Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1895-08-23
SILVER IN MEXICO.
GOW THE LABORER is ROBBED BY
THE CHEAP DOLLAR.

gho Condition of the Toiler In That Coun-
try Is IA Warning to BE Heeded-Wages
Merely a Pittance, and Living Is Made
Higher by Free Silver.
Some things would seem to be so GER
tain that it is a waste Of time to argue
about them. Among these is the condi-
ton Of the people Of Mexico, which ev-
erybody knows is in every respect in
ferior to that Of the people Of the United
States. Yet the silverites have check
enough to brazenly claim that the Mex
leans are more prosperous than we are.
The following letter, recently published
in the New York Sun, shows the real
facts as to Mexico's alleged prosperity:
MEXICO, July 6, 1895.
The fight over the financial question
now ON in the United States is watched
with eagerness and interest by mine
owners here. Whenever the United
States throws open her minis to the free
and unlimited coinage Of silver the
mining property Of Mexico will be en-
HANGED in value in the same proportion
as that in Colorado, though experience
has shown that the salary Of the laborer
viii be the same, at least so far as Mex
leo Is concerned. The dividend Of the
/ stocEholdcr will alone be increased.
Theavcrage Of wages ranges from l2H
to % cents a day in the cities and haci-
oudas or plantations Of Mexico, and in
! the remote mining districts it is little
more All lab0rers have to find them
selves in Mexico. On all plantations
there are stores owned by the landlord.
What is usually earned by labor On the
land is always spent with the owner Of it.
The question naturally arises, espe-
cialy after one has heard the promises Of
the silver men on the floors Of congress,
! Why have wages not risen in Mexico?
| Why. even on Il silver basis, are they so
much lower than the lowest paid in the
! United States? 1t must be remembered,
| too, that the wages paid here are in
deprecated coin, worth only half as
much as the same amount received for
labor in the United States
On all sides one hears the answer that
the silver basis in Mexico is not respon-
! s.ble for the low wages. This is partially
/ tiuo bat still wages have not increased
OF made any advance under the free
coinage If silver. The chief argument
of the silver men in the States seems to
lie that wages viii advance and that
the volume Of currency will be largely
inflated.
Nothing which has been promised by
the silver men has come to pass here.
Wages are lower and living higher.
Since silver has decreased in value to
about one-haf, everything produced in
this country which completes with the
markets Of the world has increased pro-
portionately. The only products which
have remained at nominally the old
figure are those which are not grown for
export and which do not come in con-
tact with similar products grown in
countries which have a sound currency.
Even coffee, which is one Of the staple
products, has risen to such point as to
practically be beyond the reach Of the
peon and the laborer while the only
beef ever in reach Of the peon is that
which is cut from the dead animals aft
CT the bull fight.
Butter is so dear as to make it lux
ury to all classes, and it is ordered in
restaurants as dainties are. Beer, which
is a standard drink here, sells for o
cents a glass, and the only liquor which
is to be had by the laboring classes is a
native drink called "pulQue," a milk
like looking beverage which produces
some Of the results Of the malt product
without possessing any Of its virtues
When these facts are pointed out to
the silver man from the States, he at
once says that such condition Of things
could not exist there; that labor is too
well organized to permit such state of
affairs to last. The politician as well as
the laborer knows that there can be no
fictitious value in labor, and, moreover,
that less than 2 per cent Of the great
mass of labor in the United States is or
ganized. The low wages here are not
confined alone to what may be termed
the laboring class, but all salaries are
proportionately small The best of clerks
in the stores get from $50 to 800 a
month. The most expert bookkeepers
can seldom get more than from $50 to
500 q month. Yet in this class Of life
the clothes they wear, the food they eat,
are bought at gold prices. While his
salary is higher, yet the bookkeeper's
necessities are so much the greater.
Argue as they will, there can be but
one result from a silver basis in the
United States, which should be made
clear to all who are dependent for their
living upon their labor. 1t is that wages !
would not be perceptibly increased, and |
that the purchasing power OF those |
wages would be diminished almost half.
Rents have been steadily advancing /
here, and they would be put up in any |
country which depreciates its money. !
Whenever the United States goes upon a I
silver basis, the earning power of her ,
laborers, artisans and clerks will be cut
almost in two, while the clothes they
wear, the houses they live in, the food .
they eat, will be increased almost dou-
BILE. Seeing the condition Of the toiler
and the peasant here, in a country upon
silver basis, it can be but the one
prayer Of an American visiting Mexico