Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1895-09-06
SILVER IN MEXICO.
HOW THE LABoRsR is RoesEp BY
The CHEAP DOLLAR.

NJ
try Is Warming to he Heedct-w Wages
Merely n Pittance. and Living Is sra,lo
Higher by Free Silver.
Some things would seem to DO so GER
tain that it is Is waste of tino to nrguo
about them. Among these is the condi.
ton of the people Of Mexico which CIV.
erybody knows is in every respect in.
fcrior to that of tho people of tho United
States. Yet the silverites have cheek
enough to brazenly claim that tho Mex.
leans are moro prosperous than wo are
The following letter, recently published
i'll tho New York Sun, shows tho real
facts as to Mexico's alleged prosperity:
MEXICO, July q, 1896.
Tho fight over the financial question
now on i'll the United Stutes is Watched
with eagerness and interest by mino
owners here. Whenever the United
States throws open her mints to tho free
and unlimited coinage of silver tho
mining property Of Mexico will DO en-.
HANGED i'll value in the Same proportion
us that in Colorado, though experience
has shown that the salary of tho laborer
Will DO tho samo, Mt least SO far as Mex
leo is concerned. The dividend of tho
stakeholder will alone DO increased
Tho average of wages ranges from 1873
to 20 cents day i'll tho cities and haci-
endas or plantations of Mexico, and in
tho remote mining districts it is little
more. All laborers have to "fintl" them
selves i'll Moxico. On all plantations
there arc stores owned by the landlord.
What is usually earned by labor OH tho
land is always spent with tho owner of it.
Tho question naturally ariscs, cspcA
cially after ono has heard the promises of
tho silver mon OH tho floors of congress,
Why have wages not risen in Mexico?
Why, even on Il silver basis, arc they so
much lower than the lowest paSd in the
! United Statcs2 1t must be remembered,
too, that tho wages. paid hero aro in
appreciated coin, worth only half rs
much as the same amount received for
labor in tho United States.
On all sides ono hears tho answer that
tho silver basis i'll Mexico is not rcspOn-
sible for the low wages. This is partially
true, but still wages have not increased
or Inado any advance under tho FREQ
coinage of silver. Tho chief argument
of tho silver men III the States seems to
be that wages will advance and that
the volume of currency will DO largely
inflated.
Nothing which has been promised by
tho silver men has como to pass hero.
Wages arc lower and living higher.
Since silver has decreased in yaluo TO
about one-half, everything produced in
this country which completes with the
arl-n ,..Nf4l II l..
portionatoly. Tho only products which
have remained at nominally the old
figure arc those which arc not grown for
export and which do not como in con-
tact with similar products grown i'll
countries which have sound currency.
Even coffee, which is ono of the staple
products, has risen to such point MS to
practically DO beyond tho reach of the
pcon and tho laborcr, while tho only
beef over i'll reach Of tho pcon is that
which is cut from tho dead animals aft
er the bull fight.
Butter is SO dear us to make 1t Ink.
my to all classes, and it is ordered in
restaurants as daintics arc Beer, which
is standard drink hero, sells for 10
cents glass, and tho only liquor which
is to be had by tho laboring classes is Il
native drink called "pulquc, milk.
like looking beverage which produces
somo of the results of the malt product
without possessing any of its virtues
When these facts nro pointed out to
the silver man from tho States, he ut
once says that such II condition of things
could not exist there; that labor is ton
we'll organized to permit such state of
affairs to last The politician us well us
tho laborer knows that there can be no
fictitious value i'll labor, and, moreover.
that less than 2 pcr cent of the great
mass of labor i'll the United States is Or
ganiZed. The low wages here arc not
confined alone to what may be termed
the laboring class, but all salaries are
proportionatcly small. The best of clerks
i'll the stores get from 500 to $500 IL
month. The most expert boolikecpers
can seldom get more than from 500 to
500 month. Yet iii this class of life
tho clothes they wear. tho food they eat,
arc bought at gold prices. While his
salary is higher, yet the bookkeeper's
necessities are so much tho greater
Argue rs they WILL there can be but
ono result from n silver basis in the
United States, which should BIO made
clear to all who arc dependent for their
living upon their labor. 1t is that wages
would not be perceptibly increased, and
that tho 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 dcpreciates its money.
Whenever tho United States goes upon n
silver basis, the earning power of her
laborers, artisans and clerks will DO cut
} almost i'll two, while tie clothes they
wear, the houses they live in, tho food
they cat, will DO increased almost dou-
BILE. Seeing tho condition of tho toiler
and the peasant here, i'll country upon
silver basis, it can DO but the one
prayer of an American visiting Mexico
that his own country may be spared the
folly of doing what would DO an ire.
parable wrong.
AN AMERICAN DEMOCRAT