The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-01-27
WHAT BRYAN LEARNED IN MEXICO.

ment is carefully timed as is everything
that Mr.. Bryan does, to revive public dis
cussion regarding him and his views. He
is an adept in the art of advertising and
in acting as his own advance agent he
shows proper appreciation of his aptitude
in that direction. He refrained from max
ing any statement regarding his trip to
Mexico long enough to cause considerable
comment, and then, when 1t had about died
out, he publishes statement to revive it.
No man ever achieved a greater degree of
notoriety with less merit or succeeded in
attracting more attention by mere tricks
of the trade than he has. The intelligent
end discriminating portion of the American
people have long since sized him up and
become disguised with his mountebank
methods, but they still please his follow
ers, and as long as they continue to do so
he will continue to work them.
He says he found that 1.-The free coinage
of silver is entirely satisfactory to the peo-
pie Of Mexico" He might have added that
the drinking of pulque, living in adobe
houses and eating little else than beans sea-
soned with red peppers is entirely salts
factory to the people of Mexico" people
may be satisfied with peculiar conditions
because they never knew anything better,
because they have no ambition for anything
better, or because they know anything bet
ter is beyond their reach Mexico has been
on a silver basis so long that most of the
people do not know any other condition,
and those who do or who would prefer the
gold standard if it were possible know that
it is an impossibility. Drinking pulque, liv-
ing in adobe houses and a steady diet of
beans and red pepper would not suit the
American people.
Next, Mr.. Bryan says he found that
Mexico is more prosperous to-day than
ever before and he cites instances of sue
cessful manufacturing industries. He need
not have taken the pains to do this. Every
intelligent American knows that Mexico is
prospecting as never before, though her
prosperity is nothing compared with that
of the United States and other gold stand
ard countries. Yet, in way, she is pros
pering' and everybody should be glad of it.
Mr.. Bryan implies and argues that this
prosperity is due to free silver. Against
this conclusion we put the following, from
the City of Mexico Telegram a well-con-
Quoted daily paper published in the City of
Mexico. In recent editorial that paper
said:
1. That the conditions of Mexico and the
United States are so Numerically opposite
that comparison is not only impossible,
but even absurd.
2. That the fact that we have free coin
age Is not responsible for our present pros
per1ty. In TACT, probably under gold
standard we should have done as well, If
not better.
8. That the present rate of exchange has
accelerated investments here, remembering
however, that unless the very excellent gov
eminent We possess at present, through the
grace of God and Porfirio Diaz. did not ex-
list not q centavo would be invested in this
republic, however favorable exchange
4. Even allowing that our prosperity is
due to our having unlimited coinage of sill
yer, the conditions of every sort here are
so absolutely different from those prevailing
in the United States that the fact that the
white metal was source of benefit to Mex
leo would at the same time tend to prove
that 1t was impossible benefit to our
great northern neighbor.
That is the truth of the matter The
prosperity which Mexico has enjoyed during
the last few years, and, in a measure, still
enjoys, is due mainly to the stable and
really good government it enjoys under
President Diaz. He has been President
since 1885. He is now serving his third
term, and will probably continue President
while he lives. He has given Mexico in
comparably the best government it ever
had. and the paper above quoted says that
but for his wise administration mot
centavo would be invested in this republic"
1t would be as reasonable to attribute the
productiveness and wealth of Cuba in time
of peace, to the yellow fever as it is to at
tribute the prosperity of Mexico to free
silver.
Mr.. Bryan says he found, further, that
"the premium on gold has acted as wall
to keep out foreign competition and at the
same time has given a substantial bounty
upon exports" This is at least a tacit adj
mission that free silver in the United States
would drive out gold and cause it to COM
mitted this before He and his followers
have claimed that they were true bimetal-
lists, and that there was no reason why gold
should not continue on friendly terms with
silver at IS to 1, and to circulate side by side
with it. Now, however, inadvertently, per-
haps. Mr.. Bryan admits that the free coin
age of silver in Mexico at the ratio of 1872
to l does drive gold out of circulation, and
of course it would do so in the United
States at the worse ratio of 16 to 1. His
assertion that the premium on gold in
Mexico "acts as a wall to keep out foreign
competition and at the same time gives a
substantial bounty upon exports" will ex-
cite a smile among business men who are
old enough to remember monetary condi.
tions that prevailed during the war, when
gold sometimes commanded "a premium of
$1.5O. Perhaps if Mr. Bryan had pursued
his Investigations he might have found that
brigandage in Mexico has been very bene-
fetal by shutting out foreign capital.
His paper bristles with statements as alb.
surd as those above noticed and he con-
cludes with the calm assurance that II am
more than ever convinced that the best in
terests of our own people demand the inn
mediate restoration of the free and uniim-
tied coinage of gold and silver at the pres
ent legal ratio of IL to l. without waiting
for the aid or consent of any other nation"
braska statesman that the United States
would be immensely benefited by adopting
the monetary system of a country where
the mass of the people live in adobe houses,
what fund of financial information he
might obtain by trip to central Africa,