Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1898-01-22

gle SOlQ StdHudIu UiduIS JuS NEW
! England trouble on Southern compe-
tition. 1t is true, Of course, that the
! cheaper the labor the longer can that
section or country hold out under the
slow strangulation of a contracting
currency-an approaching dollar and
depreciating prices of products and
are to slaves and the wages of slaves,
the longer we will be able to endure
the rule of Plutocracy.
Editor Pecksniff, Of Fourteenth
street, is SO thoroughly immersed in
what he mistakes for his virtue, that
he may not actually see these plain
things, but they exist, Notwithstanding
his more or less willing blindness to
them
The real trouble with cotton goods
manufacturing, as with all other
kinds of manufacturing -notwithstand-
ing Mr. Pecksniff's bold assertion that
all other branches of manufacturing
are prosperous-is low prices, for low
prices kill production and labor. And
nothing is more conclusive that the
gold standard fixes prices on all pro-
ducts where they are not influenced by
trusts or special legislation, than the
fact that the prices of our cotton
products in America are regulated by
the prices in England. AS the Eng
lish market makes the price of all
our wheat and -four, so it makes the
price of our raw cotton and all of our
cotton manufactures. The price in
England is on the gold basis. Unless
our cotton manufacturers in New Eng
land can produce goods little cheaper
than can be produced in old England,
the English market will be shut
against us, so also all European mar
kets, for Englishmen can ship their
goods to the continent cheaper than
the Americans can.
And at the same time, mark you,
while New England fears the Ameri-
can South, old England fears the
Orient. Gold standard prices are
gradually throttling this industry as
they will others, if the standard is
adhered to, and the throttling process
will always begin in the locality
where wages are highest. That is in
evitable. 1t has begun in New Eng
land and is being followed already by
the manufacturers in old England
And right here is something to
which we wish to call the special at
tention of the esteemed Intelligencer.
While the cotton manufacturing in
dustry of gold standard countries is
suffering and languishing, why is it
that the cotton manufacturing industry
is f1ourishing to an unprecedented ex-
tent in Mexico, which is on the silver
standard pure and simple, which
means that she has an abundance of
good money, although our Hanna
cratic friends like to call it cheap
money because when measured by the
gold standard the Mexican silver dol
lar brings only about half a dollar out
side of Mexico. Our own silver dollar
will bring even less measured by the
same gold standard, when melted up,
as do all of our other products be-
sides silver, whose demonstration cut
in half its own price and all other
prices. including the price of labor
Why is cotton manufacturing -four
ishing in Mexico when it is anguish
ing on its last legs in New England,
erstwhile the Mecca of this industry?
The very plain reason is that in
Mexico the conditions Of success are
made possible because of the free coin
age of silver, which, as we have said,
means an abundance of good circulat-
ing medium in the channels of trade,
and the premium on gold, which
serves as a barrier against imports
from gold countries.
In discussing this question, the Mex
lean Financier says: "Mexicos i'm
portations of cotton cloth from Eng
land during the past ten months have
declined 1852 900 yards, or 10 per cent,
contrasted with the imports for
the same time last year, and
imports from the United States have
decreased 1,531,135 yards, or % per
cent"
New mills are going up in Mexico,
and those now in operation are re-
ported to be making from 40 to so per
cent. profit on their product
Another important factor in the
causing of poor business for the New
England mills is the retaliation of
Canada for the Dingley bill AS proof
of this the record of exports of cotton
goods to Canada thus far under the
Dingley law, in comparison with the
same months of the year previous, is
significant. The decrease is astound-
ing.
This is not all. Exports of the pro-
ducts of American cotton goods to for
eogn countries generally have very