The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-09-01
FEW FACTS ABOUT
LABOR IN MEXICO
A Review of the Situation by Mr..
Archibald Butt.
WAGES LOW AND PRICES HIGH
An Appalling Picture Of Poverty In a
Land That Should Be Flowing with
Milk and EOney..BeggarIy Wages
Paid at the Smelling WOrks..Ex.
orbitant Prices OfFurniture, Etc.
Bureau of The Tribune,
sol 14th street, n. w.


Washington, Aug. II.
One of the most valuable publica-
tions gotten out by the republican
national campaign committee is from
the pen of Mr.. Archibald w. Butt, one
of the best known southern writers III
Washington. The volume deals with
the silver situation in Mexico and Is
the only work of it's kind which gives
any comprehensive view OF the lapor
conditions in the southern republic.
MIR. Butt has had every opportunity TO
study the question from a practical
point of view. When General Ran
som, ex-United States senator from
North Carolina. was appointed min
lister to Mexico by President Cleveland,
he appointed Mr.. Butt one of his
attaches During his stay in Mexico
he made a complete study of labor
and its conditions in that republic.
His connection with public men ana
affairs in Washington gave him the
experience necessary to become y
competent Judge of the questions he
had heard discussed in congress, when
put into practical operation. Mr.. Butt
spent one year in Mexico and resigned
to resume his journalistic career in
Washington.
The volume contains about nine
thousand words, and it is as much a
picturesque sketch of the poorer class
in Mexico as it is complete refuta-
tion of the claims of the free silver
men. The volume Is composed of a
series of the authors letters from Mex
leo City, written more than year
ago before the agitation Of the sill
Yer question was much discussed.
Addenda has been added and the
whole series brought up to date. Fol-
lowing are some extracts which point
moral to every laborer in this coun-
Try:
There was never a time In the his
tory of the United States when dollar
would buy so much. There was never
time In the history of Mexico when a
dollar would buy so little.
From the moment the American
travelling into Mexico gets in exchange
for one American dollar two Mexican
dollars until, when on returning he
gives two Mexican dollars to get one
American dollar back, his life is full of
surprises. The order of horse-racing
q
and completely the civilization of the
United States is reversed in Mexico.
There are, no better races than those
given by the great jockey club here, yet
II Is hard to get accustomed to seeing
thoroughbreds race from left to right
instead of from right to left.
1T Is equally difficult to get accus-
toned to the great opulence and excess
siVe poverty which seem to dwell to-
gether, living closer together than the
two extremes are ever seen existing
side by side in the United States. The
entire social system in Mexico Is in
teresting. so interesting, in fact, that II
becomes impossible to give any general
outline which would adequately por-
tray the habits, customs, virtues and
vices of these people. 1t must be han
died from time to time i'm detail fol-
lowing from their source the laws of
this people, which have. more than zone
or altitude, affected the life and char
acter Of the Mexicans.
There Is one element which enters
largely into the life at present in this
country. which is of peculiar interest 10
the american people. 1t Is the curren
cy system under which they live, and
winch, IT not the basis of many of the
troubles of Mexico, failed to be of bene.
tit to the people.
fhe average wages in Mexico range
fr''ni l2la to 25 cents day in the citie.
ana faoiendaS or plantations, and in tn,
remote mining districts there Is n slirh
increase. All laborers have to feed O,
lind themselves in Mexico. On al
plantations there are stores owned b,
the landlord. What is usually earned
I..I an on, t., lp,,
with the owner of it,
THE question naturally arises, es
pecially after one has heard the prom
ises OF the silver men from the floors OF
congress and on the stump, Why havt
wages not risen in Mexico? Why, ever
on silver dollar basis, are they SO mucl
lower than the lowest paid in the United
states? 1t must be remembered, too
that the wages paid here are i'm depre
ciated coin, worth only half as much a!
the same amount received for labor in
the United States.
The free and unlimited coinage O.
silver in Mexico has a more direct influ
ence upon the laboring classes of thi
country than is at first apparent to tn,
American visiting the tropical republic
The silver leaders in the states give /
out, and 1t Is generally believed, tha
the laboring element here is made IL,
solely OF unskilled labor; that there is n,
such thing as high-class workmen /,
the republic of Mexico. This is false
and the thousands of handsome dwell
ings, factories and business house
stand in proof of it.
There is a vast deal of skilled labo
in the republicans skilled labor as ca,
be found In the states, and it is th
very class that suffers more than an,
other.