The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-08-30

and that with a view to lawsuit in the future
 Moreover. any large property taken up by a Grinso Is sure 10 have four or five contests filed against il by people who wish to embarrass the owner. and who expect to be bought off eefore they win relinquish their suit. I know Of case in which Bolivian. who has been sue cessfuiiy operating mining property for years. went to London and sold his mine to d British syndicate on the basis that the title was clear. When he re- turned he found that five different suits had been filed. claiming the mine. and it cost him s2o0,o00 to settle them
 Such things are injurious to the de- velopment Of Bolivia, but hear of other cases even worse. am told, for in- stance. that the notaries public some times issue papers to themselves for the same properties concerning which they arc paid to get titles for others. and ante date 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 to furnish ground for suit as to defect of title. and q third way is to forge false papers and claims. l know of many mines of value in Bolivia now in the hands Of foreigners that are costing their owners much to defend them, and 1t certainly behooves all Americans coming here to invest in mineral properties to take these matters into consideration.
 The new laws, if they can be passed, will remedy many such evils. One of these has already been enacted. It pro- vides that the contestant to a mining claim must deposit S200 with the gov ernment to show the good faith of his suit and that this is to be forfeited in case he cannot make good. Another law provides that the annual dues and fees for holding the title to mine must be all paid by December 3l of each year. In the past such dues have been allowed to run and the mining title be con- sidered good if they were paid in a lump- In fact a man might have taken out a claim to a property 9 years ago and paid only for his first papers. Everyone would suppose the title to have lapsed. and another claimant taking it up and working it, might then find that the firsa claimant had at last paid his back dues whole, and that his original title was good. This new law will pre- vent any such action and will put Bo- livia sound mining investment basis.
 During my stay in Peru I asked many questions as to the mining laws there. I learn that they are excellent. and that such property is more easy to acquire and hold than in the United States. Every Peruvian district has it's mining dele gate, and anyone, foreigner or native. may go before him and claim mining property. This is called the denounce- ment, and the claimant pays a fee for for it. This fee is for the registration and advertisement of the claim in two designated journals. 1t gives the dis coverer the right to the claim for five months from the date of filing his pa- pers; and if at the end of that time he still wishes to hold the property the. mining delegate will fix the corner stones and give him possession. After that the only payment required to continue the claim is an annual tax of s15 and the claim holds good as long as the money Is paid. As 8 rule there is no dsput- ing of titles and the Americans tell me that the foreigner has just as good a. chance to hold and to work his mines as the natives.
 The great trouble as to Peruvian mines is the lack of transportation Said one of the mining engineers of Cerro de Pas CO., I believe that this part of the Andes is about the highest mineralized country on earth, but also that the most of it's minerals will not be available until rail- roads are built across the mountains and up and down the plateau. I have found mine after mine that would make me millionaire many times over if could only get the transportation re- quired to bring the timber and coal to the property and to transport the ore to the coast. Many of these were old Span ish workings that need only to be re- opened to make them pay we'll. Others were far off in the interior, where the ore would have to be taken out by llamas or donkeys. The chief thing we need here is roads and railroads"