The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1897-12-15
A EALLAoY OF sILvERITEs
What the MexicnnIzntiOn of Our
Currency Would Do.

Currency WOuIu DO.
One of our European consuls has re-
ported that in Paris syndicate has
been. formed, with capital of two mil
lion Mexican dollars to establish a
large factory of shoes, boots, ETC., in
Mexico. The work of construction will
be commenced at once, and the object
of the syndicate is to send an immense
quantity of shoes Of cheap quality to
the American and European markets.
Commenting on this item, free silver
organ says:
'There Is no occasion for them to stop at
cheap shoes they can make the best with
equal profit to themselves.
at Is a singular thing that our flnanciers
willfully shut their eyes to the prospective
ruin of all our manufacturing industries by
Mexico.
$50 many of our newspapers and flnan-
ciers pretend to see no more In this silver
question than one of making our obliga-
tlons payable In a deprecated currency.
THAT is not the issue at all.
This difference in exchange. making a
Mexican price of $2S2 for our gold dollar,
will In time ruin every producer In the
United States
"The question is one Of competition only
| And the only reason why Mexico and other
silver countries have not supplanted our
manufactures before this to an extent OF
| their extinction is solely due to the lack OF
education to that end in silver countries.
I'm all else they are our masters, and can
at will drive out of the open market every
thing manufactured by gold nations"
All Of which is bosh. The difference
in exchange has nothing to do with the
subject at all. The root of the matter
is, that in Mexico the wage rate is much
lower than in the United States or in
Europe. There are thousands of people
in the United States who do not under
stand why dollar" in Mexico is not
as valuable as "dollar" in the United
States, and until they recognize the diff
ference between value and price they
will fall into confusion.
The fall in the worlds price of silver
since the early '7O's has carried down
with it the purchasing power of the
Mexican dollar. Merchants there have
put up their prices to correspond with
its depreciation, while the rate OF
wages has not risen in the same degree,
This is because of the ignorance of the
masses of the Mexican people, The re-
suit is that Mexican laborers are work.
ing for much lower wages, in reality
than they were a dozen years ago. The
laborer gets Mexican dollar for his
days work, and who received MeXi'
can dollar for the same amount OF work
ten years ago, receives about 80 cents
less actual wages than he did then.
This ignorance on the part of the peo
pie of that country is the secret of the
probable profits of the syndicate men
toned. 1t can hire labor much cheaper
than in Europe or the United States
There is nothing in the "rate OF ex
: change" to make money for them. L
is simply question of the cost o.
labor.
Were the United States so foolish al
to adopt free coinage, the drop in thu
purchasing power of our dollar woult
come at a bound, instead of being
spread over "a years. Our money sys
tenn would go to the silver standard. A
} dollar then would buy only about A.
per cent. as much as it will now. Ever,
laboripg man would thus suffer al
actual reduction of about 46 per cent
in his wages, and il would take dozel
years to bring wages up to their pres
ent level That is what the Mexicaniza
ton of our currency really means Il
, the laboring man.-Toledo Blade.