Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1896-05-14
ADAMS 8 Arthur. proprietors.

OA&1ANteA4aRAtt AA ~~t~s yes hAta N~AAA ~ NN0h
place, the peso, on dollar OF Chile, was worth
about ss5s cents in our money, but IN 1885, ten
wears after, gold went gyGt and silver c4sn40 in,
the peso was worth les than SO cents in our
money. SILVER continued 70 uepreciate alld,
besides, large amounts u paper currency were
issned / tic governments and the banks, and
il 1875, y years AFTER toe change from the gold
basis . the silver basis, the peso was worth
only ABOUT S412 cents in our money.
Let IS see now what eject this cheap money,
OF, III other words, this system OF silver mono.
metallism which you are asked TO adopt here,
had upon the wages of labor in that country.
Our minister at Santiago has very recently
made an official investigation and report upon
this subject, which has NOT got been published,
from which it appears that IN the northern
part of Chile, whore labor has always been in
greater demand than elsewhere on account of
the great nitrate fields located in that section
of tho country, very little change took place
even in the nominal rates of wages notwith-
standing the great fall in the value of the cur
rency-that is. laborers continued to receive
IN depreciated money about the same amount
they received before in good money. In 1875,
when the peso was worth $50 cents, a me
chanic, a boiler maker, a blacksmith, a car
penter, a fireman and nm ordinary laborer re-
ceived together for a days work 1919 pesos, or
$16.3 in our money IN 1885 the same persons
received for the same work 2O% pesos, but ow-
ing to the depreciation Of the currency this
~ WRS t4hAA OhAg FAOfyc ~ pAA ehA ~
1896, 20 years after the country had descended
TO a silver basis, the same laborers received for
the same work 5.95 pesos, but the value Of the
peso was less than 35 cents, and consequently
their wages amounted TO only 1884 in our mon
ey, or Just about one-half Of what they had re-
ceiyed 20 years before. In the centraa part OF
the country the result was substantially the
same, though not quite SO injurious to the la
borer. In 1875 a days wages for five men-a
mason, a carpenter, a gasfltter, a painter and
an ordinary labcrer-amounted altogether to
1914 In our money, but IN 1885 the wages OF
the same men were s5.53, and in 1895 81. 30. In
the southern part Of the republic there was
some increase in the nominal amount of wages
paid between 1876 and 1889 on account Of the
fact that a line of railway was then being con-
strncted through that region by foreign CAPT
tai, but since the latter date the general aver
age rate Of wages has remained substantially
the same, although paid Ia a constantly depre-
ciating currency.
Our minister to Chile, after a very careful
examination OF the entire situation in that
country, says:
sit may be taken for granted that in Chile,
as in all other countries which have had a like
financial experience, the consequences of cheap
money have weighed most heavily upon the
classes that are least able 70 support the bur
dem"
The evils Of silver monometallism and a de-
preciated currency finally became intolerable
in that country, and, although it produces
considerable silver and very little gold, it has
recently adopted the gold standard Of value.
Japan's Experience.
In nearly every country in the world having
the gold standard of value the wages of labor
have increased materially during the last %
years, and at the same time the purchasing
power of the money in which wages are paid
has increased also, while in the countries hay
ing the silver standard of value wages have
been actually reduced by the depreciation OF
the currency TO such an extent that the labor
er is in d much worse condition than he was
at the beginning Of that period. Japan, by
far the most progressive and prosperous couh-
try in the east, coins both gold and silver at
the ratio of l6.ll8 TO ], a ratio which greatly
overyalues silver, and, as the government does
not maintain the parity of the two metals, the
currency Is ON a deprecated silver basis.
Wages are paid in silver, of course. because
the laboring men and women always get the
cheapest money in circulation, and they gen.
orally pay the highest prices for the articles
they buy. for the reason that their purchases
are usually made in small quantities at n time.
The Japanese silver yen Is worth u little loss
than 80 cents in our money, and when the
wages OF labor, paid in this deprecated coin,
are reduced TO our standard of value, they APP
pear SO insignificant that it is difficult to un-
derstand how the people who receive the mis-
cradle pittance can live and maintain their
families. The average daily earnings of a
bricklayer amount to 90 cents; blacksmiths.
carpenters and cabinet makers receive 30
cents: compositors in printing offices, 20 cents:
pressmen, 26 cents; ~roofers. 20 cents :stonecut-
tiers, Sc cents; ordinary ~tailors, % cents: weay-
ers, Is cents. And in all the long list Of occu-
pations and wages no laborer, however skill
ed, can be found who receives more than 40
cents per day, except porcelain artists in the
great city of Yokohama, who get T2 cents. Fac
tory laborers even in that city, where most Of
the great industries are carried on by Ameri-
can or European capitalists, receive 81 cents
per day, and in other parts Of the country
they receive less.
Mexico's Experience.
Our neighboring republic of Mexico, with a
constitutional government very similar TO our
own, with an area of G67 600 square miles and
a population oS only about II, 600, coo, with al
most marvellous natural resources awaiting
development and Offering a most inviting field
for the Investment of capital and the employ
ment Of labor. has the silver standard Of
value, gold not being in use. And it cheap
money is a blessing to the laboring man, ho
ought to be prosperous and happy in that
country. The Mexican dollar contains 317.l
grains of pure silver, or nearly o grains more
than is contained in our dollar, and yet, not
being sustained by a monetary system which
keeps il at a parity with gold, 1T il worth only
about So cents in our money. Wages are paid
in silver and are very low in comparison with
tho wages paid in this country for the same
services, III many instances not being half as
much, while the prices OF commodities gem
orally are much higher than they arc here.
The prices OF imported articles especially are
exorbitantly high in Mexico, because they
have to be paid for ahroadi in sold, and the de-
probation Of their money is 80 great that it
requires nearly s. in silver to pay 81 in gold.
Although our own silver1aoilar cuutains less
fine silver than the Mexican dollar, one of
ours is nearly equal in exchangeable value TO
two OF theirs. because here the coinage IS linn
tied and the government issues the coins on
its own account and has pledged its faith and
credit 10 keep them rs good as gold, a pledge
that has been faithfully kept up 10 TINS time
notwithst nding the complaints and denuncia.
lions Of oJr free coinage opponents. Under
our policy The dollar paid 20 the lahoring man
for his wages il just as good and wiz purchase
just as much in the markets Us tine dollar paid
to the bondholders or 10 any other class of
creditors, but if we are 10 have free and un-
limited coinage OF legal tender silver for the
benefit OF the owners of the bullion the gov
eminent and the people Mt largo would have
no interest whatever in tho coins, and IL would
be grossly unjust 70 require the government
TO keep them equal in eXchangeablo valre 10
gold. The dollars, as rapidly as coined, would
be delivered to the owners ot the bullion free
OF charge, and the government would have no
VI taual IN rnn1,a1 righT M lay DlI this. nlanpi.. .f