The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1914-10-16
Romantic Story of the Wonderful
Rise of Don Simon Patino of
0ruro, Bolivia.
WIFE BOUGHT FIRST MINE
Jewels He Had Given Her Provided
funds FOR Start, and Now He Is
One Of the Worlds Rich
est Men.
BY RICHARD sPlLLAhE.


per Syndicate)
Don Simon Patino of Oruro, Bolivia
has great regard for his wife. Mos
good men have the same weakness il
respect to their helpmates. Whenever
Senior Patino had a little extra money
he fastened to spend it on the sonora
Usually he bought jewelry. Senior Pa
tino was not rich, but his wife hat
diamonds, rubies, emeralds and sap
wives of many wealthy men. Sonora
Patino used to protest against this
extravaganza, but it was of no avail
She could not check him, so, after q
time, she accepted with complacency
Whatever he purchased.
Senior Patino kept store in a little
silver mining town up in the Andes
not far from Oruro. He was active,
energetic and progressive. Most b.
Eivians are slow The mines were busy,
his trade was increasing and the flu
ture looked bright
There came a change in the early
F90's somewhere. The world had too
much silver and the price of the met
al declined. Gradually the production
of the mines of Bolivia decreased and
as they decreased the business Of the
store of Senior Patino dwindled. The
good man was sad. He no longer could
buy Jewels for his wife. Not only that,
but it was a question whether he
could earn enough to provide we'll for
his already large and growing fam
lily.
Tin Looked Good to Him.
Most men, in such situation, NOPE
and complain. Senior Patino is not that
Kind. When the mine bosses gathered
at his store and INDUCED in bitter re-
f1ections upon the sorry state of the
silver market, he listened to them
but did not agree with their direful
predictions. 1t was true he acknowl
edged, that the silver outlook was
very bad, but Bolivia was rich in 9th
er metals.
The mining aen laughed at his rea-
soning. For nearly four centuries Bo-
Tivia had been working its silver and
gold mines. In silver the country was
particularly rich. That was the back
bone of the nation. What could b.
1Ivia look to when it could not sell
ITS silver?
Senior Patino suggested tin. There
was plenty of tin in Bolivia.
Ellis friends scoffed. The idea that
Bolivia, after all its centuries Of de-
pendence upon silver, should turn to
Tin was too absurd to consider Where
would it find a market? Even If there
were fair demand for tin, how could
Bolivia compete with the great tin
mines of the Straits Settlements,
which produced more than half of
the worlds supply, and which had the
benefit of good and cheap transporta-
ffon? Bolivia had too much of
handicap, especially since Chile had
robbed Bolivia of all its seacoast and
made it an inland country.
Senior Patino said that if Bolivia
could ship silver ore it could ship
tin. The world had more use for tin
than for silver. Markets could be
developed. Transportation charges
might be so heavy as to make it seem
impossible to realize profit, but these
could be lessened if the business at
tanned considerable volume.
Wife's Jewels Paid for Mine.
Obstinacy is one of Patino's charac-
teristics. The more the mine bosses
ridiculed his idea the more positive
he became in his belief. One of those
who ridiculed him offered to sell a
Gin mine to him for $4,000 bolivianos.
"A boliviano is about 40 cents, so that
meant $1,000, Patino did not have the
money He tried to raise it and failed. !
Money was scarce, especially for so
poor an undertaking as tin mine.
Women have faith when men have
not. Whatever her husband believed
Sonora Patino believed When her
husband failed in all his efforts to
raise money Sonora Patino deter
mined to get it herself She sold her
diamonds, rubies, sapphires and en-
eraIds and, turning the proceeds over |
to him, insisted that he buy the mine.
When he was reluctant, she argued
that its name, La Salvador, augured |
we'll There could be no mistake.
Hard Struggle for PatIno.
P1tino bought La Salvador. He had
10 proceed slowly with the mine, be-
cause he had little money, but the
times were so hard in Bolivia then
chat he was able to get labor very
cheap. That. helped Mining tin is
slow and burdensome process. After
the ore is taken out of the earth it
has to be ground into small particles.
Then 1t is washed to rid}it Of some Of
It's impurities Next 1t is roasted to
expel the sulphur and arsenic it con-
tains. Another and longer treatment
In a furnace Of tremendous heat is
to reduce the oxide tin to
its metallic state, and even then fur
Eher refining is required to produce
pure metal that commands the highest
price.
It was a desperate struggle Patino
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