The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-09-19
WAGES I'm MEXICO.

Politicians and political writer's
adopt readily the methods Of the
kindergarten and teach by object les
sons. This is more or less con-
scious admission that the average
mind is not fitted to grasp general
principles as readily as concrete
matter in the shape of those prac-
is familiar. A child may not be able
to sense the statement that two times
two are four, but it is able to see that
two sticks and two other sticks make
four sticks. 1t is hardly compliment
tary to the boosted intelligence of the
age that this is so; but, whether unf1at-
tering or not, one needs but to read the
political arguments made by either
party, or any party, to find that it is
fact. In the tariff struggle our Re-
publican adversaries printed pictures
of the American artisan coming to his
neat cottage home after his DAYS la
Dor, greeted by a pretty child, gaily
dressed, while through the open door
could be seen the wife playing the
piano. The counter picture was the
English pauper laborer returning in
rags to his howell.
Now we are confused by the conflict
ing statements as to the industrial
conditions in Mexico, where free coin
age reigns unrestricted and undis-
puted. The advocates of a gold stand
ard have procured tables Of the wages
paid labor and the prices 1t pays for
the necessaries Of life, demonstrating
quite conclusively that whatever ad-
vance there is In wages under a de-
preciated currency Is more than offset
by the advance in cost Of living. On
the other hand, the advocates of free
coinage procure statements of condi-
tons showing great prosperity both
with wage earners and farmers, while.
manufacturing Is depicted as in
hourishing condition. Special ENJOYS
are sent by either contestant to ascer-
tain and report the facts as they may
find them. The result is a mass of
conflicting statements that leave the
truth-seeker confused and the adher.
ents of each policy as firmly convinced
as ever that their side is right. AS q
railroad conductor in Texas said to
the correspondent sent out by the Chi
cago Record, "It seems as If everv-
body went to Mexico to find only what
he wanted to find"
There is no need of all this hunting
for data to establish prior conclusions
this deductive method of stating a
proposition and then hunting for the
facts that support it, The general
principles of economics would have es-
tabllshed the proposition that prices
always rise when the currency In
which their values are expressed "a
deprecated, although VARYING cond;-
tons may make the rise very unequal.
greater in some and less in other cases
But there are exceptional conditions
In Mexico, which any person caring to
arrive at the truth will take into ao-
count Such a one will reflect that =
Is but IN recent years that Mexico has
mad stable government; that back Of
Dlaz is constant succession of the
revolts of ambitious leaders against
the government, with repeated over
throwing of the government. There GOV,
De no general prosperity under such
conditions. Then, again, it is only with
in couple of decades that RAILWAYS
have been built opening up the interior
OF the republic and permitting the de
velopment of the great and varied 70
sources OF the country. Enterprise has
followed the railways, opening mines
constructing and operating mills. start
ing factories for the conversion Of tho
raw material, and agriculture has
been stimulated by the cheaper access
OF its products to markets.
1t was inevitable that so rich a field
should be exploited, no matter what
the currency. just as Japan is being
and China will be when Lii Hung gets
his enterprises under way. BUSINESS
ADJUSTS itself to the monetary condi-
tons, asking only that they be stable
Skilled labor In Mexico is necessa r;Izv
highly paid. both on account of the
greater demand for it, the natives
furnishing very little such, and on ac-
count OF the low purchasing power of
the currency In which 1T is paid R,,t
such conditions are not permanent
and cannot be, nor do they affect the
whole mass of workers The expansion
or development must come to an end
sooner or later, and when that stimulus
Is removed prices paid for labor must
/ recede to normal conditions, with wages
made lower by the increase in the cost
OF foreign imports. Economic laws
operate alike everywhere, and every