The Portland daily press., 1898-02-17
Mgxico's PROSPERITY.

Washington Post.)

Washington Post.
81 will not deny that there is kind OF
prosperity in evidence in the republic of
Mexico" said Mr.. John A. MoShane, of
Omaha, at the Arlington. Mr.. McShane
is at the head of large mining concern
that has been engaged in silver produc-
ton in the Mexican State of Chihuahua
for the past ten years.
sit is of this sort: The government
is largely back of it. and to the paternal
fostering of the Diaz administration it is
mainly due. The government subsidies
breweries, railroads, industrial plants,
and aids in every way to build up the
material resources of the country. Money
is used with q liberal hand. and as a con-
sequence there is much activity and great
apparent prosperity. The fact that Mex
leo is on q silver basis does not figure; it
can't help being on that kind OF basis,
but 1 should be sorry to see the United
States resort to any such policy.
s'Ten years of experience in that couD-
try has forever set me against the adop-
ton of monetary system which is not
only in disrepute amongst the leading
nations of the world, but which is about
to be discarded by countries like Japan,
RraziI and some of the smaller Spanish
American governments that were former
" on a silver basis. The masses In Mexl-
co are in a worse condition than trust
will ever befall our laboring population.
This can explain by referring to mat
tiers that have come under my personal
observation.
"When the Sherman purchasing act
was in force. some seven years ago, silver
was worth 81 .21, and United States dol
lar was worth in Mexico 100 cents IN
MEXICAN money. The dollars OF the two
countries were ON parity. AT this time
we employed about $40 men IN our mines,
their pay ranging from 81 to %; ~ per
day 1t took approximately slo,ooo d
month to meet the pay roll. The money
to cancel this expense was shipped from
| Omaha. and it was exchanged for $lO, 0OO
of Mexican coin, We operated general
merchandise stores along with our mi.
ming concern and at the time L speak OIL
sold to our Mexican employees bacon Tor
| twenty cents a pound. W.
ssWhat are the conditions today! we
still hire 300 men and give them exac5ly
the same scale of wages that obtained
prior to the slump in silver caused by the
repeal of the purchasing clause OF the
| Sherman act. Our gay roll still aggfe-
| gates $1,000 month. To meet TINS we
have shipped US a like sum OF Unlted
States money, and here is where the
noint of difference comes in. Instead of
exchanging that amount at our bank Tor
it's nominal equivalent we get for 1t not
$4,000, but $22, OGO of Mexican money
| We have here made clear gain OF Sl2,o0
Our employees still render US 100 cents,
| worth of work, for which they used TO get
| 100 cents, and do yet as far as the name
goes. but IN reality they reoeivs less than
SaIf of what should be theirs, seeing that
| the Mexican coin in which they are paid
has shrunk to less than half OF Its former
value. 49,, WV, A.
"But there is more still. When the
| Mexican miner goes to buy bacon ne mas
| that in rendering payment he cannon puy
| it with deprecated money for ~ Genus a
Mound: the price is now 10 cents. IL
would still be so if he could tender a dol
| lar as good as that given him for ms Ia
! bor at the time of the repeal OF the Sher-
man law. The S12, GOO I spoke of simply
comes out of the labor of the country, and
when the toiling class OF any natlon is
| forced to such condition 1T IS stretcnlng
a point to call the people prosperous. II
| the fair and right thing were done Dy
these hard working miners their wages
wonId be- doubled. The man who now
gets So day is justly entitled to 81, but
| labor will bring only what price is nxeo
in market, ike any commodity, and en-
ployers are not yet far enough advanced
in philanthropy to voluntarily give more
| than the customary rate.
$50 the talk about tho prosperity Of
Mexico in SO far as it applies to the vast
body of it's citizens-the common people.
| is a myth. If there is prosperity at all 1t
| is not due to the silver standard, but IN
spite of it"