The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1896-08-04
ADIOS.
LOW WAGES IN MEXICO.

The editor of the Little Rock Demo.
crat, who has lately visited Mexico,
wrote to Judge Walter Clark, endors
ing his observations on Mexico and its
prosperity, but asking an explanation
Of the low wages there and if they
were not due to silver. The letter be
low was the reply and may be of inter
! est to readers:
RALEIGH, N. c., July IS, 1896
JANIS MITCHELL, ESQ,
Editor Arkansas Democrat.
DEAR SIR:-Yours TO hand. Accept
my thanks for your complimentary al
lusions to the Arena articles. Iclaim
for them, however, no merit save that
truthfully and accurately l stated
what I saw, as it was given me &c see
toe truth.
No one will cain that the Mexican
people or the Mexican civiliz ttion Is
equal to ours With their 800 years of
Spanish rule and 50 succeeding years
of civil dis5entions, it would be strange
If the las: 25 years Of peaceful develop
ment mad placed them on the platform
we have reached. Indeed, the natural
pride Of you and myself would IA ur
ally eXsggerate, rather than diminish,
their interiority to ua. That with their
iuferiority they are prosperous and
contented while we are suffering in tie
throes of an undeniable end long con
tinued depression Is the strongest proof
of the iniqui5y of our financial sys
S. etem.
The wages Of the laboring people in
Mexico are somewhat less than the
same class in our Southern States. But
if Mexico had, like us, enhanced the
value of its money by ado~ting the
gold standard aud thereby reduced cot
ton from Is cents Cts price there to
6 OF Z cents (Jhe price here would that
have enabled the planters 20 have p lid
more for labor? Would it not surely,
as with our farmers, have reduced the
prices Of l6bor4 Besides, you will re
member that as low, or lower wages
prevail in the gold standard countries
of + irope. You and | who have heard
the protectionist5 declaim about the
''pauper lab0rers OF Europe" have had
that dinned into our ears. Toe gold
Standard was no. adopted by the labor
ers Of this country, 0 in their inter
est, but by the iLflence of the million
aire element, and everyb body knows in
whose interest they procure legisla
ton and they understand what they
are doing.
Restore cotton in this country to it's
former price Of Is cents (Which is still
its price in Mexico) and competition
will bring up the price of labor and
products in proportion.
OF course Mexicans prefer that we
should retain the gold standard. 1t is
building up their country. Ga what
they import it amounts to an addi
tariff Of the premium on gold and on
what they export it is a bounty of the
same premium. Hence, their news
paper and other u~tterances that the
United States had better remain on the
single gold standard basis has G shrewd
basis Of self interest. Business enter
prise is very shrewd and knows that
tbs best place for it is where there is
prosperity. When you see money
a)wing into any country you may be
sure that it is prosperous. Money
does not go where there is depression.
There is no fattery in money. There
is sincerity in business judgment. The
vast quantity of American capital
steadily flowing from US to Mexico is
something that cannot be misunder
stood. In one enterprise alone, lately,
the street railways of the City of Mex
leo. twenty millions have gone in, and
this is one instance among a vast mum
Der. The very men who favored the
gold standard here because it doubled
the value of their United States bonds
and other bonds, will sell those bonds
for silver 50 for 81 and invest in Mex
leo at par, doubling their capital.