Birmingham state herald. (Birmingham, Ala.) 1895-1897, 1896-10-25
To the State Herald:

wages will be cut down or that If Bryan
Is elected he will be unable to govern
them by injunction and federal troops.
Now, | am only a common laborer who
has spent thirty years of his life on con-
struction of new railroads in the west and
south and in Mexico and Central Ameri-
ca. ! cannot speak for men with fancy
jobs like conductors, boss mechanics, etc,
but / know something about the wages
of men | come In contact with, such as
day laborers, stone-cutters, masons, etc.
This class of workmen will out-number
street railway conductors and boss me-
chanics about 1000 to 1.
/. Yes, in Guatemala and Mexico, three
years ago, ! met on the Guatemala North
ern railroad stone-cutters and masonS
from this town working for $500 per day
in silver which exchanged for $500 in
gold. In birmingham 1t cost about 20 per
cent less to live but they could get moth
ing to do, and they could not travel the
United States over and get a job at $3.50.
American laborers got SO per day. The
natives in Mexico will not do hard work
and cannot be compared to the American
any more than the Indian in the United
states. Railroad contractors In Mexico
pay foreign laborers 81 and $3.50 in pre-
ference to paying natives 35 to so cents.
This is where the gold standard statiSt-
clans get in their fine work. They aver
age up the wages paid poems and greas-
Dor in the world. Why don't they COM
pare silver standard Mexico with Spain,
Portugal, Turkey or Italy? They have
had the gold standard long time, while
the United States has not got full dose
yet.
9. 1t depends on what you wish to buy.
If ii Is coffee, tropical fruits, whisky, beer.
sugar or anything produced in Mexico;
house rent is 50 per cent cheaper than in
the states; on an average the difference
Iii. Gx.F 80
the interior of Mexico, say at Monterey,
an American common laborer gets $225
per day; his board at working mans
boarding house costs $3.50 per week; If he
works six days he earns $3.50, leaving
him 80 clear In any large city in the
states an advertisement for 100 laborers
at 81 per day will bring 1000 applicants,
and they will fight for places in the line,
as they did not longer than four months
ago In Chicago. The few that get work
can secure board at $3.50 per week; If they
work six days they clear $780, The man
In Mexico can turn his nine Mexican dol
lars into $3.50 American money and be 50
ahead OF his brother in the states. In
Mexico suicide for want of work is UNI
known. All classes Seem contented and
happy There is nobody kicking for a
change In the standard of values News
paper advertisements start off with help
wanted, instead of situations wanted as
in the United States The country is be-
ing developed rapidly.
3. Labor is commodity. What Is to
prevent that from going up with the in
creased demand for 1t that more develop
ment of the country will create?
4. 1t is not true as regards wages. In
1859 the maximum price for common la
Dor was $1.50 per day; between 1860 and
1865 laborers were in extraordinary de-
mand at $3.50 to 81 per day. They were
happy, lived and wore good clothes. A
laborer could pay $25 for suit of clothes
In those days, and have money left to
stuff in his new pockets. Now though
the same quality of clothing As marked
down to $799. he Is compelled to wear
Cleveland gold standard badges on the
posteror of his pants.
5. This is answered by the foregoing; If
1t had not been, the argument Is delusiva
from the fact that there were about as
many farmers in the field as there were
laborers.
6. Those laws are passed with the in
tention of allowing the railroads a fair
profit and no none after paying all ex-
penSes. If their expenses are increased
by free coinage, what Is to keep the peo-
pie, through their representatives, from
changing the laws so as to still allow
them "a fair profit? If the people get
more for their products. they can afford
to pay more to those who carry them to
The markets. On the other hand with the
gold standard and continued low prices
and scarce money. the people will be COM
PEELED to have still lower freight and pas
senger tariffs; then, with Hanna and Nc
Kinley at the helm. with government by
injunction and federal interference, coer-
cion and every trust in the country in
dorsed at the polls how long before your
nice salary you can buy so much of your
unfortunate felow-WorkerS products
with will be reduced?
z City ordinances can be changed
8. The protective tariff increased the
cost of living without increasing wages.
Free coinage will work both ways. A
trust Is an organization to control the
price of "a product. The best proof that
the so-caled silver trust Is myth Is the
fact that the silver miners cannot raise or
depress the price of silver cent an ounce.
Under free coinage the silver mine own
ers will not make any more profit than
they did previous to 1873. The alleged
silver trust is composed of Americans;
whatever profit they make Is spent In de-
veloping the resources of this country.
AS the silver dollar of free coinage will
be worth 100 cents neither the people nor
the government viii lose cent.
How about the gold trust? 1t is Eu-
ropean affair; the great moguls OF the
Barney Barnats and the Rothschilds have
lately been slelnnng the gold standard
United States and investing money in sill
Yer standard Mexico. Why does not the
New York World pry into the profits of
gold mining? They must be enormous
when circus clown like Barnato can
make over 8lUO,UVV,VUU III d lew years
What is the intrinsic value of gold? Is 1t
not merely the cost OF mining and getting
no the minis? The difference between
that and the mint price Is the gold own
ers profit. The silver miners profit. COM
pared to the gold miners, Is as penny
candle to an electric light.
0. If that Is the case, why don't those
laborers get on the American side and
have their wages doubled? 1t costs only
6 cents to cross the Rio Grande. Why is
It that so many American laborers go to
Mexico to better their condition? Such
assertions should deceive nobody.
10. Simply because the price of silver as
compared with gold has been showed
down by decentralization, and Mexico Is
not any more able to hold 1t up alone than
the state of New York would be. The
American dollar is in a roundabout way
redeemable in gold. If the United States
Is powerful enough to fix the mint price
of silver. as England years ago fixed the
mint price of gold. the Mexican dollar
would be worth the most, as 1t contains
more silver.
H. Answered above.
~ Street car conductors wages may