Omaha daily bee., 1896-08-28
Mrxrco's SILVER PRICES.
Her Finnnce Minister Tells Of a Few
Odd Eputures

Her Finnncc Minister Tells of "a Few
Odd Features. r
Jose Y. Limantour. the Mexican miuiste.
OF finance, who spent his vacation at the
eastern seaside resorts. was in New York
last Monday. bound homeward. lie was in
terviewed by a representative Of the New
York Sun. and, though declining to dis
cuss the silver question as a political issue,
he told some things about the effects OF the
silver standard In Mexico which have a d.
rect bearing upon the situation in this coun-
try. He said that although the price OF
! silver had fallen in recent years. there had
been no increase In wages to keep pace with
the fall. No better confirmation could be
desired than that he gave of the contention
OF gold standard advocates that wages will
remain the same as at present, in spite OF
the rise in prices OF commodities which fol-
low the adoption Of free silver coinage.
Mexico said Mr.. Limantour, has al
ways had free coinage. The ratio Is 161a to
l. theoretically our standard is bimetallic.
but, Of course, 1t Is really a single silver
standard 1t is not possible to have a double
standard under free coinage. Any gold We
have Is Immediately exported, and ma
never seen any gold in circulation In Mexico.
Gold Is at a premium of nearly 200. We pro-
duce but little gold, Last year the output
was 1000. 900 ounces. while we produced
about the same amount of silver as the
United States, 50, 900, 900 or 60. 900, 900 ounces.
There is a keen interest in Mexico in the
result of your election, because of the effect
II VIII HdNt NIVll AHt Illtt IL SILVER 6titl-
ally. Each time silver goes down 1t is a
serious detriment to our country, because we
have made four foreign loans, paying in
gold. As silver deprcciates and the premium
ON gold is increased ii becomes more diff
cult for our government to meet these gold
obligations. OF course, we have silver bonds
also, which are taken up at home. The
gold bonds are worth nearly double what
the silver bonds are worth. 1t was a serious
blow to us when the Indian minis were
.1nsAl L., 700 aud Tho hnfTrNn ~ nnt n
repealed in 1898, because of the fall in the
price of silver which followed."
How has trade been affected by the fall
in the price of silver?'
The price of imported goods has been
doubled. The increase in price OF domestic
products which are consumed at home has
been small. The price of tropical products,
which are raised principally for export, has
virtually increased, because they are paid
for in gold, the international medium of eX-
change, and the premium on gold in Mexico
has increased with the fall of silver. On
this account the producers of coffee and
other tropical products have p%rofted greatly,
and have grown very wealthy. The fall
in silver has also had the effect OF develop
ing our manufacturing industries"
"How do you account for that?"
owing to the fact that we must pay for
foreign manufactures in gold, their price in
the deprecated silver has greatly increased.
The price of domestic manufactures, for
which silver is paid, has not increased.
Hence the tendency has been to develop do
mestio industries, and wool, iron, linen and
paper mills have sprung up all over the
country. The fall in silver has been in eff
feet a species of protection, which has be-
come more important than the tariff"
Would not a further fall in the price OF
silver be beneficial. according to the same
reasoning"
mo; because manufacturers want just
enough protection to enable them to keep
the home market. They do not want any
more than that. Furthermore, we must bear
in mind the point that | mentioned before,
that every fall in silver is a detriment to our
national finances. 1t Is a detriment, too, 10
the railroad companies, which have invested
gold capital and issued gold bonds, but whose
earnings are in silver. What we fear most
is a fuctuation in the price of silver, or in
conservative and not speculative, and while
the price of silver is in doubt our business
men buy only what they need from time to
time, and undertake no large operations.
This is the best time, however, to invest
money in Mexico, because silver has got
down so low that it is likely to go up now
rather than to continue
"Is Mexico prosperous on the silver stand
ard?"
"our prosperity is increasing rapidly. but
it is due to a number of causes and not
especially to the silver standard" -v
"What is the effect upon wages of the de-
preciating silver standard? 2"
"They ha We not increased perceptibly. The f.
same is true of Japan, who're wages are very
low. For this reason Japan and Mexico will
in a few years be able to compete success
fully with England and the United States
because of the silver standard and low
wages"
what is the ruling rate of wages for
agricultural laborers in Mexico?"
twenty-five cents a day"