The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1898-02-17
OUR WASHINGTON LETTER.
WASHINGTON, D. c., Feb. Is, 1898


do not agree with the glowing picture
which he brought back from that
country, nor do they agree with his
theory that the free coinage of silver |
is responsible for whatever of appar-
ent or real prosperity exists there. |
Ex-Congressman McShae, who for |
merly represented the Omaha, Ne
braska, district in Congress, but who |
now has large mining interests in |
Mexico and spends much of his time |
there, says his friend Mr. Bryan is |
entirely mistaken in the conclusion |
at which he arrives. Considering the !
fact that Mr.. McShae is a democrat,
a fellow-N ebraskan with Mr.. Bryan, !
and has had practical business exper-
fence in Mexico for about as many |
years as Mr.. Bryan spent days there |
in his recent trip, his conclusions con
corning matters so deliberately dis
cussed by Mr.. Bryan on his return
from the land of the 45-cent dollar
are interesting. Mr.. McShae has
been spending few days here renew
ing his acquaintance with members
of Congress, and in a conversation
regarding Mr. Bryan's recent utter
ances regarding Mexican prosperity,
he said:
st is of this sort. The government
is largely back of it, and to the pater
nal fostering of the Diaz administra-
ton it is mainly due. The govern
ment subsidies breweries, railroads,
industrial plants, and aids in every
way to build up the material resources
of the country. Money is used with
a liberal hand, and as a consequence
there is much activity and great APP
parent prosperity. The fact that
Mexico is on the silver basis does not
figure; it can't help being on that
kind of basis, but | should be sorry
to see the United States resort to any
such policy.
''Ten years experience in that coun
try has forever set me against the
adoption of monetary system which
is not only in dispute among the lead
ing nations of the world, but which
is about to be discarded by countries
like Japan, Brazil, and some of the
smaller Spanish American govern
ments that were formerly on a sill
yer basis. The masses in Mexico are
in a worse condition than trust will
ever befall our laboring population.
This | can explain by referring to
matters that have come under my
personal observation.
when the Sherman purchasing
act was in force, some seven years
ago, silver was worth $1.21, and a
United States dollar was worth in
Mexico 100 cents in Mexican money.
They were on parity AT this time we
employed about 300 men in our mines,
their pay ranging from 81 to $3.50 per
day. 1t took approximately $4,000
month to meet the payroll. The
money to cancel this expense was
shipped from Omaha, and it was ex-
changed for $4,000 of Mexican coin.
We operated general merchandise
stores along with our mining concern,
and at the time speak of, sold to our
Mexican employees bacon for 20 cents
a pound.
What are the conditions to-day?
We still hire 300 men and give them
exactly 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 pay
roll still aggregates $4,000 a month.
To meet this we have shipped us a
like sum of United States money, and
here is where the point of difference
comes in. Instead of exchanging
that amount at our bank for it's nom
inal equivalent we get for it $4,000,
but $22, 900 of Mexican money. We
have here made a clear gain of $12,-
900. 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 receive less than half of what
should be theirs, seeing that the Mex
lean coin in which they are paid
has shrunken to less than half its for
mer value.
But there is more still When
the Mexican miner goes to buy bacon
he finds that in rendering payment
he cannot buy it with deprecated
money for 90 cents a pound; the price
now is As cents. 1t would still be so
if he could tender a dollar as good as
that given him for his labor at the
time of the repeal of the Sherman law.
The $4,000 | spoke of simply comes
out of the labor of the country, and
when the toiling class Of any nation
is forced to such a condition it is
stretching point to call the people
prosperous. If the fair and right