Castles of Tin

High up in the thin, cold air of the Bolivian Andes, shrewd Mestizo Simon I. Patino built for himself and his family an empire of tin. It was founded on the peon labor of mountain Indians whose lowly wage offset the high cost of transporting Patino's ores to world markets. The mines Patino developed from the original holding he acquired from a debt-ridden Portuguese made him one of the richest men in the world. But last week the manner in which he got his wealth returned, to plague him--and the United Nations.

Around Patino's tin Bolivia grew; by tin, today, Patino's empire and Bolivia's foreign trade must stand or fall. Symbols of Patino's eminence are the three palaces he built, but never occupied, in the mountains. A symbol of the foundations on which his empire rests are silicosis-ridden miners who, when their health is shattered, creep back to their tribe's huts to die.

Last week Patino's Indians went on strike, and the tin empire and Bolivia trembled. A week after the deadline for re-enactment of an enlightened labor code, workers at the Catavi mines walked out, demanding a 100% wage increase, a Christmas bonus, which they claimed was theirs by law, and the end of the company stores (virtually their only source of food and clothing) which kept them constantly in debt.

The Government took immediate and drastic measures. Worried President Enrique Penaranda del Castillo declared a state of siege throughout Bolivia, clamped martial law on the five tin-mining areas of the Patino holdings. At week's end it was announced that a plot by Leftist Revolutionaries had been nipped in the bud. The plan, said the Government, was to cause the forces of the Bolivian army to be dispersed throughout the mining areas, then in provincial capitals, to create disturbances which would end in revolution. This week the Government announced the arrest of two Bolivian leaders, Leftist Revolutionary Fernando Sinani and Moises Alcoba, President of the Federation of Syndical Workers.

Behind the Strike. The conscientious New York Times printed the plot story on page 1, noted the Ministry of the Interior's statement that arbitration had been refused by the striking workers, that documented evidence was being sought of a connection with the Nazis. But there was more to the tin miners' strike than that.

From Paris many years ago, after a "Communist-inspired" strike in his mines had been put down by soldiers, Bolivian Ambassador Patino cabled to an assistant in La Paz: "Arturito, cause to be opened the doors of my house. I want the people to see the beauties it contains." The stolid Indians looked at the sculptured halls, the marble bathtubs, the Renaissance gilding, the tapestry-hung walls. They grew angry, scribbled insulting verses, pointed caricatures. The palace doors were closed and have remained shut since.

Last week the Bolivian workers remembered, and their resentment was wide and deep. The miners, after years of exploitation, were a fertile field for any agitator. But their grievances were real: food costs had soared far beyond the reach of their pittance, which in two years, despite increases of more than 50%, had barely moved above the real value of 20 to 30-c- a day for unskilled labor, slightly higher for skilled workmen.

U.S. economics experts last September presented--and had approved by the Bolivian Congress--a draft of socio-economic proposals intended to raise living standards for Bolivians. The hopes that it provoked among the Indians added fuel to the flames of their dissatisfaction. Nazi agents, working on susceptible labor leaders, added their touch to the unrest. At the same time the Nazis urged the Government to take a firm attitude.

Penaranda's Problems. Ernesto Galarza, Chief of the Pan American Union's Labor and Social Information Division, accused the U.S. Government of likewise urging Bolivia to stand pat on present wage levels. His charge: U.S. Ambassador Pierre de Lagarde Boal had discussed the new labor code with President Penaranda "for the obvious purpose of delaying the application of the wage provisions. . . . Clearly his purpose was to head off a rise in the cost of tin to the U.S. . . . The American Government is placing itself in the position of attempting to aid in the denial of those rights of labor organization and collective bargaining which are commonplace in the U.S."

It was a difficult and ticklish situation for President Penaranda. Tin is Bolivia's most important export, and Patino's tin constitutes almost half of the local production. It was also a difficult situation for the United Nations, which need all of Bolivia's tin for war purposes. Financially Bolivia was in a bad way, with prices spiraling despite credits from the U.S. President Penaranda faced a fundamental problem in human and economic relations which the necessities of war no longer permitted to be postponed.

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