La Junta tribune. (La Junta, Bent County, Colo.) 1881-1939, 1898-08-24
WAGES OF THE ToILER.
Mexican Labor the Poorest Paid
on This Continent.
CHEAP ouRREsoY's SURE EFFECT.

CHEAP OURREAOY's SURE EFFECT.
Yrss Coiaags CAnsss Lnss to sAs Work.
.Aa Of Half shs vel.s Of ~. E.r.,.s..
Rioh Praas - Exps.ss oe Poor-rhsosy
Asd Practice CossrasssA.
fThis series of letters n thu result Of q DER.
oonnl whit to Mexico made by the writer
early in ls&S az special representative Of tho
Michigan Republican Newspaper Association
70 insesiiEats The nonctsry system Of that
eountry.l
During the Last national campaign In
the United States and in the several
state campaigns Of Last fall persistent
efforts were made on behalf Of the I'D
vocates Of the free coinage Of silver to
persuade tho workingmen Of our coun-
try-those who dispose Of their labor by
the day or week or month-that especial
advantage would be secured to them
through the currency change asked for.
1t was urged to them that Alrongh free
coinage more money would be circulat-
ed aud wages would be increased and
that all the injury predicted to occur to
other interests and other classes would
directly result III advancing the iNter-
ests of the workingmnn. To the farmers
it was said that free silver would COM
pei higher prices for their products, it
would enable them to pay their debts in
. cheaper currency. aud it would give
them unusual aud hitherto unpessesscd
advantages over all other producing in
teresta Banks and corporations were
denounced. and it was made to appear
that the operation Of the free coinage of
silver would in some way injuriously
affect these institutions to the advan-
tage of the classes sought to be arrayed
against them. 5
The greater producers and large EN-.
plOyers Of labor were included in the
list of interests against which appeals
were made and prejudice created, aud
1t was made to appear that 80 peculiar
and 10 discriminating would be the op-
GRAFTON Of a law providing for the free
and unlimited coinage of silver at the
ratio Of 10 TO ! that while the small
producers would be benefited the great
producing corporations and iron kings
and lumber barons, as they chose to
term them. would have their profits
limited and lessened. aud that while
the income Of the employer Of labor
would be curtailed through free silver
system the wages of his employees
would be promptly increased
II it il thought by my reader Of this
review of free coinage assertions that it
is in the least degree exaggerated or
Overdrawn, permit me to call his atten-
tion to the leading and more especially
to the closing features of the campaign
Of 1896 In behalf Of the free coinage Of
silver. Ii it not true that denunciation
Of banks and corporations formed the
principal theme of free silver orators
and free silver editors? Was il not urg-
ed by professional labor agitators before
labor organizations aud to laboring men
whenever addressed that the adoption
Of free coinage would bestow upon them
advantages over their employers which
they had not before possessed?
Labor and Wages In Mexico.
One Of the important purposes Of my
visit to Mexico. where the free and un-
limited coinage of silver il now and has
been in operation since the mint was
first established in 1887, was to learn il
possible by observation and inquiry rel
ative to the practical effects Of that sys-
TEN what grounds existed for appeals
to workingmen in behalf Of such 4
change in the currency laws Of the
United States and what reasons existed
in fact for any expectation that work
ingmen and small producers would be
benefited rather than injured through
such change.
shall not seek to create prejudice
against the coinage system Of Mexico
through mere presentation Of the fact
that the men and women who are the
daily toilers here are the poorest paid
laborers on this continent il not in amy
civilized section Of the entire globe.
But desire to state just here that TO
the continuance Of the free and unlimit-
ed coinage Of silver by Mexico il due
the loss TO the workingmen Of this coun-
try II more than half the value Of their
daily earnings
Had Mexico coined its own silver and
upheld its value through establishing
and maintaining the redemption priv
ilege, ~ has been done by almost every
civilized patton on the globe, the Me~-
isan laborer could purchase today more
than double the quantity Of food or
clothing his wages win now command
This burden Of loss by reason Of adher-
.anes on the part OF Mexico to . none
tAry standard which il - completely .
thing Of the past ~ the brass candle
stick or the tallow dip has fallen almost
entirely On the ah0uIders q the laborsrs
Of Mexico, and it il being borne BY them
today. The government Of MEXICO,
which 10 . government Of and for the
influential and well 70 do Absolutely.
finds means Of profitins through the free
coinage Of silver Capdtalists and cor-