Show tifa TRL M J ASURE IS V MY ll 11 MYTH TH 1 n stories of hidden gold of aztecs azteca inventions of historians greatest store of precious metal was found in imperial palace and promptly shipped to spain by cortez amount la Is small san antonio tex Accor according dlug to j jose 0 a ramon palafox Pala tox a mexican journalist as n list who recently passed through this city on hla big way to washington thordore thor dare are no hidden bidden a treasures no doubt the stories circulated about the hidden treasures trea anres ot of tho the aztec ea emperors have their origin in the badly sadly exaggerated accounts ot at old spanish hist historians men who awal dowed lowed the yarns of the conquerors of mexico and whose judgment had been upset by the few shipments of gold and silver diver made to spain shortly after the taking of the aztec capital said senor palafox tho the amount of gold and silver in the possession poss pos eslon of the aztecs azteca at any time was comparatively small and in the case of the people consisting of little more than a few personal orna ments menta the greatest store of these prec precious louit metals was found by the spaniards in the imperial palace and this was promptly shipped to spain by cortez compared with the wealth of today even this was wag a mere drop in the bucket the statement mode 1 by y historians that hernando cortez sen sent t ship toads loads of gold and silver allver to his king should not cot bo be taken literally for lit in all probability it means no more than that heavy shipments of these took place the accounts of the treasure Is merely a counterpart of similar extravagances found on many pages of history we read of the fabulous wealth of the people of the euphrates valley of tho the ancient egyptians of india and other putts parts and so ao far have never found a trace of it in their day no doubt these people had a certain amount of gold and silver but they never had enough to cause us ua moderns n a to call them tibb dispersed among them in the form of currency as Is the case today their wealth in krecl jus metals would have made a very poor showing gold and silver then as am in the came of the aztecs azteca were not used at all as aa mediums ams of exchange or were used only in a very limited way rulers paid and received tributes in the of gold and as a rule cover ted it into articles of practical value or objects of 0 a art rt the old records show this down to a very late date the tribute collected by the kings of egypt for example were gold and silver vases statuettes and the like we see nemeses reward the services of his generals by hanging a golden chain around their necks and so on conditions condition n mexico lhnn the conquistadores quist adores got there were the same came did not figure to any extent no as money or its equivalent tn in the palace of the tha emperor gold and silver were found in the shape of cooking utensils toilet articles and wall coverings perhaps a small store of gold and silver ingots ingols wax waa also discovered and so no doubt was a quantity af precious stores sores A the ro callad achec A tec codices tolling telling of the whereabouts i of hidden bidden treasure aro are all spurious spur foos arid are sold to unsuspecting tang foreigners for fancy it Is an industry somewhat anal analogous ogaus to thu making of antique and jewels of course only thet the credulous are taken aken in and ono onn exper lenss lenTi suffices tu to tell the purchaser of a codex that he has been humbugged humbugger hum bugged however sometimes a great deal of harm la Is dono done by an unscrupulous man getting possession of at a so called codex lie he Is enterprising enough to turn his purchase so to good account as aa far at as he to Is con corned but those who have bave ba ve boon been foolish enough to believe lila his plausible stories will vill find that the be tre treasury trea auro asuro Is no more than a table fable Is in fact a swindle probably no one knows mexico better than do its na nivea and nowhere no ere are traditions and jhb the nice ilke bettor better preserved tindley in view of these facts it would bo be moro morn than strange that the mexican should sell information as to treasures when he could lift tho the board himself asked what he thought of the tb codex code now said to be in the possession of an american by the name of T A kenyon mr palafox expressed himself to the effect that in all probability it was no better than other documents of that kind and that quito quite often a so called codex was well enough executed to even deceive those familiar with the subject A great deal of at harin has bas boen been done to mexican investment opportunities tuni tunIt ties les ly by ancient mine and hidden treasure swindles said mr air palafox Pal arox no mane man should take any stock in n either mexico Is well stocked with americans who do nothing else but exploit their countrymen on the other side ot of the illo grande this also applies to somo some of the rubber land and colonization propositions americans ready to invest money in the republic should first put themselves li ili touch with taft mexican government doing this wll save them money and disappointment |