Ancient Method of Copper Smelting
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A2TFO OrERATINO PKI,Twg AND FOROU Df
MINING K-U1B1T AT TUB WUKLD'8 I'AXS
OLD MEXICAN corPEa
MEXTCA1J3 AND AZTECS iJE-TINO COPPEU INTO SIIAPE AT THE WORLD'S
IT Alii.
Tt T ATTTO Ann 1 0 T7m nirna V. A
SI la 1AU1U) -rup3. J i VJ 1 L .3 inn
I Aztec Indiana of Old Mexico havtt
designing, manufacture and color
ing of copper ware by a secret
process wlilch no other people have been
able to imltato. The World's fair, as tho
irreat educator of the century, searched far
and rear for attractions, and the ancient
copper smelting of the Aztecs -was not over
looked. A complete Aztec smelter with
bellows, forges, hammers and all of the
tools and appliances necessary to reduco
the ore to metal and pound the metal Into
many kinds of articles, has been estab
lished In the Mining Oulcb at the fair un
der the management of an export Mexican
mine operator, Kent E. Keller of the Car
rlzo Copper company, Mexico.
No detail has been overlooked, but every
thing necessary for tho completeness of the
Azteo village, has been brought to St. Louis.
Crude forges, furnaces and hammers from
Mexico, such as have been In use among
the Aztecs for a thousand years, were
loaded onto burros and packed to the rail
roads for shipment to the St. Louis expo
sition. Even the cane huts of the Aztecs have
been reproduced at the fair with all of
their primitive features. It Is as If a part
of tho remote mining rcfrion of old Mexico
had been transplanted to SL Louis and put
on exhibition.
rienty of rich copper ore from the Car
rlzo mines of Mexico Is kept on band and
the supply 1b replenished in thirty-ton lots
as soon as the ore pile runs low. The ore
Is crushed by hand, the Mexicans using
large stones for that purpose. The "Jack"
Is then put Into a crude wooden trough set
in a slanting position and water Is poured
Into one end of it. In such a way as to
wash away most of the rock and dirt. Tho
Bllmes are washed to one side, leaving tho
rich copper deposits in another part of the
trough. These concentrates are then put
Increase in Millionaires
(Continued from Tage Four.)
eompnrallve wealth of the really rich,
for the art of hiding other wealth than
that In real estate u cot by any means a
sew ona,
One chronicler, who wan apparently a
patient if not an accurate investigator,
estimated five or six years ago that in New
Tork City there were 1,400 millionaires,
and I.COO in tho rest of the country, making
In all a total of 4,000, with an aggregate
Wealth of fi, 600,000,000. This nuut waa
urely too conservative.
I took his estimate In January of this
year to the chief of one of the very largest
fiduciary Institutions in tho country, and
he said that the list should be Increased
by CO per cont. He said there were at least
4.0TO personsi In the United States worth
$1,OCO,000, and 2,000 more worth more than
$1,000,000, while there were some ten or
twelve so enormously rich that there waa
no way way for an outsider to get at their
wealth, even In an approximate way. A
man in active business whose own capital
Is not sufficient to finance his ventures
needs to tell those who are colled upon
to lend him money what hla resource
are; but these enormously rich men are
lenders always and borrowers never.
This fiduciary authority I have quoted
approved of this tabulation of the wealth,
of the millionaires of New Tork:
llOfl nnooco and over, 4 $ mo.oM OOO
75(t) and over, 2 IrtMXKUKX)
Uuki-uhk) and over, 4 ;:o.r.oo,00
40,li0.(V0 and over, 5 2Jt),OPO,iViO
30 OK1.iv 10 and over. 6 2iK),0o1.0n0
Momo and over, 10 2l'0,(Hn,CHK
15.k 0,000 and over, 10 lriO.MO.Ootf
10.0o0.Uj0 and over, 10 110,000.000
6.000.000 and over, 20 llrt.OoO.Ooi)
4 0o0,oo0 and over, 20 HO.OoO.om)
t IxiO.OoO and over, 60 lOMWO
tOv).(HX) and ever, 713 IM.mO.OOO
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CRUDE FTTRNACE AT WHICH THE AZTECS WORK TO SMELT THEIR COP
PER ORE. '
Into a crude oven or roaster and the sul
phur escapes from the ore In fumes, leav
ing only the metal and a little of tho reck.
This Is then put Into a very primitive fur
nace made of rock and dirt and bellows of
a peculiar construction keep the flro In the
forges going. The fuel used is charcoal,
which the Mexicans make themselves.
With the ore In the turnace is thrown
a HtUo limestone, to aid in taking tho
Iron out of the ore. The molten mass
at the bottom of the furnace passes
through a funnel. Much of th Iron and
Blag adheres to the sides, but the copper.
1.B0O.0O0 and over, 100.
1,000,000 about, 2.000.,
, ifio.ono.roo
2,000,000,000
Total 2,316 J4.520.000.COO
This makes the average wealth of a
metropolitan millionaire in round numbers
$1,934,000. That surely seemed to me pretty
Bteep, but the authority I am quoting said
that it surprised him only by its lowncss.
He would not, however, agree that the
average wealth of the other 3.6S4 million
aires outside of New Tork could be so
high. "Put them down," he said, "at
$1,250,000 each and you will not be far out
of the way."
No sooner said than done, for, to tell
the truth, It was Just as easy for me to do
this as to select any other arbitrary
figures representing wealth which thero
was no human means to estimate ac
curately. So I at once made the com
putation and found that the aggregate
wealth of the millionaires outside of tho
metropolis waa $4,605,000,000. and that the
aggregate wealth of all the millionaires
In. tho country was $!),125,000.000.
This is an enormous proportion of tho
total valuo of the property in the whole
country to be In a few hands. It means
that one-flfteen thousandth of the popula
tion own one-twelfth of the wealth. That
Btatoment, however, may not bo exactly
fair, for it may Rifely be presumed that
each of theso millionaires Is at the head
of a family of five, and that this aggregate
wealth really belongs to 30,000 persons.
Even then the proportion is exceedingly
gTeat, for here we find thit one-three-thousandth
of the population owns one
twelfth of the wealth.
Moet of this wealth Is undoubtedly clonn
money and has been mado honestly and
decently, the principals sharing thir pros
perity with the men who helped, and bene
fiting the publlo at the same time. But
moet of Uiia hugo aggregate U tho. sum
which is heavier, runs to the bottom where
it can be skimmed and then dipped out
and cooled.
The copper, which often contains con
siderable gold and silver, Is ready to bo
liammered into shape. Modern methods
of mining separate the copper from the
more precious metals, and the gold and
silver byproducts of western copper mines
more than pay all operating expenses,
leaving the copper a not profit. Tho
Aztecs have no way of separating these
ores, therefore lose the gold and silver
contained therein.
of comparatively small fortunes of $1,000,000
or a little in excess thereof. Of the enor
mous fortunes not mado by the rise in
real estate values, volumes would have
to bo written to give anywhere near tho
Idea of the ways that have been employed.
JOHN GILMER SPEED.
Care of Foreigners
(Continued from Page Five.)
New Tork with little or no money, expect
ing to find at some bonk or postofflce, re
mitted by their friends, tho sum necessary
to take them where they want to go. Some
times they have forgotten tho name of the
bank; sometimes the money is not there,
connections having been missed. To such
persons as these the immigration relief so
cieties are invaluable. The loan ot a few
dollars, tho giving of a few words of ad
vice at such a critical time may make all
the difference to a man's success or failuro
In life. Without a little help he Is likely
to drift about the city until he becomes
hopelessly destitute.
New York has becomo the central mar
ket of tho country for Italian labor. Im
migrants who land at Boston and other
ports usually come on to New York ut
once, while thoso who go to distant parts
of tho country In search of work and fail
to find it, promptly return to Uie metrop
olis. Tho newcomers seldom have moro
than ubout $10 by the time they have set
tled down in New York, and unless they
find work nt once they are pretty sure to
need the aid ol the Italian Renevolent in
stitute or of ouo or other of the hundred
and llfty Itulkm societies in the metropolis.
Italians of the lower class are the most
provincial people la the world. They are
wonderfully generous to their townspeople.
Ku.olctauo will Ucli) a Nag?oleUno, but
The copper Is placed on an anvil and
8ix stalwart fellows with big slodga
hammers form a circle around it Ona
Indian holds an end of the copper In
large tongs and skillfully turns it while
the six Indiana with sledge hammers keep
up a constant pounding, every hammer,
striking with force and prcclsdon.
With these hammers and a pair ot
Bhears these primitive mechanics beat tho
copper Into various shapes and turn it
Into utensils of different patterns, making
everything from an immense copper kettlo
for boiling and refining sugar to a tiny,
copper cup or souvenir plate. They can
hammer out this copper to the thinness of
paper and can shapo the various articles
as perfectly as if they were molded. They
are soon to make a large Jardiniere of
pure copper three and one-half feet high,
twenty-eight Inches across the shoulders,
fourteen Inches across tho base and drawn
to a mouth not exceeding six Inches across.
They are also preparing to make copper
water bottles, shaped like the ordinary
glass bottles, using no pattern, but ham
mering them out of copper which they have
beaten into sheets, only one piece of
copper being used for a bottle.
More Interesting even than tho Aztee
method of smelting and refining ore Is)
their manner of staining copper, a secret
process known only to these Indians and
which no others have been able to dis
cover. They take a copper vessel, the In
side of which is packed with wheat straw,
and put It Into a blazing fire. After a
minute or two the vessels are removed,
cooled by an application of dirt and then
appoar m beautiful colors of red, purple
blue, green and various other shades.
Thus, these Indians from the distant In
terior of old Mexico, using only tho crudo
appliances of their own make, such as they
have been using for many centuries, turn
out articles of various kinds which aro
models of beauty and artistlo skjll.
FRANK EBERLE.
)
feels no special call to assist a Venezian
or a Slcillano. Thus there are societies in
America representing every nook and cor
ner of Italy, and a man from any part of
the old peninsula can obtain relief at tho
hands of men from his own town or dis
trict. "The Italian docs not lack the Instinct ot
charity or mutual helpfulness, but at pres
ent he lacks the Instinct in a broad sense,
said Antonio Mangano, who Is an author
ity on the life of tho Italians in America.
"He would take the bread from his own
mouth In order to help his fellow towns
meo; there is nothing he would not do for
Ma 'paesano,' but it must not be expected
tbnt he will manifest such an attitude
fow.Td all Italians. But were it not for
tJi'A strong feeling, even though limited to
rre-Ml groups, we should have many moro
ctkll upon public charity on the part ot
) Italians than we now do."
This Is generally true of all classes of
Immigrants. The Italians ifave been dealt
with particularly because at the present
time they contribute most of the volume of
Immigration. But all the national socie
ties are saving large sums of money to
Americans money which would otherwise
bo paid out In the form of public or pri
vate charity. That, however. Is not th
most Important feature of their work.
They take the raw material, the immigrant
Just out of the steerage, and begin to trans
form him Into a good American citizen
from the moment he sets foot on the soil
In tho United States.
BASSETT STAINE3. ;
Live leavers at Fair
Live beavers from Canada may be seen
at work in the Palace of Forestry
Game at tho World's fair.
