Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1896-10-13
aition of the Laborer and
Business in a Land Where
Free Coinage Exists
IT THE MExlCANS SAY.
representative of the St Louis
Globe Democrat Tells What
He Saw.

'e the free coinage of silver had
severyone happy, contented and pros
as, there has been much written by
who had lived there and others.
reports, which we're not fiattering
ie country, were denied by the sill
Advocates and branded as lies. The
rites stoutly maintained that if Ia
was as well employed here as in
co the great question of what to do
the poor would be solved as there
d be no poor. They claimed that
at country there was no Wall street;
food, clothing and the necessities
lfe were cheaper; that the nation
prospering as it never had before,
all on account of the free coinage
lver
e st. Louis Globe Democrat, wish
20 be just in the matter, decided
nq a representative there who would
what he saw and learned, with
egard as to how the reports would
4 the political situation. The man
zone on whom the paper could de-
to tell the truth.
tracts from some of the letters
81 throw some light on the subject
ae silver and its effects are printed
ces Depend on Foreign Exchange.
rates on the high seas could hard
more dangerous menace TO COM
c between nations than this tiuctua-
of exchange between countries on
ent standards. Outside of q few
fy-changers at coast ports, business
of the states hardly notice from
To- week the variations in exchange
zen their country and Europe. But
o business relations between the
d States and Mexico the changing
ence between the standards is a
pr of hourly concern.
hats exchange todayT goes with
mornings salutation between mer-
IS in Monterey.
iiyer's up or "silyer's down" is the
nercial news of first Importance.
e shrewd representative of a San
mic (Tex.) jobbing house on his way
10 the states from his midsummer
III of the cities of Mexico said:
ere's variation of &c between the
rtandard of the states and the silver
ard of Mexico within two weeks.
is a man going TO sell goods or do
business between the countries when
AS got TO make allowances for such
nations. When | sell bill of goods
Mexican merchant on six months
I've got TO figure the prices high
gh 70 save my house in the event
silver drops by one of those violent
cations before the day of settlement
- se merchant has got to mark
Fetail prices on a margin sufficient
0tect him against possible change.
so American goods must be sold in
leo at two margins above legitimate
is in order TO protect the American
Fr and the Mexican storekeeper
Ast these rapid up and down move
Of the standards. The condition
Aply ruinous to trade. People will
ny when prices are raised on them.
,use may make tremendous profit
rely save itself in sale of goods on
lonths' time. That isn't the way to
1siness. You might as well have a
tse wall between two countries as
fluctuations. And this is what we
have on n vastly greater scale if
nited States goes TO q silver stand
nd Great Britain and the European
rs continue the gold standard. /
what this thing of two standards
between Mexico and the States,
don't want to see it in our trade
Great Britain and Europe"
A Dollars Worth of Labor.
lollar worth 80 cents commands the
labor in Mexico now that a dollar
dollar did ten or twenty years
Right there is the cornerstone on
! prosperity in this silver country is
ng. That is what makes il now
able to work mines with ores worth
q IS, Mexican money. q ton. That
ton of labor brings .he cost of min
nd carrying out the ore down to 81
!. That kind of labor built and
ties the cables, which take the place
ousands of burro trains, at frac-
~ the cost for like construction and
ton Ia the States. Gables have re-
the cost of conveying ore from the
n TO the railroad, two miles down the
tain, to 20 cents and 30 cents a ton.
labor enables railroads to haul ores
I'm 90 cents TO 81 ton. 1t figures
cost of the transportation of. the
from the gulf and the coal from the
r. And, finally, it enables the
ers 10 make an unprecedentedly low
3f 81 ton for treatment of ore.
gerry step, from the first blow of
ck in the mine to the landing of the
bullion into molds at the furnace,
kitty OF wages on the basis of q
deprecated to one-half it's value is
lief factor which insures the profit.
matters 1t If silver goes down if it
ands Just as much labor as ever,
the lead in the bullion can still
q for gold? The smelters of Next
~ ore from the mine owners, and
Mexican dollar an ounce for the
they get out of it. They paid this
"A years ago, when silver was worth
than it is now. They still pay il.
lily, under the importation of COM
,n, while silver was dropping so
" in the United States, some of
meters OF Mexico advanced the
hey allowed the mine owners for
HThey are now paying under some
IS $1.06 in Mexican money for
4ince of silver found in the ore.
the brick-making plant a few
y ~ of Monterey, on the Mineral
i, is shipping 100000 paving brick
o Antonio, in Texas. 1t does this
avs the ad valorem duty of % per
which the Wilson tariff levies on
appropriations. The contract for
brick shipment was obtained at
kntonio because this company put
4, lowest and best of twenty-eight
The Monterey company enjoys
secession of excellent clay, but that
that enables it to send brick to the
States at profit. 1t outbid the
seven American brick-making |
les because it sells brick for
ian money, worth 100 cents in |
and hires good labor for Mexican |
4, worth 30 cents in gold. This |
ny is paving three miles of Monte
treets with brick, displacing the
stones of time immemorial. 1t
ryn a block of the brick paving as
ect lesson, and the governor, Gen.
rdo Reyes, with keen perception
good thing, ordered three miles of
ne to begin with. The bricl man.
red on the basis of unchapging
land laid by the same will cost in
az money little less than the