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

are not so favored, ana their notes are
accepted only at a discount, except per-
haps in the immediate locality in which
they are issued. These few favored
banks are permitted to issue notes to
three times the amount Of their paid up
capital, the only added requirement be-
ing that their deposits shall be equal to
one-third of their notes issued They
are also permitted to loan money to
the government at 6 per cent interest.
The Bank Of London and Mexico is
principally owned by English and Ger
man capitalists, and its capital stock is
reported to be $40, 900, 000 The capital
stock of the National Bank of Mexico is
given at $40, 600, 600. By reason Of the
privileges they possess these banks are
enabled to show dividends upon even
the enormous capital they proclaim Of
from Is to 20 per cent. It is therefore
not necessary to further suggest that
there is nothing inherent in the free
coinage Of silver to prevent enormous
profits for banks and bankers On the
of the country to commodity the value
of which persistently varies gives to
banks and bankers in Mexico the oppor-
tunity which the strong always pos
sesses over the weak where values are
uncertain and loss or gain through such
conditions thereby made possible. The
free silver shrinkage in the value of its
representative centavo in the hands of
the toilers of Mexico has contributed to
the princely profits of the foreign own
ers of the Bank of London and Mexico
1t may further interest the common
people of the United States, who have
been urged to believe that free silver
system carried with it some features Of
Secular home favoring policy, to learn
that the great profit earning franchises
or concessions of Mexico are almost en-
tirely owned and controlled by foreign
capitalists. They buy the legal labor
paying currency of the country at its
deprecated market value and through
investments made and wages Maid in
this cheap currency foreign capital is
given an unusual advantage of which it
has not failed to fully possess itself.
The street railway system Of the City
of Mexico is owned in London, aud its
business offices are conducted in Eng
lands metropolis. The electric light sys-
tenn of the city is the property of Ger
man capitalists The Mexico and Vera
Cruz railway is owned in London, the
Monterey and Mexican Gulf railway is
the property of Belgian stockholders,
the Mexican Central the most impor-
tant railway of the republic, is princi-
pally owned in Boston; the Mexico
Cuernavaca and Pacific railway is own
ed in Denver, and of the other railroads
of the republic, not all of which in
Mexico equal the mileage of the single
state of Kansas, the controlling stock
is held in England, Germany or the
United States What an opportunity to
make use of that sonorous sentence,
Free and unlimited coinage of silver
at the ratio of 16 to 1 without the aid
or consent of any other nation on earth ~
where the free and unlimited coinage
Of silver permits the reaping of profits
by the capitalists of every other nation
with the return of less than half for
the possession of Mexico's natural re-
sources and the service of Mexican la
Dor, which the currency standard of the
leading nations of the world would
compel. The rich resources of the min
eral mountains and tropical valleys of
Mexico, which should be made to con.
tribute so far as possible to the well be-
ing and well doing of the natives and
citizens of the republic, who are expect
ed to maintain its government and de-
fend its flag, are through the always
connected possibilities of Mexican sill
yer and cheap labor" placed at the dis
posal of the alien and the foreigner for
a return so inadequate as to insure the
perpetuation of the poverty and misery
which are the only free possessions of
the common people of Mexico.
Mexican Dollars as Merchandise.
In some respects the gold standard
is in as practical operation in Mexico
today as i'll any country in the world.
All investment inducements state prom
ised profits in gold, the earnings of all
important industriesyare discussed in
terms of gold value merchants seek to
make their prices alluring by quoting
the lower price on gold basis. and ho-