VOL. IV, NELSON, B.C, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 27, 1901. NO. 37 if) THE NELSON ECONOMIST is issued every Wednesday. Subscription: $2.00 per annum ; if paid in advance,���$r. 50. Correspondence of GENERAL INTEREST RESPECTFULLY solicited. Only articles of merit will be advertised in these columns, and the in terests of readers will be , carefully guarded against irresponsible persons and worthless articles. IN the disposal of the proposed charter , to the Hill railway several vital questions must be taken into consideration. The smelters already established in British Columbia have been constantly menaced with a possible shortage in the product of the Crow's Nest coal mines. Indeed, the management of that company confessed on more than one occasion during the past year, that the mines were unaT)le to supply the demands of the local smelters. This being the case, the problem; naturally suggests itself, how can the Crow's Nest Coal Company, with the increased demands that must inevitably follow a line of railway to American smelters, expect to meet the expanding requirements of the local smelters. For instance, should it so transpire that the supply of coke from the Crow's Nest ovens was only,sufficient to supply the smelters situated along the boundary line, is it within the sphere of reason that Mr. Hill arid his associates, practically in control of the output, would sacrifice their own smelters and leave the British Columbia enterprises in possession of the limited output? The mind of the ordinary individual reels when it contemplates Mr. James J. Hill engaged in the performance of such works of self-sacrifice. Yet their foregoing is a'contingency that will have to be provided against, and must be considered in the discussion of.the.question. It is all very well to say that an export duty on coal would safeguard the interests of the local smelters, but there are coal mines elsewhere in Canada, that would suffer bv the imposition of an export tax, The coal lands of the Crow's Nest company, although being the property ,of private individuals, can justly be regarded as being held in trust for the people. It has been laid down as a pelf-evident proposition by no less an authority than the Toronto Globe that private property to-day. may become tlie property of a trust; to-morrow. This being the case, what is to prevent the American Smelter Tnnt acquiring these lands, if i\�� members thereof have not already a controlling interest therein, and thus shut off the supply to the smelters of British Columbia? Tlie Trust in, perfecting its schema of consolidating its interests, will not be thwarted by the interests of Canadian smelters. If it suits the purpose of the Trust to close down the Canadian smelters, the supply of coke will be curtailed to the extent that our smelters cannot be .conducted at a profit to their owners. Therefore the price of freedom from the tyranny o? the American Smelter Trust is eternal vigilance on the part of the Government. If the Crow's Nest Coal Company has the illimitable supply of coal that it pretends to have, it should not object to the fullest investigation. The very fact that an attempt is being made to rush the application for a charter through the House, is in .itself suspicious, and should pt,t the Government on its guard. Of later years, certain Canadians have evinced an unholy desire to acquire-large fortunes in an inconceivably short space of time, and it mav be that the Crow's Nest coal fields will be exhausted to accomplish this object. Mr. A. C. Flumerfelt, of the Granby smelter,has been interviewed at Victoria. He says the British Columbia smelters have no cause to complain of the transportation facilities supplied by the C. P. R. This effectually disposes of the charge made by -the Crow's Nest Coal Company, that the railway, and not the coal company was responsible for the repeated complaints of the smelters of shortage. The rarest metal���and it is so rare that recent discoveries have thrown doubt on its elemental character ���is didymium, and its present market price, if one may thus term the quotation of an article that never appears on the market, is ��900 per pound. The next costliest metal is barium, an element belonging to the alkaline earth group; its value is ��750. Beryllium or glucinum, a metalic substance found in the beautiful beryi, is quoted at ��585. Yttrium, a rare metal of the boron aluminium group, so called because first noticed at Ytterby, in Sweden, is stated to be worth, at present, ��450 per pound. Niobium, or columbium, a name suggestive of the American origin of the metal, it having been first discovered in Connecticut, is valued to-day, at ��400 per pound. The price of rhodium, an extremely hard and brittle substance, which owes its name to the rose red color of certain of its solutions, ��4.00. Vanadium, deriving its title from one of the appellations of the Scandinavian goddess, Pryea, arid at one time considered the rarest of metallic metals, has been reduced in price to ��875, at which value there will, no doubt, be many eager buyers. Iridium, a very heavy metal of the platinum group, so named from iridescone of some of its solutions, and well- known in connection with its use for the points of gold pens, may be bought, to-day, at approximately mnnwiin���HMmww mmmmmm SBSa&ESX THE NELSON ECONOMIST ��140 per pound. Osmium, another metallic element of the platium group, is hard, infusible and the heaviest substance known. Its present value is ��125 per pound. Palladium, a silver-white, fusible metal, used in the manufacture of certain parts of timepieces and occasionally applied in dentistry, is worth ��100 per pound. The price of platinum, the better known tin-white, ductile, but very infusible metal, is on. a par with that of gold, viz., about ��70 per pound. The Conservative leader in the House of Commons has completely disposed of the charge made by the Liberals during the recent campaign that tlie Conservatives were opposed to the principle of trade preference with the Empire. A few days ago, Mr. Borden moved the following resolution in the House -.as; an amendment to the motion of the Minister of-Finance': "That in the opinion of this house the adoption of a policy of mutual trade preference within the Empire would prove of great benefit to the mother country and the colonies and would greatly improve the prosperity,- unity, and progress of the empire as whole and that the present time when the Commonwealth of Australia is laying the foundations of its fiscal system is particularly opportune> for takings prompt and energetic steps toward the furtherence of this; object.v--';.: ��� ���'������" This house is further of opinion that equivalent or adequate duties should be imposed by Canada upon the products and manufactures of countries not within the empire and in all cases where such countries fail to admit Canadian products and manufactures on fair terms and that the government should take for this purpose all such available measures as may be found necessary." value rarely, if ever, fluctuates. Diamond dealers are constantly receiving visits from people who think that a diamond purchased years ago has retained its value and that they will have little or no trouble in getting for it almost if not quite as much as they paid twenty years ago. To the average diamond dealer these people are, as a general thing, a source of annoyance, for the reason that they are always incredulous when told of the change in value diamonds have undergone. When the jeweler offers them, say, 20 per cent, of what they paid for the stone years ago, they generally regard it as an absurd proposition, and make for the next dealer, only to find that his price is the same and that the possession which they had looked on as a valuable asset had depreciated in value. As a matter of fact, in these days diamonds are much like stocks in being up in value one minute and perhaps down the next. The Boer war, of course, is largely responsible for this. The largest source of the world's diamond supply being in the territory affected, the market for diamonds has been uncertain even since hostilities began. Diamonds today are worth 50 per cent, more than they were just before the trouble in the Transvaal started. Even with this abnormal influence on the market, diamonds have not reached the prices of twenty or thirty years ago, for the reason taat the output today is about a third greater than then. The streets of Nelson are vastly improved by the cleaning up process of the past few days. Nelson has had very few friends in its development as a commercial centre. Why should it sacrifice its greatest friend, the C. P. R. tc further the interests of a few monopolists ? Business in many lines is giving marked evidences of improvement. The representative of a leading grocery store says business this month this year in Nelson is better than what it was for the same month last year. If the Hill railway is so necessary to the development of the Kootenay, as some would make out, why should any opposition be found to its being built as a government enterprise ? The Mining Department of the Russian Ministry of Agriculture and State Domains has submitted to the various ministries a scheme for the foundation of a new mining school with a special petroleum section, and also a scheme for a teaching programme of the same. A Nifivv Yoitic writer says that in spite of the general advance in tho price of diamonds, owing to the war in South Africa, diamonds today are worth ?>0 per cent, less than twenty years ago. Yet the belief is firmly fixed in the minds of a great many persons, judging from the inquiries made of jewelers, that diamonds are a safe investment, and that their The Trail Creek News, published at a point where smelting is practically the only industry, and with unprecedented opportunities of gaining knowledge of the whole situation, has the following : "Now that the Crow's Nest coal fields have passed to the control of the American smelting trust, but little encouragement for the advancement of British Columbia's smelting industry may be looked for, until new coal fields are opened by new companies. This will necessarily take time, and during the interval Mr. James J, Hill and his colleagues of the smelter trust will be active in placing every possible obstacle in the way of the Canadian smellers, It is useless to dilate on the difficulties which have tnus far been experienced in securing adequate supplies of coke, In fact, since the company opened its coal fields, it has never made a creditable record for shipments except during the two or three days before the meeting of the Boards of Trade at Greenwood, and then it surprised even its own officers. u Now, then, with such conditions existing while the mines were under control of the Canadians, what may be expected of them at the hands of people whose chief object is to ship the output to an Arneri- ( '.*- *'��� K "'Wp'PfW-'!!. Itf"*^*,* fK'ttf * -J ***V 11 ^.**.-*MwM4UW'^'Wl!- i" '��� l.^W,.��A\W\'Mw.*"lU. 1 !2832����jS2S��S5ia BIHSEffl THE NELSON ECONOMIST can market, and whose direct and personal interests are in the advancement of the American Trust. " It is to their advantage that smelting in British Columbia should not obtain a firm foothold, and if they cannot stifle it absolutely, their plan will be to restrict it by such conditions as the American Smelting Trust may impose. " During the recent mining strike in the Kootenays the smelters were forced to close, and the coal company straightway made a contract with the American smelters. Before the expiration of that contract the smei'era in British-Columbia started up, and the coal company had great difficulty in meeting the requirements ; so much so, in fact, that to relieve the situation the C. P. R., which had a contract with the Cr<��w's Nest Pass Coal Company for steam coal for use on the British Columbia Southern Railway and on the Kootenay steamers, were unable to obtain it, and had to purchase their coal, and are today purchasing their coal for this section at Leth- bridge, paying at those mines 50 cents a ton more then ihey were bound to under their contract with the Crow's Nest, carried it past the Crow's Nest mines, and delivered it on board the Kootenav steamers. ���." In the face of all this, and after the expiration of the contract entered into bv the coal company with the American smelters, that company entered into another con tract with the American smelters to supply Lhem with several hundred tons of coke per day. They could not meet the requirements of both markets, and had the 0. P. R. sat down tamely and accepted the situation, with its danger to the smelting industry of British Columbia, that company would have been the subject of the harshest criticism. ' " Mr. Hill will not build any lines east and west through British Columbia. What he would be tempted to do, and what he is doubtless striving to do, is to run spurs from his main line to such points in British Columbia as appear to be the best producing sections. In this way he can tap and take out of the Province for treatment at the smelters along his own main line all the ores of British Columbia without expensive operation, and without adequate return to Canada for the benefits he would derive from our country." The citizens of Kaslo are beginning to learn to depend on themselves. The bane of British Columbia cities in the past was lack of self-reliance and a disposition to lean on Governments for public benefits. The sentiment of a vast majority of Nelson citizens is strongly antagonistic to the Hill charter. On the subject of granting a charter to Mr. Hill, the Vancouver Province, certainly a disinterested authority, has the following : H A Mr. Henderson, of Fernie, has come ou'.of the wilderness with the announcement that the people of British Columbia are unanimously in favor of ihe construction of Jim Hill's proposed line to theCrow'8 Nest coal fields. This will be news to the people of British Columbia. It is refreshing in its innocence and simplicity. Mr. Henderson seems to think that the people of British Columbia are a pack of fools, hungering for the inestimable privilege of cutting their own commercial throats. All they want is the opportunity to get rid of themselves and they are praying to Jim Hill to give them the chance. " How absurd it is, There are very few people in British Columbia who do not see clearly that the construction of a branch of the Great Northern to tap the Fernie fields will be the most deadly blow at the smelting industry of British Columbia that could be struck, undoing all the good work that has been done and putting us back to the humiliating position we occupied before a ton of ore was smelted in this province. Even supposing a condition is made that B. C. smelters must be supplied first, cf what value will that condition be if there are no smelters to use the supply? With the American Smelter Trust supreme our own smelters will be wiped out of existence. iC The construction of the Hill road might mean the development of the coal fields, but it will also be the death blow of the B. C. smelters. The American Smelter Trust is no philanthropic corporation. It is a business enterprise pure' and simple and its methods are as soulless and calculating as the methods of a machine. As Mr. Houston has pointed out the domination of this Trust will be fatal to the development of the province, and it will be a'������sorry dayfor British Columbia when our natural resources and supplies are carried past our doors and out of our own country to still further enrich the great neighboring republic. It has had too much from us already." Premier Dunsmuir is evidently determined to resent any attempt on the part of corporation lawyers to place him in a false position. Mr. Dunsmuir is a Canadian, and all other things being equal can be depended upon to stand by the great national highway in preference to a policy that would mean alien domination. The Greenwood Miner evidently has some doubts as to the genuineness of the cases of smallpox reported from Phoenix. It says : '��� The little smallpox scare at Phoenix wasn't very serious after all. Only four cases, and they not of a very robust kind. If the disease had not been declared small-pox at the start, a compromise might have been had on ' spring rash,' or the measles. However it has been officially declared small-pox and the Phoenix Pioneer will again assume the erect attitude and l truthfully' state that the doctors are 'quarrying' out smallpox cases by the carload. V If, as suggested by telegram, an amicable arrangement has been reached between the conflicting interests in the contest over the Hill charter, and that the ba is of this agreement is an absolute guarantee of an adequate supply of coal and coke for the local smelting industries for all time to come, it will do a great deal to satisfy the minds of the people generally, At the same time, it should not be forgotten that much of the credit of compelling such a concession has been due to the patriotic fight of the Nelson Tribune, the Vancouver Province and the Ottawa Citizen. Future generations may have reason to to call those papers blessed. The price for which the Nelson city debentures were sold is a (It subject for congratulation by our citizens. m,TrrtTi**'~*^*��; Behold the man she loved : " All in dazzling white���white velvet, white silk, white lace, white shoes, the most faultless vision of young and manly grace that ever glided through a woman's dream." And wonder not that she loved him ; for what so full of charm to a blue-veined lady as such a knightly gentleman, noble in heart and soul and exquisite in appearance ? How the white velvet must have appealed to her. as a symbol of gentleness, truth and grace ! This, love was deep from the beginning, and needed not opposition to make permanent. ; yet the lovers faced a stern barrier in the proud old soldier, Mendoza���Dolores'father- who very well knew that a more illustrious. marriage would be sought for Don John than a union with the daughter of a poor retainer. Listen to this, ye women of the Twentieth Century, and ask yourselves if Dolores were not justified in refusing an easy compliance with her lather's request : " Then promise me that you will never pee Don John of Austria again ; that you will forget that you ever loved him ; that you will put him altogether out of your thoughts, and that you obediently accept the marriage I shall make for you." This was the signal for civil war���for an open fight in the Mendoza family, audit was then that Dolores and her blind sifter, Inez, combined their wits against their father. It was a oathetic struggle, for there was much justice on both sides ; the younger fighting for the ardent and hopeful love of youth, the older for honor only as he saw it���a traditional honor, which would permit a man to be cruel to his family if thereby he could exalt his king. In this case the royal master was King Philip, who throughout this story is painted in very ugly colors���sickly yellow and grim black ; character always black, and skin always jaundiced, two very unlovely attributes, appealing neither to man nor to a woman. But the artist-author may have made Philip thus, that Don John might be the more resplendent in relief, for there were foils and foils in Spain as elsewhere. Philip was thoroughly disliked by the people ; Don John they loved, and would at any moment have hailed with gladness as their ruler. Philip knew this, and had therefore a deep and sullen hatred for his brother. How he brought the always gentle Don John to a quarrel, and even to the sword's point, is well told by the wonderful Crawford pen ; and chapter xviii, relating the interview between Dolores and the king, is one of the most dramatic scenes ever conceived. The excitement is keen. Dolores rises to an exalted height when she ordains herself Philip's accuser : " I am not asking anything of Your Majesty; I am dictating terms to my lover's murderer 1" o SHORT STORIES A gentleman who owns one of the finest estates in the north of Ireland, while in his gardens one morning, noticed one of the laborers very badly clad and asked him : "Have yo'i no. better clothes than those, Mat ?" "No, in troth, yer honor, worse luck," replied Mat ^/;-v//;'./,-- "Well call at the house this evening on your way home," said the gentleman. " I'll leave an old suit of mine with the butler for you." A few days later, when showing a party of visitors through the gardens, he was much annoyed to see Mat looking, if possible, more of a scarecrow than ever.- ��� .- " Why are you still wearing those old clothes, Mat ?" he asked. "-Sure, yer honor, they're the best I have," replied Mat. "But did you not get the suit I left for you the other day ?'' asked the gentleman. "Indeed, an I did, thank yer honor kindly," replied Mat ; "but, sure, I had to lave them at home to be mended." Benjamin West's picture of the "Death of Nelson" is closely connected with an anecdote of the great sailor. Just before he went to sea for the last time he was present at a dinner, during which he sat between the artist and Sir William Hamilton. Nelson was expressing to Hamilton his regret that he had not, in his youth, acquired some taste for art and some discrimination in judging it, " But," said he, turning to West, "there is one picture whose power I do feel. I never pass a shop where your ' Death of Wolfe1 is in the window without being stopped by it," West made some gracious answer to the compliment, and Nelson went on, " Why have you painted no more like it ?" " Because, my lord," West replied, " there are no more subjects," " Ah,"'said the sailor, "I didn't think of that," " But, my lord," continued West, "I am afraid your intrepidity will yet furnish me with another such Hcene, and if it should I shall certainly avail myself of it." v " Will you ?" said Nelson���" will you, Mr, West? Then I hope I shall die in the next battle I" A few days later he sailed, his strangely expressed aspiration was realized, and the scene lives upon canvas. 10 THE NELSON ECONOMIST IV:. V I is probable that the Pathfinder will ship to the Boundary Falls smelter at no distant date. For the wee'-: ending March 23 the matte shipped from the Trail smelter was 1614 The bullion amounted to 10jH tons. The Cascade Record reports that another shipment of 60 tons of copper matte, was made last week from the Mother- Lode smelter to the refinery'at New York. Thurs-. day 60 tons more were shipped, making 180 tons shipped in three weeks. Advices from Hon<-lulu, February 27, state that a new 800-ton steam schooner, purchased by the Samoan Mining Company, will soon be running between Apia and Sydney, and Capt. W. Best, formerly of the Oceanic Steamship Company's service, will be in command. The schooner will be .run by the company mainly to transport gold- beaiing black sand from the mines near Apia to Sydney smelter. The shipment of ore from Slocan Lake points, up to and including last week from Jan..l, 1901, was : Ions Fr^m Bosun Landing Bosun. .... 180 From New Denver Hartney *.. 120 From Silverton Hewett ��20 From Enterprise Landing Enterprise ; 120 From Slocan City Arlington 840 Two Friends 40 Black Prince 60 Bondholder 50 Chapleau 15 Speculator...., 20; Total............... ......... 1965 Sufficient progress has been made in the construction of the two additional lead furnaces at the Trail smelter that it is expected that operations may be started in the course of the next two or three weeks. The roasters are beinu built at an estimated cost of $30,- 000, and when completed will double the capacity of the works at Trail, and the company will at, once enter into contracts for lead ores. Following are ��he ore shipments received at the Trail smelter lor the week ending March 23 a*' reported by the Trail Creek News : 1 oris Centre Star 2624-J War Eagle 749| iron Mask 63 B.'C ���.. 919 Goodeoough 57-J- Rico .' 27| Ivan hoe 91i Monitor.;..... 59 Pontiac 27i Enterprise.. 19f Fourtn of July ...". * 34 Sullivan ���...-..: 57i Arlington .._. 59| Total... , 4789i Notice to Deiinpuent Co-Owner. To Hiram B. Sweet, or to any person or persons to whom he may have transferred his interest in the Montana mineral claim s'it- uated about three-miles north from Ores- ton, and recorded in the Recorder's Cilice for the Goat River Mining Division : 'ion are hereby notified that we have expended four hundred dollars in labour and improvements-in order to hold said mineral claim under the provisions of the Mineral Act, and if within ninety days from the date of this notice you faiI or refuse to contribute vour proportion.^' such expenditure together with all cost of advertising, your interest in said claim will become trie property of the subscribers, u nder section 4 of an Act enti tied an Act to amen d the Mineral At, 1000. Dated this 81st day of December, 1900. John P. Wilson, JlSNtflEE.gJPAUJjDING, Tan 2-1 By her attorney in fact Samuel Lovatt KOOTENAY ... . COFEEE CO. Coffee Roasters Dealers5n Tea and Coffee We are offering at lowest prices the best grades of Ceylon, India, China and Japan Teas. Our Best Mocha and Java Coffee per . - pound $ -10 Mocha and Java Blend, 3 pounds. - J. 00 Choice Blend Coffee, 4 pou nds... ...... 1.00 Special Blend Coffee, 6 pounds 1 00 Rio Blend Coffee, 6 pounds 1 00 Special Blend Ceylon rea, per p->und. HO A TRIAL ORDER SOLICITED. KOOTENAY COFFEE CO. Telephone 177. P. O. Box 182. WEST BA&CER STREET, NELSON c>��wmaMtBaftMJBggg^ WADDS BROS. TOGRAF Vancouver and Nelson VICTORIA STREET Near Phair Hotel NELSON, B. C. RAILWAY NOW IS TIIE TIME To Buy Your 1 * <$$* Scotch and Irish TROUSERINGS. FALL AND WINTER SUITS MANAGER FORE, SKINNER, 9 Announces Large Importations of ^ES, TWEEDS, WORSTEDS AND THE OLD STAND, BAKER STREET ��� minVHMlMMMMMUM J p Si ANNABLE GENERAL BROKER One seven-roomed house and one three-room house for rent. Three dwelling houses for sale 011 easy terms. ^^lAXst"'""Royi" see annable DIRECT ROUTE EAST Toronto Ottawa Montreal . Boston , Halifax New York WEST Vancouver Victoria Skagway Seattle Portland Sau Francisco VIA SOO LINE m fo St Paul and Chicago Dining Cars First-Class, Sleepers Tourist Cars DKI'AKTIJHNS .NKLHON AHIMVAliM 5,00 l Kootumiy r.��n.n<.lln�� Bloainoi' | 1.7.00 'Dally I Crow's Nostllouto. J Dally 8.00 ( Rowland ami Ronnilary J 2'JJ0 .IflxBuni- Crook. Suction | Ex Sun 0.00 I 8locan City, Blocnn Litko j M,4(i IflxSun \ Points and Buiiclon 1 Ex Hun ,18,-K) )HohsUuk1, Columbia Hlvciw 22,in n��n�� t points,connoflMnw Kovol��< Dally stoke wltb main Lino ( 1.(1,00 )B. B. Kokanoo for Kaslof 11,00 Ex Hun i and JnUnnocllato Points | E/mSuii 1.0,00 )B. B. Kokanoo for Kaslof 11,0 ExBunj and DHGnnorllato Points \ E/mSu Eor Tlmo Tub Ins, Kates, Tlolcol-s apply H, J,, HROW.N' (Jlty 1'UHHonjjfm' A^ont, J.S.MARTIOIl, Dint. Pans, Afi't,, Nelson. K .1. rOYLK, a, a, i', a.,, Vanwuivor. .<*.** ;i>,>,.'ii i\,\V ^/^U'-jAV. tffc;,w��:��a^^