Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1896-10-10
IN A SILVER COUNTRY
Condition of the Laborer and
Business in a Land Where
Free Coinage Exists
WHAT THE MEXiCANS SAY.
A Representative Of the 81. Louis
Globe Democrat Tells What
He Saw.
WHAT THE MEXlCANS SAY.

Since the free-silver people began 10
point TO Mexico as an ideal country
where the free coinage of silver had
made everyone happy, contented n pros
porous, there has been much written by
men who had lived there and others.
The reports, which were not fiattering
10 the country, were denied 10y the sill
yer advocates and branded us lies. The
silverites stoutly maintained that if Ia
Dor was ~ well employed here as IN
Mexico the great question of what to do
with the poor would be solved as there
would be no poor. They claimed thai
in that country there vas no Wall street;
81" 'nffte" A& NERD "tAfiSSgp tafgd rhtahFf IRHsSeeShaattiiSSHh
was prospecting as it never had before,
and all on account of the free coinage
of silver.
The ST. Louis Globe Democrat, wish.
ing to he just In the matter, decided
10 send a representative there who would
report what he saw and learned. with
out regard as TO how the reports would
affect the political situation. The man
was one on whom the paper could dc,
pend 10 tell the truth.
Extracts from some Of the letters
which throw some light IN the subject
Of free silver and its effects are printed
below:
Prices Depend on Foreign Exchange.
Pirates on the high seas could hard.
~ be Il more dangerous menace 70 Com-
mefcc between nations than this huCtnAs
ton of exchange bCtwcpn countries on
different standards, Outside Of q few
mo~ncy-chahgers at coast ports, business
men OF the states hardly notice from
week TO week the variations in exchange
between their country and Europe. But
IN tho DDSlnpSS rotations hatVIprn tho
United States and Mexico the changing
difference between the standards is a
matter of hourly concern.
whats exchange today" goes with
every mornings salutation between mer-
chants i'll Monterey.
'Siivcr'S up or "~silyer's down Is the
commercial news Of first Importance.
The shrewd representative of a San
Antonio fFcS.t jobbing house on his why
back 10 the states from his midsummer
ronnd of the cities of Mexico said:
Here's a variation Of DC between the
gold standard Of the states and the silver
standard of Mexico within two weeks.
How Is Il man going to sell goods or do
any business between the countries when
be has got TO make allowances for such
fluctuations. When | sell 4 bill of goods
TO a Mexican merchant on six months
time I've got to figure the prices high
enough to save my house in the event
'hh' nv fibffN ~ bHC VI luhSN NlOlcll |
fluctuations before the day Of settlement !
comes. The merchant has got TO mark
tne retail prices on Il margin sufficient
70 protect him against possible change. |
And SO American goods must be sold in
Mexico at two margins above legitimate
profits in order to protect the American
Johbcr and the Mexican stprekeeper
against these rapid up and down move
mentS OF the standards. The condition
is simply ruinOus 20 trade. People will
not buy when prices are raised on them. |
My house may make a tremendous profit
or barely save itself in a sale of goods OH
Shnl6eset Mali agerwkeent NM ct4hlaa NAY Ia
these fluctuations. And this is what we
VIII have on a vastly greater scale if
the United States goes to Il silver stand
ard and Great Britain and the European
nations continue the gold standard. |
know what this thing Of two standards
means betwecn Mexico and the States,
and | don't want to see il in our trade
with Great Britain and Europe"
A Dollars Worth of Labor.
n dollar worth 30 cents commands the
same labor IN Mexico now that Il dollar
worth a dollar did ten or twenty years
ago, Right there is the cornerstone on
which prosperity in this silver country is
profitable to work mines with ores worth
81 and IS, Mexican money. a ton. That
condition Of labor brings the cost of min
ing and carrying out the ore down to 81
a ton. That kind of labor built and
operates the cables, which take the place
of thousands of burro trains, Mt q frac-
ton of the cost for like construction ard
operation in the States. Cables have re-
duccd the cost of conveying ore from the
mine to the railroad, two miles down the
mountain, 10 20 cents and 30 cents "A ton.
This labor enables railroads to haul ores
at from 30 cents 10 81 a ton. 1t figures
in the cost of the TRANSFORMATION of the
coke from the gulf and the coal from the
border. And, finally, it enables the
smclters to make an unprecedentedly low
rate of 81 a ton for treatment of ore,
At every step, from the first blow of
the pick in the mine to the landing Of the
base bullion into molds Mt the furnace,
this hNity of ages on the basis of a
dollar deprecated to one-half its value is
the chief factor which insures the profit.
What matters it if silver goes down if il
commands just as much labor as ever.
and if the lead in the bullion can still
be sold for gold? The smelters of Mexi.
co buy ore from the mine owners, and
pay a Mexican dollar an ounce for the
silver they get ont of it. They paid this
several years ago, when silver was worth
more than it is now. They still pay it.
Recently, under the importation of com
petition, while silver was dr0pping so
rapidly IN the United States, some of
the smelters Of Mexico advanced the
price they allowed the mine owners for
silver. They are now paying under some
contracts S1.06 in Mexican money for
every ounce Of silver found in the ore.
To-day the brick-making plant n few
miles out of Monterey, on the Mineral
railroad, is shipping 100000 paving brick
TO San Antonio, in Texas. 1t does this
and pays the al valorem duty of % Der
cent, which the Wilson tariff levies on
brick importations.@1rhs contract for |
this brick shipment was obtained at |
San Antonio because this company put
in the Owest and best of twenty-ejebt
bids. The Monterey company enjoys
the possession of excellent clay, but that
isn't what enables il TO send brick to the
United States at a profit. it outbid tho
tw~enty-seven American brick-makipg
companies because il sells brick for
American money, worth 100 cents in
gold, and hires good labor for Mexican
money, worth 30 cents in gold. This
company il paving three miles of Monte
rey streets with brick, dispiacing the
cobblestones Of time immemorial. Ii
put down n block of the brick paving as
an object lesson, and the governor. Gen.
Bernardo Reyes, with n keen perception
for q good thing, ordered three miles Of |
she same TO begin with. The brick man.
nfscfnreA on the hass OF u~nchGnging
Fagqs and laid by the aame viii cosf IL