New-York tribune., 1896-10-26
PROSPEROUS MEXICO"
WHERE HUMAN LABOR is THE ONLY
CHEAP THING.
IN AMERICAN BUSINESS MAN TELLS OF THE CON
prT1oNs PREVAILING IN THE COUNTRY
WHICH THE RRYANITEs ARE HOLD

fBY TELEGRAPH TO THE TRlbl MI
Washington oct, Pa short time ago l. j. Nyc
IN American VINO Is engaged in business in McNico'
wrote TO the Republican Congressional Committee
for a number OF documents which were 'or"'rn''
to him by Secretary Mercer In replying 20 MI ->!t
Mr. Mercer reouested him to give detal!ed account
OF the conditions in that country with re.dru -
labor and business so far ne was persohaiY do'e
70 vouch for them. In private note. accompanying
Q descriptive letter which Mr.. Nye returned "e
writes to Secretary Mercer:
There is nothing n the conditions her" wh,cn ne.
publicans o. Americans need Tear 10 m Dr's ms je %
light. on the contrary IL Americans couln Ne Indde
to understand fully the state of a1iaiLH III .i %
the attempt OF the silver people 10 make cdp'dI Ga,
OF ''prosperous Mexico" would prove 10 he in moSt
leo is human labor. II is really The only 'nhg "ncw i
d cheap here. Of The Am'ricans rcsdent III ''i m a..
nine OUT of convinced thal IL Woul" De -
astrous FOR the United States 10 .l"ci brNan ana ~ ~,
TO the silver basis Fortunately maj dsasu - iS,,
Snminent T. il evident 10 Us here. who are .ookinS
on the battle from afar. that ne IS dooihe" 10 o'
Hhelming defeat. -,
becided 10 make public is dated at San Luis Poto'i
October s, and reads aS follows;
To Americans residing in Mexico some hnaSes n
the Presidential campaign are peculiarly lt'reHsit
ing. The advocates OF silver Tor some fo hoir
cause in the conditions existing in Mexico: Tneir
bas Unlimited coinage Of silver. Mexico is pros;
porous. Her prosTrlty Is o.,e r,i,ni,od 10 % conace
Of silver would he good thing for the niea
States" OF these propositions the only one Whinh n
sbpipd are faaciois: therefore the conclusion IS
ihe ifme conGom ann 0'h of The Mexic%n people result
Of her coinage laws then the oy porposr, ,i NieNio
can serve sor IN surely nT no aE@ American would seek
to bring about in The United States the stale oi
But the word seems have. gone ont that she
prosperon ,ha' Of 9eT h cI4non n,S sae m IN What
respect is she PROSPEROUS. ana what Is me9nt e, o.
Are the U' masses Of her eople prosperous? Would
you call the people OF me Ihi.tu ",,, rSati,aIv
sruSsiing for bare existencs; II the breadwnners
ssrnns fr9m h9ya ~ hare S Of chars be beds
living on beans and Indian corn ground py han1 n1
calico; sleeping the ground curled up In single
coarse blankets? Such is an outline picture OF IN, the
Sketch in the details Intelligent Imagination can
readily and tru,hfully supply them.
EVERYTHING is TAXED
How comes IT that the notion has got abroad that
Hexics IS prosperous? Her people do claim 1t
nor proclaim IT, 1t Is true occasionally that
her Federal officials claim that she is prosperous.
but this is only the result OF the Of
their hard struggle to bring her revenues up 10 her
expenditures The great Drop in silver in 1894 and
the resulting high exchange rates caused an enor-
NOUS falling off in her customs revenue For a
time the Government was sorely pressed to meet
expenses and especially t. provide for the interest
fici the Government resorted to internal taxes of
nearly every conceivable variety The result is that
how smali-is taxed From this great increase in
"a ample do feJenes @ are n9w TTp NOW H. has ana
surplus Of revenue. The boasins of her officials.
Undoubtedly capital a certain extent is at;
tracted here under present conditions for United
for twice He'a as much Mexc@n money as they did
few ago and the latter will buy practically as
capital is deferred leaving. because cut in
two seo b mo Td makes ead % Spa
somewhat more abundant than formerly ana
tSno one or TIVE two o Of the to uShpd in English IN tn.
City of Mexico have taken mp the cry. and doubt
ali other means combined For example note the
Enclosed card which The Mexico Herald displays
conspicuousy in the centre of its first page Pros
porous silver Mexico sends greeting lin to ihg o So9 ID
ihe coupled words prosperous silver Mexico
LABoR'S BEGGARLY PITTANCE.
Mexico to-day is probably more prosperous" than
She has been in recen; wears but call people
prosperous in the sense mat We use the word in
the United States is ;oo absurd for further notice
How people prosper" on the scale OF wages
which prevails here? Let give you a few figures
bearing the subjoct: Common labor in this sec
sion of Mexico receives from three reals per
day mot of eigh, hours ten hours twelve hours
but of dayilght-from sunrise 20 sunseO-a real is
s2t The laboring class in Mexico so help
lessly poor that they are glad TO get employment
al amos any pTc ana to Itse percghagf h 'eS c9n
mon laborer Is paid 3'i2 cents per day A mile from
here the city OF San Luis Po,osl Is enpoyins sew
eral hundred men on reservoir dam. These men
receive 25 cents per day Less han forty miles from
Thsr nenPnS PAID 8 IGf p9 dag s wn @
m miles rom mere hcr arg snei'ing "orkS paGa
receives more than 37'2 cents day must be- either
severe or Injurious 70 heath or dangerous Tndor
these conditions he may receive 80 cents 622 cents
gets from 372 cents 20 81 per day bacSsmi;hs from
20 cents TO 81 painters from S'ls cents 10 - cents
City OF 5000 people receive % cents per day.
COST OF NECEssARIEs OF LIFE
Now let see. on the other hand what prices
These people pay for necossares of life give you
actual present prices, taken down by myself in the
stores: Indian corn. cents measure, holding
three pounds. During last four years the price
has varied from cents for this measure.
which, by-the-way. is the unit OF purchase by the
iaborer Coarse brown beans - cents for the above
measure. which, Of beans. weighs three and one
Is used sparingly), % cents per pound. Sugar
(of the color of chocolate put up in cone-shaped
loaves) cents per pound. Dried red peppers pods.
per pound 90 cents. Il mention these because
wish name practically every article which enters
into the food consumption OF the laboring mani
Salt (of quality poorer than would be considered
eatabe by the American workman. cents per
pound. These are all that need be named. for they
comprise SO per cent OF the food consumed by the
Now. as TO clothing the lis, is not long White cot
ton cloth. called domestic. believe for the men;
cents to Is cents per yard Calico at from 10
cents to % cents per yard. Thread. cents spool
per cent of their clothing OF undercothinr stock
1ngs or shoes. they wear none The men wear TWO
garmentS-DOtn or the same hsdtcIA'l-d Snrt ana
drawers Of domestic. On their feet they
dals consisting of piece a sole leather fastened
TO the feet with leather strings. The women 90
barefooted winter well as summer.
AS TO household articles they have none. few
Aarthenware cooking utensils constitute the average
household outfit. the cost of which will no. average
30 cents.
What more need ne SAID Of the l1boring in
Mexico? The people who live this scale constitute
90 per cent OF her population. Consider VIVA, THIS
means. Does II 10 thinking about the
''markets of the word" of which hear much
from the free traders and tariff reformers? OF what
value is such market? And yet the condition Of all
the other Central and South American Republics i
no better Gf good than that OF Mexico. What Of
manufactured goods can such people consume" Why.
can name a dozen States Of the American Union any
one OF which consumes more goods than the whole Of
Mexico The STATE OF New-York consumes more