the eastern part of
this country and lay claim to a mine a
hundred miles from where any white man
ever trod. II I did so l venture that
within two days after that mine was a
matter of record there would be a half
dozen applications filed, disputing my
title and swearing that the contestant
had record proof that he owned it.. This
is especially so OF any mine, thought 10
be good. and that even long after the
mine has been profitably worked Not
long ago the engineers of the largest
American copper syndicate came to La
Paz and spent six months looking over
the ground. They found plenty OF good
prospects, but refused to invest under the
present laws and went over the border
to Chile where they could be sure OF
their titles"
Lawyers Must BE watched.
'One has also TO watch the papers that
his own lawyers prepare making his
claim" this man continued. 81 know OF
one case in which a big proposition was
almost lost by an error in the descrip-
tion. The lawyer in giving the feet or
meters from a certain point used the
word northeast where he should have
used the word north" When the error
was called to his attention he said It was
slip OF the pen, but had it been so re-
corded 1t would have resulted in vitlat-
Ing the title to a property worth hum
dreds OF thousands of dollars. I have no
doubt that that error was intentional and
that with view to lawsuit in the fu.
ture."
Moreover, any large property taken Up
by Gringo is sure 10 have four or five
contests filed against It by people who
wish to embarTass the owner. and who
expect to be bought off before they will
relinquish their suit. l know OF a case
in which a Bolivian, who has been sue
cessfully operating a mining property for
years, went TO London and sold his mine
u a A'iANlsu HNhulNdlS on the OASIS tnat
the title was clear. When he returned he
found that five different suits had been
filed, claiming the mine, and II cost him
$4,000 to settle them"
Such things are injurious 10 the de-
velopment Of Bolivia, but hear OF other
cases even worse. ! am told. for instance,
that the notaries public sometimes issue
papers to themselves for the samo prop
critics concerning which they are paid 10
get titles for others. and Sntsdate their
own claims. II the mines turn out good,
they can then claim prior titles. Another
method is to leave some important clause
out so as 10 furnish ground for a suit
as to defect Of title. and a third way is
TO forge false papers and claims. I know
NJ many mines OF value in Bolivia now
In the hands OF foreigners that are cost
ing their owners much 10 defend them,
and 1t certainly behooves all Americans
coming here TO invest in mineral prop
(Ganttuad m paga