Birmingham age-herald., 1895-08-12
BACK FROM MEXICO.
Judge Banks Has Been in the Land of the Aztecs-Peonage in That Silver
 SaddIed Country

Judge James J. Banks has returned from Mexico, after an absence of sev- eral weeks. When his court adjourned for the summer he could think of no more attractive country than Mexico in which to spend his vacation. He had heard the silver men paint in glowing colors the prosperity of the land of the Aztecs, and he desired to see for him self the beneficent effects of the silver standard If he found the prosperity so great as pictured he contemplated sell ing his south Ala bama plantation and in- vesting in some fiourishing Mexican in dustry But he has returned completely cured of his inclination toward free silver country. He found that the Sil- yer standard makes the rich richer and the poor poorer. He saw in Mexico the extremes of great wealth and great pow erty. The mass of the people are poor as Lazarus and the favored few are flch as Dives. He was thoroughly convinced that free silver would have the same de- plorable effect in this country. One of the stock arguments of the silveriteS is that free silver will distribute wealth more equally among the people, ana their great calamity howl is that the wealth of this country is owned by few, while the people are plunged in pow p a condition of affairs in this country is mild as compared with Mexico. The working people here are free men. While in Mexico they are slaves. The. peonS are bound in captivity by the Pharaoh of free silver. It was from this rate that the colony of negroes now on their way home barely escaped. But for the gen erosity of this government in looking af- ter their wants during their exodus they would have perished in the wilderness. Help came to them as mama Il om ieaV- en. These negroes, recruited from the cotton fields of Georgia and Alabama, found life in Mexico unendurable. The myriads of flies were worse than the Egyptian plague.
 The mesquite desert surrounding the plantation where they were put to Work seemed to shut them in forever rom their old cabns. The adobe cabins Tn which they were placed had no opening hut the door. and looked to them like cavernous prisons. The American mu- latto who had persuaded them to leave their homes was looked upon With great CT fear than the old-time overseers. In stead of fresh beef they were given salt ed bacon. Instead of 1ye homlny they were given coarse grits. They were ob- ligated to pay the contractors for the cost of their transportation out of the first crops They had to buy their SUD- plies from the contractors. The contrac- tors fixed the price of the crops and the supplies, thus giving them the opportu- nifty to keep the negroes in perpetual bondage The laws of Mexico allow con tractors to hold debtor until he pays his indebtedness, and from this there is no escape slavery ten times worse than thst of the old slave days threat ened these negro colonists. Their over seer and guards went heavily armed and watched them closely The overseer made them thin out cotton to one stalk in the hill, while in the rich prairie lands of Alabama they always left two or three stalks to the hill. They claimed that this was ruining their crops and was done to bring them out in arrears. Several leaders among them proposed that they escape across the desert and make for the United States. These lead CTS were caught and locked up. Then, because no rain fell they became con vinced that they would die of thirst and their crops wither from drouth. They could not understand the system of irri- prayer meetings to pray for rain They look on their escape as miraculous.
 The reason why silver standard en- riches the rich and impoverishes the poor, as observed by Judge Banks in Mexico, is because of the fuctuation in the price of silver. Ten years ago the Mexican silver dollar was worth 20 cents less than the American gold dollar. and today it is worth 95 cents less. This shows a fiuctuation of 75 cents in q decade. It is this ffuctuation that affords rich men an opportunity to amass tremendous for tunes They pay their latorers in de- preciated currency and sell their products for the dearer metal. They take advan-