The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-10-02
Trle Condition OF
MEXICAN Labor


From the Times Herald.
While gold and silver partisans are send
Ing from Mexico letters that purport to be
faithful pictures of Industrial conditions
| that prevail in the land OF the MonteZu-
mas, it is gratifying to turn from their
more or less colored Impressions to such a
letter as William II. Sloan, u missionary,
writes to the Examiner, the Baptist pub
lication In New York. Mr.. Sloan's obser-
vations are absolutely free from political
bias, and as they are written in the in
terest OF no party. but for the information
OF the great religious denomination which
he represents, they are entitled to great
weight.
Mr.. Sloan introduces his lette. with a
graphic description of the wonderful nat
ural resources and industrial possibilities
of the country. The land possesses mex
haustible mineral wealth, and is rich in
an agriculture that neither recognizes ;he
change Of the seasons nor requires the
stimulating aid of fertilizers or other sci
entific appliances to enable 1t to bring
forth bountiful crops. Says Mr.. sloan:
Here are mountains of mineral, practic-
ally untouched, and millions of acres OF
fertile land untitled. Still. 1t Is no place
for laboring man, nor for young man
on salary (unless 1t be assured to him
before he comes), but II Is the place for
the man who has capital, and is seeking
for Investments, hoping to Increase his
capital by taking advantage of the cheap
labor of the country, for the day laborer
must toll for a pittance that almost merits
the appellation of starvation wages"
Mr.. Sloan then shows that the prosper
ity OF Mexico during the last twenty years
is not due to silver standard currency
but to the great influx of English and
American capital which has taken ad-
vantage of the cheap labor to build rail-
roads, cultivate sugar. cotton, tobacco,
vanilla. hennepin and other products. and
to develop the mines 1.-The vast produc-
tion OF silver" says Mr.. Sloan. seems in
no way to aid the laboring man, for his
wages remain substantially the same, not
wthstanding the large influx of new
capital The Mexican dollar Is worth
about 81 cents in American money, Al
though II has more silver in II than the
American dollar has. The cheapness IN
silver, says Mr. Sloan, is due to its enor-
nous production. Immense quantities are
brought out of the Mexican mines to be
coined, the owner paying about cents for
the coinage of each dollar, and of course
protiting by the added value supposed to
be placed on 1t by the government stamp.
The daily wages of a skilled mechanic,
says Mr.. Sloan, Is about 81, or 81 cents in
American money. Under favorable cir
cumstanccs he may get SIZE, and there
are few in government shops and in the
railway service who get $3.50 or about Il
cents in gold. The large majority of Mex
lean blacksmiths. carpenters and other ar
tisans receive only IS cents per day, or 50
cents each in American money. A police
man gets 81 cents per day in American
money, u common laborer from Is to 30
cents. Postal carriers get from 81 to SIS
per month. Clerks receive from x6 to Si2
per month House rent for the poorest
laborer is sl.50 to So month in gold, but
he must live on beans and corn cakes,
often without a table to eat from, with no
bed for himself or family except a mat on
the floor. and with no furniture except a
box that serves as trunk. THE state
ments that are being published as to the
Mexican laborer building himself a
home" says Mr.. Sloan. you may set down
as unmitigatcd bosh.
Mr.. Sloan does not write as a theorlst
or as a partisan. He will not be in this
country to vote in November. He Is en-
gagged in missionary work in Mexico, AMI
for years has seen the people in their
homes. has eaten with them and talked
with them. He knows their appeals for
better wages, and has observed the desti-
tute conditions of their squalid homes.
The prices of the necessities of life have
steadily increaaad, rents have become
dearer, silver is cheapened day by dav.
but wages are never raised. The distress
ing condition of labor in this silver stand
ard country ought to furnish all the ar
gument that is necessary to impel Amer:-
can labor to stand for the maintenance of
our present standard at the polls In No
vember