The daily morning journal and courier., 1896-09-16
CsIsNxfuhE,
THE MEXICAN DOLLAR.

Depreciation From One Hundred to
 Fifty-One Cents-Effect on Wages.
 The state department recently sent to consular officers in Mexico instruc- tions to furnish the department with a list of prices of ginghams, flannel, four, bacon and other commodities generally used by the working people of Mexico and the United States. The consuls have been instructed to secure the prices prevailing for the various commodities as well as the prices which ruled for the same articles in 1873, together With the wages paid now and in 1873 This will be valuable in- formation, and when obtained and tab ulated will be of special value in set ting controverted points in connection with the pending discussion of the cur rency question. In 1873 the Mexican silver dollar was worth little more than one hundred cents, while it is now quoted at fifty-one cents. The point of the inquiry instituted by the state de- partment is to ascertain the prices for the staple articles of diet and clothing and the rate of wages paid under the dollar worth one hundred cents and under the same dollar worth fifty -one cents.
 Without waiting for the official fig ures it can be stated that the rate of wages now paid in Mexico has not in creased above the rate paid in 1873, while on the other hand the prices of staple articles have increased just in proportion as the silver currency has Appreciated. Captain F. R. Tarver, ed itor of the Laredo, Tex, News, who has lived on the Mexican border for the past ten years, furnishes interesting facts In this relation. He has seen the Mexican dollar worth $1.10, and has seen it fall from that high figure to tif- ty-one cents. Notwithstanding this large depreciation, Captain Tarver says that the Mexican laborer of to- day is receiving precisely the same number of dollars for his labor as were received by his father for like labor. This fact simply proves that under free coinage the wage earner in the United States would receive for his labor the same number of fifty -three-ce dollars as he is now paid in one-hundred-c cent dollars Speaking of Mexico, Captain Tarver said: T have known this country intimately and continuously for thirty years, and in that period there has been no variation in the wages paid herders, farm laborers or any class of common labor. For diff ferent kinds of Mexican labor the range is nine to fifteen dollars per month, and has been that year after year"
 MT John F. Wallis, deputy United States consul at Neuva Laredo, MeXi- co, in a recent conversation in regard to the condition of labor in that coun- try, made statements which are worthy of serious study by the wage earners of the United States "A comparison of wages in this country" (Mexico), said Consul Wallis, lis somewhat difficult to make.
 You cannot say that one class of servants receive the same pay Take the house servants. One will receive more than another. I have a good cook to whom I pay ten dollars a month and another servant who gets five dollars There may be some house servants of tried capacity who get two, or three dollars more than others. But for the same kind of service we pay the same to meAiS6ii HioIpSy lAe1e we uia HI Ao'o and before that. On the railroads the laborer receives the same as or little less than the rate which has prevailed for years. On most Of the haciendas the rate for labor has been three reals. or thirty-seven and one-half cents a day for years. Very little of it is paid in money. Every hacienda has it's store. The peon trades out his wages. He rarely has anything coming to him. I have no idea that the comparison of wages now with what were paid for the same kinds of labor in 1873, when silver dollars were worth one hundred cents, will show any ncrease.-Philadelphi Ledger.