The herald., 1896-10-04
SILVER AND PROSPERITY
Consul General Crittenden Gives Facts and Figures
About Mexico

system based on silver, as many as
sert, are questions upon which do not
reel qualified to pass upon dogmatically.
AS matter of fact. many things have
contributed to the present condition of
prosperity. The system of coinage upon
which you ask information was estab-
lished by an act passed in 1867 modify
Ing the old law. The standard of value
is silver and the unit is the dollar. The
legal weight of the dollar is 40s $40
grains Troy, 902.777 fine, and contains
therefore, 377 $40 grains fine silver; it
Is worth in gold, with silver bullion at
the existing price SO cents. My inquiries
show that there has been practically
no incr>ase in the prices Of provisions,
clothing or agricultural produce, or arti-
cles of domestic manufacture by reason
of the fall in the price of silver. The only
Increase of price noted is in imported
merchandise, to the cost of which the
exchange and duty are added. Meats
are. perhaps, the only articles of food
which have enhanced in cost. This is
attributed to the fact that higher wages
caused by improved Industrial condi-
tions have enabled the people to buy
more meat, and thus increased the de-
mand, and consequently the cost. The
existence or a small meat trust also at
tributes to higher price. This price is
still further added to by the heavy
special assessments or license fees levied
upon the butchers shops in this city,
since the abolition OF the old "Alcabalas'' I
taxes, under which system of taxation
all goods, wares, merchandise, vege-
tables and farm products, however
small, brought into this market, were
taxed at the ''garitas,' or gates Of this
federal district e.-,
The depreciation in silver values and
the increase In, price Of foreign articles
have had the effect Of reducing impor-
tations, and greatly stimulating and
strengthening domestic manufactures.
Reviewing the commerce of five years.
these facts are shown In 1890 the i'm
ports amounted to $52,01S, and the ex-
ports to 1925, 1886; In 1895 goods to the
value of $34,000,440 were brought into
the country and $s0,s54,953 sent out.
LABORERS AND THEIR WAGES
The wages paid laborers and artisans
are largely improved. Formerly work.
men, particularly agricultural labor
ers, were paid in kind, now they are
for the employer, in addition to the reg
paid in money. In the case of farm la
borers 1t is the custom Of the country
ular wages, to allow the laborer the use
Of certain acreage to raise his own
food. In many of the agricultural dis
tricts, instead of employing labor d.
rectly, the owners of haciendas follow
Wudt 10 hi$OWH III tIc OIiltcu CtdlcS dS
the share system of cultivating their
land. Those who were formerly prac-
tically serfs now receive half the crop
they raise. Corn is the great staple of
the country.
In considering the labor and wage
question 1t should be borne in mind
that the American skilled workman
possesses on the average a much high
err degree of skill in his trade than the
Mexican employed in a similar avoca-
ton. The American skilled workman
also performs much more work in day
than the workmen in this country. Min
lister Romero says: 1.-The Mexican la
borer is not as well fed and paid as
those in the United States. He gener-
ally works until he Is exhausted, and
his work therefore Is not so productive.
He Is not on the whole SO well edu-
Gated as the average laborer in the
United States. He has fewer wants to
satisfy; there are less inducements for
him to work. Then there are certain
climatic influences that have their
bearing upon them; the days work Of
the Mexican labOrer represents only
one-fourth Of that accomplished during
the same time by laborer in the
United States. A Mexican laborer
working ten or eleven hours day ac-
complishes less work than an English
or American born laborer accomplishes
proportion Is as one to six"
average expense: for fuel for the better
classes Is about $1.26 per week. The use