The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-03-02
The Aggregate of American Money Involved Will be
 About $25O,OOO,OOO
SCHWAB HAS GREAT
 IRON ORES IN CUBA
Guggenheims Have Made Enormous Investments in Copper Ores Which Are Now Being
 Developed
aY HOLLAND

I cent communication made to the state de- partment at Washington by one of its consular agents stated that American in- vestment in South America would now justify the establishment of American banks in South American countries. The presumption is that the agent who thus wrote to the state department had in mind investments on the west coast of South America because his communication was written before the great exports from Argentina to the United States consequent upon the adoption of the new tariff law had begun.
 There can be no complete statistics which tell of, American investments on the west coast of South America. Some of these investments are of small amounts. Some relate to business which few years ago was more fiourishing than at pres ent, as some have thought is the case with exportations from the nitrate fields or northern Chile. But a fairly accurate es- innate, so far as it goes. can be made of some of the investments which since the beginning of the present century have been made upon the western coast of
  50,000,00O. Two hundred and twenty mil lion of this total Is reported not as an estimate, but as an authentic statement.
 The three great investors upon the west ern coast of South America are the cor porations known as the Chile Copper com pany, the Bethlehem Chile Iron Mines company and the Cerro de Pasco Copper company. All of these will furnish in the course of a few years, large commerce which will be transported through the Panama canal from the west coast of South America to the Atlantic seaports of the United States. One at least. and pos sibly two. of these companies will be in operation in the course of a few months certainly in about 10 months. The com merce which will be furnished by this American investment, and which will be transported through the Panama canal will in the course of a few years be very great Practically all of it will be be- tween the Pacific slope of South America and the Atlantic coast of the United States.
 It is several years since the attention of Charles M. Schwab was called to the de- posits of iron near Coquimbo, in Chile. MT. Schwab was assured that this
 
 run, if the statement of the experts were correct, about 67 per cent pure iron. This is + per cent approximately greater than is the iron percentage In the Lake Su- perior ores.
 MT. Schwab's investigations persuaded him to venture inst.
 scale in these iron mines in Chile, doing that in the interest of and in associa- tion with, the Bethlehem Steel and Iron company, of which he is president. A cor poration was created entitled the Bethle- hem Chile Iron Mines company. with a capitalization of S4,000.000. There were incidental advantages additional to the recognized high qualities of the iron ore which all the more persuaded Mir. Schwab and his associates to make this venture. Investigation showed that it would not be necessary to build railroad to transport the ore from the mines to the coast Cray ity, controlled by suitable apparatus would furnish sufficient energy for that purpose. Furthermore, careful study shows that much of the ore was upon the surface. practically free from dirt cap ping, that little or no scraping was necessary.
 The Final Question
 All the conditions favored investment of American capital in this enterprise except one that remained to be satisfactorily handled. Mir Schwab expected to trans port this high grade ore from the Chile mines to his works at Bethlehem and that would entail the adoption of one of two alternatives. It would be necessary to en- ter into a contract whose life was for a long period of years for the transporta- ton of this ore from the seacoast to Phila- delphia. and if d contract of that kind could not be negotiated then it was es- sential that Mir. Schwab cause to be con structed fleet of steamers especially de- signed for the transportation of ores There are reported to be 6o.0o0,000 tons in sight
 Another Investment
 Another investment of American capital in Chile is represented by corporation entitled the Chile Copper company, a name which succeeded the one originally adopted-namely. the Chile Elaboration company In this corporation the Gug- genheirms of New York, Mir. Burrage of Boston and other capitalists, some of whom live in New York and some in Bos- ton. are associated. The copper mines which this corpora tion expects to have in operation within q few months. and whose ores will be transported through the Panama canal about as early as any commerce Is car ried through that artificial waterway are located at Chuquiamata, in Chile They are presumably the last of those extraor- dinarily rich currents of copper which be- gin to flow from our Alaska territory and extend along the whole range of Pa cific slope mountains from Alaska to lower Chile.
 These copper deposits in Chile are very rich in more ways than one. The copper Is easily mined, is of high quality and the mines cannot be exhausted until after many years have passed. Already the