The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1898-09-02
i Y.


"Silver is the money Of the common
people,, is an arbitrary statement many
times made in connection with the adj
vocacy of the free coinage of silver i'll the
United States. Copper is the money
of the common people in Mexico" is a
statement which can be more truly
made relative to this country, where all
the possibilities of free silver have I'M
questioned control. For as it is most
convenient in the United States to con-
duct mercantile and business operations
involving only small amounts in silver
currency, so is it necessary in Mexico,
by reason of the pitifully small wages
paid and the poverty of the masses, to
transact large part of all trade with
the so called common people In copper
centavos, worth less than one-half a cent
in American money measurement.
At all the markets patronized by the
laboring people little portions OF the
few articles of provisions they can af-
ford to buy are made up i'll quantities to
be sold at cent each, and they buy in
this way one, two or three portions Of
lard, beans, peppers, potatoes, toma-
toes, or as the pittances they possess
will permit. Shelled corn is bought
and sold by the quart, out Of which the
tortillas are made through being boiled
and crushed, and baked when mixed
with water, and which with beans form
their almost exclusive article of food.
In the trade transactions of the laboring
masses of Mexico it is seldom that a
purchase is made that it is not comput-
ed and completed in their copper centa-
vos, the same meager measurement be-
ing applied to their earnings as to their
spendings, II therefore it is desired by
the advocates of free coinage in the
United States to herald the results of
their selected currency system, as
shown by experience rather than by
theory, they should be as further pro-
gressive as such conditions fully justify
and seek added favor for their cause by
proclaiming copper as the money Of the
common people, as it is in Mexico, the
ideal home of the free coinage of silver.
In their efforts to create opposition
to the present monetary standard of our
country they include denunciation of
banks and corporations and trusts and
syndicates and monopolies, as if it were
true that some principle inherent or
pertaining to the free coinage of silver
would prevent and provide against the
evils they thus so fiercely portray. If
there is any truth whatever in their as
sertions and assumptions, it should be
made apparent in Mexico where the
system they seek has always prevailed
and such virtues as 1t may possess have
been given uninterrupted opportunity
for experience in action and in effect.
Careful investigation as to the facts in
that direction, however, reveals a state
Of affairs in Mexico most decidedly the
opposite of that which it has been boast
fully assumed would accompany the
free coinage of silver.
Banking In Mexico.
The banking business Of Mexico is
principally conducted and controlled by
two large government favored institu-
tions the Bank of London and Mexico
and the National Bank of Mexico. The
Mexican government issues neither gov
eminent notes nor coin certificates, the
function of issuing legal tender paper
being delegated to the banks above
named, the paper circulation Of which
is guaranteed by the government. There
are state banks of issue as well. but thew