The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1897-12-27
WHAT BRYAN SEES IN MEXICO.
Eli Perkins on Cheap Cotton and
Cheap Silver In The S,n

rum bno mahuiucturluB hbotes, pcttoi
news from the wheat and corn states,
but sad news from the cotton states.
When asked Jefferson Crow the noted
cotton buyer of Henderson. Tex. what
made cotton half the price OF last year,
he said:
ave have raised 20 much cotton, sir.
Last year We raised 5000, 600 bales and
got cents pound for it. This year
We have raised 10000 600 bales and the
farmer is'getting IL cents for IL. The
40, 0,0OQ 00D bale crop this year will bring
US eco, coo, 600 less than the s coo. 900 bale
crop raised last year. We cotton raisers
are unfortunate.
And you can't raise cotton for l-2
cents" said:
"No. sir This price will bring our
farmers out In debt. Let me make
comparison between your high-priced
northern crops end our low priced south
ern crop. One good man in the South
can make, If he mas good luck. ten
bales Of cotton worth 800. Why, 10 fat
hogs in Nebraska are worth $780, IL you
should ask an Illinois farmer If he raised
ten hogs he would laugh at you anu say
Ten hogs, sir? Why. there are
dozen hogs playing around the barnyard
here and there are 30 in the corntields =
What makes four-c cent cottong" L
asked.
Over production. sir. We have raised
1000. 900 bales more than the world
wants "
But cotton was still lower in 1894" i
suggested.
Eyes, 1t was over g. a bale lower then,
and IL makes the planters mad. for they
cant make Mckinley a scapegost. Cleve-
land got it down to lower prices in '9i
by his Venezuela message threatening
war with England ana her spinners. If
Mckinley had gotten up war scare
with Spain wo might have had three-cent
cotton. Yes. continued Mr.. Crow, "the
present low price sis caused by overpro-
duction, aided by the large Importation,
of cheap twelye-cent and twenty five
cent Thibet and Australian wool, which
has been taking the place Of cotton. Next
year wool will be dearer and more cotton
will be used. Then we will put millions
of acres in Louisiana, Texas Alabama,
and Florida into cane sugar-not beet
sugar, but cane sugar-which we raise
here in Henderson, Alexandria, and all
over the Brazos and Red River bottoms "
"What has 4 cent cotton done to the
Southy' l asked. for the farmer oftener
gets that price than more
"It has turned all the cotton planters
over to free silver"
/ finu oil the saltwater cotton states
are for FREQ coinage. IL is the old fallacy
of "Coin" with the poor planter, that
cotton has followed silver In the decline.
The cotton planter now is generally
poor white or an ignorant negro. and
they are easily led by the smart dema-
gogues. As it looks now, If cotton does not
go up before the next Presidential elec-
tion, like wheat. meat, and iron, the cot
ton states will be solid for free silver
Alabama. Tennessee. Kentucky and West
Virginia, producing northern products,
like wool, hemp, wheat, and iron, will
not join in the free-silver craze.
Wat did l see in Mexico?
At FL paso | crossed the Rio Grande to
Juarez. Our l00-cent American silver Is
on one side and the 40-cent Mexican dol
lar Is IN the other. My car-fare across
the river was five cents When j gave
the conductor silver dollar he handed
me back s. 10 In Mexican silver and
ticket
Mr.. Bryan will notice when he buys
AmerlcaE products that he pays 100 per
cent. higher for them in Mexico than in
the States. Ham that costs him l. cents
in III Paso will cost him 81 cents in
Juarez. A Columbia bicycle costing s100
in I'll paso will cost $500 in Juarez.
Does MIR. Bryan find labor advanced In
proportion?
No. Labor las not doubled as 1t
should. III poor Mexican peon got 90
cents day when Mexican silver was at
par you will see him working for about
10 cents now. He Is really getting about
80 cents lie doesn't understand money.
lie knows no is getting more silver than
be did before, and he is happy in his ig-
norance Neither is the Mexican farmer
getting l20 per cent. more for his com
and meat. This advance in Mexican pro.
ducts comes slowly, but IL will un.
doubtedly como whom the poems brains
begin to work.
What else VIII Mr.. BRYAN notice?
lie will notice that every Mexican who
has held silver for twenty years has lost
more than half his wealth. Ii he had
$40, 0OO in silver then worth SIC. coo in
gold) he will have about 1890 worth
now. found it the same in Japan and
Clina and india. Yes. 1000. 600, 600
people in our half.civilized nations, now
using CHASED silver, have lost more than
half Of their wealth. HAS any Ameri-
can, Englishman. German, or French
man lost cent through his couEtrys sill
ver9
Tho editor OF the Express In san An
tonic asked Bryan: "What good would
IL do tho 500, COO, 400 civilized people whose
silver Is now as good as gold to go into n
scheme 20 double the value of the dsbased