The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1896-10-04
ALL TURN TO MEXICO.

The Chicago Record has sent a cropof
correspondents into Mexico to ascer-
tain the true situation in regard to the
effect of free silver on business and
wages in that country Mr.. Trumbull
White, one of the Records cores
pondents, in his initial letter to his pa
per, quotes a resident of the country
as saying:
81 don't want to do anyone an in
justice, but / must say that those of us
who live in this neighborhood and have
seen the work that has been done by
most of the men who have come down
here to get facts bearing on the present
campaign, have come to the conclusion
| that they come with opinions ready
| formed looking for things to verify
them. We have seen so many inaccu-
rate tables of wages and of prices,
made for purpose of comparison, that
we have come to believe that the in
! tention has been to secure campaign
| literature rather than a fair report on
the conditions as they are"
| The gentleman quoted then proceeds
| to say that freight engineers and con-
| ductors are making from 5000 to 1925
| per month in Mexican silver, which
| buys for them everything except Amer
| lean money, as it did when silver was at
par. Asked if these men did not buy
imported goods at high prices, with
duty added, he replied:
! Yes, they do buy imported shoes
| for the best, and some others things,
too, from imported stocks. But instead
of being from the United States, most
OF these things are from France, Eng
land and Germany, and are SO good
better than they can get anywhere else
that it is real economy to them. This
applies to suits of clothes, and such
things. Except for the very cheapest
ready made clothing, suits are as cheap
| in Mexico as they are in the United
States, and otter cheaper"
Continuing, he said: 'sMost of the
| price comparisons have been remarka-
bly, misleading, and they could have
| little weight on the question under
discussion if the people who read them
knew the other conditions and circum-
stances. The writers have chosen
| American goods, goods seldom used
and little wanted by the Mexicans, for
the comparisons, and have omitted
| altogether the things that in Mexico
are considered the necessaries of life
It is because of this that the tables are
worthless as showing the cost of living
in the republic"
| Carpenters, the correspondent is in
formed, get 81 a day in the City OF
Mexico, and are busy all the time.
Mr.. p. B. Chisem, a leather manufac-
turer of Guaymas, expressed the opin-
ion that it would be better for Mexico
that the United States should remain
on a gold basis. He is quoted as fol-
lows:
II am engaged extensively in the
manufacture of leather ait Guaymas,
and have just closed big contract
with Japan. / make large shipments
to England and receive gold for them.
What wages do / pay? Well, my
employees can live much better in Mex
| leo on their salaries than any Of your
laboring men can live on the wages
they receive. ] pay my skilled laborers
| SIS and 81 a day, and the common la
| borer $40 a month. A person can live
/ we'll in Guaymas on $50 a month. One
! hundred fine oysters cost 25 cents,
seven pounds of fresh fish 10 cents,
and a large green turtle to make rich
soup for several hundred persons, costs
only so cents. A carpenter in Guaymas
receives SO a day and a blacksmith
! 81 50. A skilled, sober and industrious
workman receives better pay in Mex
ID o than he can get in the United States.
Sonora is the most prosperous State
| in Mexico. There are no paupers in
Sonora. Her people have money or
! they work. There is a constant de-
| mand for labor, often for more than
can be obtained, and at times we have
difficulty in getting house servants,
| because absolutely no one is idle
THE EDELWETss MYTH.