Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1896-09-21


have prescribed BovININE in all
such cases. 1t never fails them.
What this Mexican official said as tn
the bankruptcy of Mexico. with free
silver in the United States. is echoed
by every well informed man here If
is only the promoters of land specula-
tons. the railroads that are trying to
attract colOnists, and the men who
wish to unload that disguise the situ--
alton. 1t is paradox but true that
While free silver coinage has degraded
and Impoverished the workingman. il
Keeps the nation running and makes
possible the circulation of money
necessary to the life of the republic.
lie who reads will easily see the point.
and while the conclusion will then be
irresistible that the system makes the
f3ch richer and pauperiZes the poor. il
II the only system that will keep the
country from desolation in the absence
OF its ability to get upon a sound
money basis. Here is the EXPLANATION
Nearly all the products of the soil
~ this Southern republic. mining ex-
copied are raised on the immense ha-
ciendas thousands upon thousands of
acres in extent and the haciendas en-
ploy only peon labor at an average
rate of 81 silver per month. These
poems. as | have in previous cor
respondence described. live in little
communities on the several estates, an
adobe hut for shelter; corn and beans
Tor food. There may be six seven and
ten such little hamlets miles apart on
one hacienda. They have to purchase
their clothing and necessaries from the
farm store. and so the peon, with six
dollars for his family month. is not
only in debt. but pays back all he re-
ceiVes. The hacendado. whenever pos
sible raises articles for export. and
this is especially true since the differ
ence in value between gold and silver
Here is where debased silver is of
value. The hacienda pays his slave
labor in it. He raises coffee at a cost
from az to cents a pound silver. He
sells it in San Francisco or New Or
leans for Is cents a pound gold price.
Then he turns the Is cents into Mex
lean silver and has So cents as the
product of cheap labor and the ex-
bange. The hacendado raises cattle
for expectation at a cost of from SO to
50. He sells them for $40 head the
average price. The quality is good
only for canning at Chicago for export
trade and turns his $40 in s19 50 Mex
lean money. For the last six months
of the expired fiscal year the value of
the exports in live stock was s2.373 293
Tobacco yields him an average crop of
- quintals to y quintals an acre. costs
him to raise 2l2 cents a pound, and he
easily sells it for cents gold price.
The expectation of tobacco for the first
six months of the year is S642, $40 90.
The owner of the hacienda does not
stop here. BY means of his pauper
labor and his immense estate. he pro-
duces hennequin. vanilla. dyewoods.
hides and skins, iXtle and dried fruit
for expectation. The coffee and hen
nequin will average for export Sc 000. 900
each n year. or, reduced to gold. 81. 000,-
COO each. With slave labor which slave
labor pays back all its earnings in pur-
{ hasing from the haciendas al the ha-
cienda stores, these landed proprietors
earn 400 per cent. on export products.
They become members of Congress,
governors of states. and they, with
their families and relatives. when not
travelling in Europe. spend their money
laVishly and help the big stores of
Mexico City, Guadala jara, Arguas Cal
ientes. San Luis Potosi Zacatecas. Du-
range and Vera Cruz to remain in
business The total exports from these
haciendas, taking last year and the
first six months of this year on which
to make comparison. will average
SIT 900. 600 gold or $3S. 900, 900 silver after
the gold is turned into Mexican cur
Iendy. which is done. unless the ha-
cendado and his family are going on
the Continent. If these men had to
sell the product of silver paid labor at
silver prices. their profits from i'm
ports would be cut in two. Free coin
age in the United States, they know.
means a free silver basis, as there will
be no gold standard. If their coffee
sells for is cents, silver. instead of Is
cents gold. and their cattle at $40 sill
Ver, instead of SO gold, it means loss
to them of ST. 900 600 a year on their
exports alone, and so a curtailment of
expenditures that would be felt in
every branch of business in the chief
cities of Mexico.
JOHN A. HENNESSY.