Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-06-22
TRADE WITH MEXICO.
The Greater Part of It Now Carried
on by the United States.
EUROPEAN SUPREMACY Is GONE.
Pennsylvania Appears to Be the Most
Favored State There.
C0NNELLSVILLE COKE IN BIG DEMAND
ESPECIAL TELEGRAM TO THE DISPATCH. ]

| ESPECIAL TELEGRAM TO THE DIsPATCH.1
PHILADELPHIA, June 21-If Europe in
tends to regain supremacy over Mexico's
foreign commerce she will have to do some
tall hustling; at least such is the opinion of
w. E. Butcher, former Philadelphia
now residing in Monterrey, who is in this
city at present, guest of the Elmwood
4 Club. ..s.;.
''The Mexican newspapers claim that Eu-
rope gets most of the foreign trade" said
Mr.. Butcher, in the course of conversa-
tion upon the baby Republic, "but statis-
tics recently issued disprove that statement.
To-day three-ffths of all Mexican exports
and imports are transacted with the United
States. 1t was only few years ago when
England, France and Spain held COM
plete sway over the foreign trade, but they
have lost a, great deal of it, and they are
losing more every month; and the reason
| why the United States has been able to
step in is because of the recently built rail-
roads, and because of The Mckinley bill.
'The city Of Monterrey is the best in
stance of what Americans, can do in Mexico.
Eight years ago this city had 20, 900 inhab-
itants; railroads and Americans came in,
and now its population; by the last census,
is given at 10000
The Boom at Monterrey.
Monterrey, you know, is the capital of
the State of Nuevo Leon, and is about IT'S
miles from the Texas border. 1t used to be
a sleepy old Spanish town; but now every
thing is on the jump. In 1882 Americans
commenced to come in, with the railroads,
and now there are 5000 or 4, 900 of them
there. Smelling plants, employing millions
and millions of capital are in operation, on
account of WINDOWS decision regarding the
duty of lead contained in ores, and more are
being built Two lines of steamers are be-
ing organized to ply between New York and
the new port of Tampico, about 300 miles
from Monterrey; Americans are starting
manufactures in Monterrey and elsewhere,
and Mexico generally has awakened to the
fact that her salvation lies in a high pro-
tective tariff whereas the United States has
all to gain by reciprocity.
'It seems hardly possible that Mexico
will agree to any reasonable plan of recip-
rocity, however, because she has vastly
more raw material than she knows what to
do with; and she is succeeding splendidly
in getting mills and factories started with
American money and American machinery,
both Of which, you may be sure, come in
without any duty at all.
Pennsylvania Well Represented.
$50 far, Pennsylvania and New York are
better represented in Monterey than any
other States. William P. Grimm, formerly
of Philadelphia, has large knit goods fac
tory there, and it is the only one in the
Republic of Mexico. He is doing splen-
didly, and buys all of his wool within 80
miles of his office. You can readily
see what tremendous advantage he
has over those who have to pay for
raw material grown 600 or 700 miles away
from their factories.
During the last year Monterrey has been |
enriched by three smelling plants for silver
and lead, all managed by Americans, and |
owned by them and the English, Spanish |
and Me1icans. The Guggenheims, of Phila-
delphia, whose works were formerly at |
Pueblo, are putting in at Monterrey nine
furnaces; and when, completed, these will |
form one of the finest smelling plants on |
the American continent. They will have q
capacity of 450 tons a day, and with the
other two plants will need fully $40, ,OOO, 900
capital. Still another large smelling plant,
owned by the Kansas City Works, is being
put up at San Louis Potosi. The removal
of these industries to Mexico, and the con-
States, is due entirely, as / said before, to
the reading by Secretary Window of the
silver clause in the Mckinley bill; and
nobody is more delighted with that inter-
probation than the Mexicans. At first they
were anxious for tney did not see what
would result; but now they have great smelt-
ing plants put in, enriching their most pros
porous commercial center, and they are
mighty glad of it.
A Great Benefit to Labor.
"All the labor at the furnaces will be ma
tive except officers of the companies, of
course, and the machinists. Three years
ago, when 1 first knew something about
Mexico, common labor cost from % to 81
cents per day; at present you cannot get an
able-bodied man to. work for less than IS
cents. Houses that rented two years ago
for SO or SIS month, now bring from $40
window in store of Monterrey. To-day
the merchants have a high fever to see
which can make the biggest splurge in such
decoration. '.
$50 far PENNSYLVANIA seems to be more
favored in Mexico, for the manufacturers
down there want Connellsville coke, and
they get it whenever possible. Of the 5000
tons per month used by the Monterrey fur
naces nine-tenths is Connellsville coke, and
when the Guggenheims get started they
will need 1000 tons more per month. |
Scls SOlI COdl lTOlu /
Indian Territory, and this, mixed with
Pecas coal, from Texas, is used by the rail-
roads. And, by the way, one sees more
Baldwin and Porter locomotives than any
,ther. Mexico has some coking coal in the
Sabina district, near San Philippe, in the
State of Coahula, and the mining of this is
growing to bea very large business. 1t is 4
'wned, 1 believe, by Huntingdon prin-
,ipally.
Cost of Living in Mexico.
GAS an example of what it costs to live