The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1896-03-01
SIDE or THE MEXICO
stLEEH QUESTION

Tie Fayetteville Observer 81 Monday
confirms soue facts wifh reference a.
the SILVER question n Mesieo from
oilicinl reports which we quote below
We hage oftea noted tie akjit with
when ihe Republicans employ tie de-
zee ot the cry of stop lMpft Knowing
ihai 4 was DE WappoHfncr who chiefly
suffered thdtr protection they dirpc.
ifd theH most earnest attention t. the
business Of convincing him that lac wna
me snfneCand lis employer the loser
~ "" eHeet IF protective tariffs.
knowing INIT NnNieg. our recently
despised mougfel ueipbbor. is poiug
forward with leaps and bounds under
u SILVER culuHgc system. which ia ae.
tentuated by our adopting tho gold
standard, they now seek to show that
~ ~ the Waga eatuer aud producer
there at whose expense the generaI
prosperity is had Specifically their
best attention has been devoted to tbn
cotton producer, who has been dracrib-
ed recently by one Of our distinguish
ed North Carolina travellers in Mexico
az prospecting under the Mcxicap none
tafy system.
There is an official side 10 this oleg-
ton, which Republicans and gold buog
must respect, aud which Is therefore
worth looking into
~, In the United States Consular
Reports for September 1895, Consul
German reports from Matamoras.
Mexico, that cotton is sold at lG 10 ~
cents TO the cotton factories i'm Mon
terey. This is in silver, Of course,
but IT is in money which less than ten
years ago was at par with our money.
at the time when the bulk Of our pri-
waite Indebtedness was made and our
National, State and municipal debts
were being refunded. But for the sub
sequent enhancement in the value Of
our dollar, our people like those of the
countries south of us would be paving
their debts, taxes, railroad freights
and fares with cotton at 10 to Is cents
per pound.
-. In the United States Consular
Reports for December, 1895, Consul
Olive at Merida, Mexico, says Tariffs
for passengers and freights are about
half the rates charged for local bust
ness by the railways of the United
States When, by maintaining the
standard of values, as in Mexico, cot
ton is 16 to is cents a pound and rail
road fares and freights are half what
they are here, what an infliction is
thus shown to have been visited upon
the producers of this country by the
policy of doubling our railroad fares
and freights and reducing our cotton
TO cents per pound.
-. As to the general prosperity of
Mexico, Minister Ransom, who cannot
be suspected of a leaning to silver
leastways not since his speeches in
favor of it at Atlanta and at Smith
field in 1894 said to the reporter of
the New York Press, when in Washing
ton City, the other day, that Mexico
is wonderfully prosperous
81 That the cause of our troubles is
not the depreciation of silver but the
enhancement of gold, and that this
is due not to overproduction of silver
but to the legislation demonetizing it, |
is proven by two facts: C) When sill |
yer was demonetized in 1873, it was
worth more than gold. The report of
the director Of the United States mint
for last year shows that the quantity
of gold mined annually in the world
is $3.50, 100000, and of silver 100000, |
600 at the present bullion price Or,
putting silver 16 to !, as formerly, |
the value would be raised from $780, /
100000 to $203, 900, 0O0-that is, about
the same as gold (2) In 1890, during
the debate on the Sherman bill, when
at one time it seemd that free coinage |
would be adopted, silver went up Tor
rather gold came DOWN so that silver
was worth II per ounce, that is,
within ~ cents of par. This merely |
in anticipation of free coinage.
sin view of the letters that have been |
written by sundry gold bug contribu- |
tors to the press, questioning the cor
rectness of the statements made by |
the distinguished traveller alluded to
Judge Clark in his letters from Mex |
leo to the Observer and the Raleigh |
News and Observer, it is important
to note that his statements are sus-
tanned in all respects by servants OF |