The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-09-15
SENT AS A SPECIALADELEGATH
BY THE SILVER CONVENTION
WHICH MET IN s'rs LOUIS IN
JULY,
COUNTRY SAID TO BE PRosrER1NG.
Farmers Making Money. Wacex
Have Increased, Industries Are
Running In Full Blast.

90 oCII DIS Special Q0leRdl0 TO Mex
leo by the silver convention which met
IN st. Louis last July, returned home
yesterday. He was sent there for the
purpose of securing campaign thunder
and as he had it all his own way he
mad no trouble in performing his work.
lie comes back a free silver adVo-
cate or the most pronounced type, and
declares that unless this country
adopts the policy of Mexico the indus
tries of the United States will be
ruined by the manufacturers of Mex
leo and Japan. Ten years is the limit
OF time which Mr.. Hawthorne gives the
United States to become bankrupt I'M
less the free silver polfcysfs adopted.
To a reporter for the Globe, Mr..
Hawthorne said he found Mexico pros
porous far beyond his expectations,
with surplus in her treasury and
every industry being pushed day and
night to meet the demands of trade.
All this has come about since the minis
OF India were closed and the Sherman
act was passed in the United States.
according to the St. Paul travellers
view.
All classes of business are prosper-
ing" said Mr.. Hawthorne. Farmers
are making money, wages Of ALL class
es nave increased from % to so per
cent, the finances Of the government
are in better shape than ever before
and the banks are prosperous. And
this prosperity is directly due to free
silver. It's results are apparent on
every hand. The country is a paradise
for the farmer. Wheat is worth $3.50
hI1c hnI
pound, butter So to go cents a pound.
corn $3.50 per hundred pounds, and SO
on. And it should be remembered that
In the purchase Of these articles a.
Mexican dollar goes as far In Mexico
In the purchase Of the necessaries of
life as the American dollar does in this
country. For instance 1 got a meal
that included two kinds of meat. cof-
fee, two side dishes and dessert for
10 cents
Following are some Of the wages paid
taken from railroads and other pay
rolls in Mexico:
Conductors on passengers trains
$40 to $3.50; conductors on freight
trains. $125 to 5000 per month; steno-
graphers and typewriters, $500 to $500
per month; locomotive engineers. $3.50
to $3.50 per month; stationary engineers.
500 to $500 per month; clerks in stores,
81 to $3.50 per day; clerks who speak
English from SO to SIS per day; plaster
ers and masons (Amerfcan) So to SO. so
per day; boiler makers from 81 to So
per day; shop machfnists, So to S. per
day. The wages for unskilled labor
are low and meet an almost exact
parallel in the wages paid in the states
of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama
and Mississippi by the sugar planters
to the negroes. 7@
81 found further in Mexico that as
the business was booming new enter
prises were constantly being inaugu-
rated and there was an ever increasing
demand for labor, hence [ was not at
all surprised at the statement. of Fran
cisco de VelaSco, of Puebla, the owner
of the Patriotismo cotton mills of that
city, when he stated that he had been
obliged to advance the wages Of his
employees 20 per cent during the past
year.
II visited a great many mills and
factories and have found them all run
ming and apparently prosperous. The
cotton mills, some ninety In number In
the republic, have run day and night
with some very few exceptions ever
since gold went to it's highest premium
in $685. at the time of the closing OF the
India minis and the repeal of the
stance, I visited the cotton mills Of
Orizaba, which are known as the Rio
Blanco mills. They commenced oper-
ations in 1893. There are In those mills
$4,000 throstle spindles, equal to $4,000
mule spfndles. and there are 1900
looms for weaving cotton. Now, mark
you, those spfndles and looms have
been running day and night for the
past three years except Sundays. And
what is true Of the mills Of Orizaba Is
true of all the other cotton and wooden
mills in the Republic.
There are ten wooden mills running
in the valley of Mexico and these are
crowded with orders and have to run
double time. The mills are clearing all
the way, over all expenses from
ten to forty per cent per annun1. Among
the iron foundries 1 found none more
prosperous than those of Monterey OF
which J. A. Robertson Is the president
Mr.. Robertson has in his employ W.
M. and A. r. Bushnell, formerly Of this
city. He spoke to me very highly Of
them and Of their reliability and at
tention to business. By the way I saw
A. r. Bushnell and had long chat
with him fnae eal W
'The iron works of Monterey are be-
ginning to crowd the American prod
uct. Mr.. Robertson told me that he
was selling goods now in San Antonio,
how he does 1t: He manufactures OH a
silver basis and sells in ithe United
States on a gold basis, then as gold Is
worth premium Of $190 when his
money gets into Mexico he practically
doubles 1t.
"Silver in Mexico has acted with gold
at premium as the most comprehen-
sive and equitable protective tariff any
country has ever known. 1t protects
the farmer as we'll as thp uanufac-
turer, and stimulates all kinds of bust
ness enormously. For instance, the
price of farmers wheat is regulated
by the market in London or Liverpool
If he gets 80 cents a bushel there with
gold at a premium Of from S1.S0 to 81.
he brings his money back, changes ii
into Mexican money, and 1t practically
doubles, so that he gets from $1.75 to
$3.50 per bushel. Take -anotfaePs4irl-
stance; a man manufacturing plows
does so on an average for 81 Mexican,
these he exports to the United States,
pays the duty and sells for Sc in gold
He takes his So back to Mexico. and
with gold at a premium of $3.50 his Sc
becomes S11.40. The manager of the
bank of London and Mexico said to me
that he hoped gold would 90 to q
premium Of $3.50, for IL it did It would
be just so much additional protection,
and, he added, the Mckinley tariff In
your country never protected farmer,
but the premium on gold protects not
only the farmer, but every other in
dustry, including labor, and costs moth
ing TO collect it.
There is no such thing in Mexico as
a fifty-cent dollar, and there never has
been such thing there. On the con-
trary gold has 1uctuated from 81 In
1878 to FOL in 1893. A Mexican dollar
measured by the amount Of everything