Omaha daily bee., 1899-10-22
OBSERVATION IN OLD MEXICO
Omaha Man Sees and Htars Many Things of
General Interest.
FREE SILVER PRODUCES BAD RESULTS
Condition OF poor People Pitinbic-
PIungcr Gillette pcddliuE MIX In
Chihunhun-BullhE Arc the
Fashionable Attraction
FREE SILVER PRODUCES BAD RESI-

"popocratic orators have been telling US
that Mexico is prosperous and is GROWING
more prosperous each year as result oi
free silver, but from observations recently
made am satisfied that these same orators
have been misleading the people, remarke"
Deputy United States Marshal Pearsall' VINO
with Secret Agent Webb. has returned from
an extended trip through the republic OF
Mexico.
The trip took them to number oil the
principal cities, and also into the rural as
tricts. Speaking OF the conditions as they
exist at the present time, Mr.. Pearsall says
while Mexico is nominally on silver
basis. as matter of fact it uses a gold
standard, as everything bought or sofa IS
estimated to be worth so much in gold,
though, OF course, payment is made IN silver
the circulating medium of the country.
Reaching Mexico. we exchanged our gold
for silver and received as high as $2lOA.
This happened to be a high price, but at
any time gold dollar is worth from S2O7
to S2.0S in silver.
I'm stores, hotels and shops IL you make
a purchase the price of the article is hNei
according to a silver basis, but If you pay
in gold you get your reduction. Labor is paid
for in silver, and of labor want to speak
Most of the land in Mexico is owned by
the wealthy men and Is in large tracts. The
landlords hire the poorer classes to work for
them at the rate Of from 90 to 70 cents per
day in silver so that 1t can readily be seen
that when man converts his wages into the
coin that fixes the real value of everything
he has but little left as a result OF his toll.
With wages so low 1t is impossible for a
poor man to ever acquire land, and in fact,
it is impossible for him to make a living
,,,,ln l., y, oN1 hic 10
The poor people in Mexico have only the
cheapest food, the poorest clothing, and
homes much worse than the novels on the
river bottoms in Omaha. They are con-
stantly in debt to the landlords and, as a
matter OF fact, they are little more than
slaves.
I'm the event that poor man does acquire
a tract OF land, the chances are that it will
| benefit him but little, for IL it adjors that
| Of the rich man the latter will throw fence
around the whole tract or run his cattle
over it, destroying crops and thus forcing
| the poor landowner to sell or move off
Taxation is in the interest of the rich
| Land is not taxed for any purpose what
| ever, but instead the products of the soil
labor and the aines pay the revenues. Ev.
| erything that one buys has tax upon it il
the way OF a stamp duty, so that pco,
man pays taxes on the clothing that he wear!
and the food that he cats.
| From the border down nearly to Chihua
hua the country is poor, being dry, sandy anc
adapted only for grazing, but from there OF
| to the City OF Mexico it is very fertile, pro
ducing everything that will grow in semi
tropical country. This section is being de
veloped rapidly, and much American capita
| is going in. In fact chihuahua is know
as the American city of the republic o
Mexico. Much of its business is transacted
| by Americans and many Of them are growing
| rich.