Rocky Ford enterprise., 1895-09-12


buy as long as they receive silver
wages for their work. or they will
make their own goods. Twenty years
ago. even ten or five years ago, you
could get as much for silver dollar
in England as in China or Japan. Now
you can get only half as much. Gold
wages have not fallen in England. Sill
yer wages have not increased in China
or Japan. The results Of silver labor,
however, sell for gold prices when they
are shipped abroad. Thus the export
trade is stimulated in these countries,
and having to pay twice as much as
formerly for foreign merchandise the
people stop buying abroad and supply
their wants at home.
For these reasons you will notice that
India, Japan, Mexico and other silver
countries are not only much more
prosperous at present than the gold
countries of Europe, but their domestic
industries are greatly stimulated. In
fact, financial and commercial depres-
sion is almost universal except in the
countries I have mentioned, where
thcre is nothing but silver money.
Prices in England and the United
States have fallen with silver. particu-
laily those of exportable products,
Willie in Japan they remain the same.
Cotton sells for about one-half what
1t lid five years ago. Silk, which is cul--
tivated with silver wages, brings twice
as much. Transportation charges have
also fallen. Since silver was demone-
tized Japan not only gets twice as much
for her silk but pays only half as much
for her cotton and very much less for
freight in taking the one to market
ane bringing the other here. While
cotton fabrics are cheaper 1t is just
as profitable to manufacture them in
JaLan, because the raw material and
fre;gh are correspondingly SO. There
is 10 additional cost for food, rent and
other necessaries of life. Wheat and
fiotr are selling at less than one-half
what they cost in 1875. Rice remains
about the same. The price of labor in
both hemispheres has remained almost
stationary, but from the Japanese
standpoint 1t has doubled in America
and England, and from the European
standpoint 1t has been reduced one
hall in Japan.
Take the cotton industry as an eX-
ample. The Japanese mills still pay
IS and 20 sen a day for male labor and
b, 10 sen for women. In the United
States the same labor receives $1.50
tjr men and rs cents and 81 for women.
Du. one class is paid in silver: the
other in gold. From Japanese stand
point the Americans pay 50 and "a for
men and $1.5O and 50 for women. From
the American standpoint the Japanese
pay 9 and 10 cents for men and and
5 cents for women. However one looks
at it the difference is very wide, but
the fabrics they produce sell for the
same prices the world over. Therefore.
while the outlay of one has doubled,
that of the other has been diminished
by one-half.
The American and European manu-
facturer has to pay the same rent, the
SAME insurance, the same price for fuel,
the same interest on borrowed money
and the same taxes that he did ten
years ago. Therefore the difference be-
tween the cost of production now and
than must come out Of his dividends,
and only by the most economical and
skiilful management can English and
American manufacturers survive. On
tla other hand, the Japanese manu-
faI.turer has suffered no increase in
fixed charges or in the cost of labor
and gets double prices for his products.
Where he declared per cent dividends
than he declares 10 per cent dividends
now. The only disadvantage he suf-
feps is the enhanced cost of new ma
chisery, but the gold value Of ma
chiaery has fallen with the decline Of
silver, SO that his mill and plant do not
represent more than two-thirds of the
investment that would have been re-
qui:ed ten years ago.
The natural and Irresistible result OF
all this is to attract capital into busi-
mesa. Old mills are being enlarged and
neW ones built. The output increases,
competition lowers prices. and the man
whip is working on a gold basis suffers
more and more. This explains why
the increase in cotton manufacturing
bas been SO great in Japan. But 1t ap-
plies in an even greater degree to rice,
which is another great staple, and in
which there is some competition with
the southern states of America. Also
Of silk fabrics, paper and stationery,
and many other manufactured prod
ucts.
The first cotton mill was erected here
in 1868 with 5,456 spindles. In 1888
there were sixteen mills with 43,700
spindles In 1894 forty-six mills with
sos, ,419 spindles. There have been seven
new mills with 100000 spindles already
added this year, and several more are
nearing completion, which will bring
the number of spindles up to Ill 900 be-
fore January 1, 1896.
The forty mills in the city of Osaka
in 1894 paid an average dividend Of 16
per cent. The highest was % per cent
and the lowest was per cent. The
difference was due to management. The
yarn mills pay the best.
Great Britain and Germany have suf-
fered more than the United States from
the result of silver depreciation, be-
cause they have larger trade abroad
and a more limited market at home,
and they have not only been the vic
tins of honest competition, but of dis