KffH
JANUARY 30, .1903.
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' The
Silver
Qus'tiori'
gestion that birds were sometimes painted for th
purpose of giving variety in- color.-' Sufficient
time has elapsed, however, to show that in this
case the hues were put on by nature's brush and
made indelible.
I found that the people of Mexico were dis
cussing the money question. I did not meet a sin
gle person in the republic who- declared himself
in favor of the gold standard, but some were
alarmed at the possibility of its adoption. State
ments eminating from the United States financiers
have been quoted in Mexican papers and some of
the local financiers have adopted the policy that
has everywhere been pursued by those who sought
to make a change intho financial system against
the interests of the people. NTheso financiers,
while declaring themselves averse to the gold
standard, were suggesting the fixing of a new
ratio between gold and silver -with the idea of
preventing the fluctuation of exchange.
All domestic business is transacted with silver,
and when the people buy home products the ques
tion of exchange does not enter
in, but the importers are embar
rassed by a fall in silver. If
they agree to sell to retailers at
a certain price in" silver their
profit may be entirely extinguished by a rise in
exchange. This has a tendency, however, to make
them buy domestic-made goods, and the domestic
'manufacturers have not been heard to complain.
The better informed of the Mexicans understand
that a change in the ratio is only an indirect means
of securing a step toward the gold standard, for
the adoption of a new ratio aj. to 1 having been
suggested by one local financier would not pre
vent the fluctuation in exchange unless the gov
ernment should undertake to exchange gold and
silver coins at that ratio. If the new ratio was
established and the government assumed no re
sponsibility for. the maintenance of that ratio in "
the market, the fluctuation would go on every day
just as now, with this additional disadvantage
that the change, as soon, as it -was recognized to
be a blow at silver, would vprobably still further
depress the price of that metal. If, on the other
hand, the government undertook to maintain the
parity by- exchanging gold for silver at that ratio
1t would have to bear the losses now borne by the
import trade, but it would not have the same
means of protecting itself that the Importer has.
The importer can protect himself ijy buying at
home, but the government could only protect
itself by collecting taxes enough to cover the
loss. The danger about this experiment is that
the financiers, having secured a new ratio would,
if it proved unsatisfactory, as it certainly would,
insfst that haying taken that step a further step
would have to bo taken. If the ratio was changed
and the government did not make the metals inter
changeable at that ratio .the next step would be a
demand that the government assume this respon
sibility and if the government did assume it the
expense of it would be used as an argument in
favor of abandoning silver entirely. -
Silver is Mexico's largest export, and her pub
lic men understand that legislation against it
-would not only reduce the ex
port price and thus lessen the
ability of Mexico to pay her
debts abroad, but if It finally
led to the discarding of a money
which -she' produces herself, would compel her to
mortgage herself to foreign financiers to secure
the money necessary to do the. business of the
country. s
Mexico's leaders, from the president and
members of his cabinet down to the members of
congress, governors and lesser officials, are much
.better- informed than the outside world-glvetf them
credit for being, and they know that Mexico, a
great silver producing country, could not discrim
inate against silver, and Join In the scramble for
Silver Is
The Largest
Export
Still
Scheming
for Gold
The Commoner.
gold without Immediately Increasing the gap be
tween gold and silver, a sufficient evil, and with
out Ultimately aiding to drlvb other Bilver us
ing nations to the yellow metal. It is likely,
therefore, that Mexico will adhere to silver in
spite of tho inconvenience caused by a fluctuation
In exchange rather than invito tho greater perils
that would come from an adoption of the gold
standard. '
It is evident from what is going .on in tho
United States and In tho great money centers
that tho financiers are determined to take from
the people any advantage that might come from
an increased production of gold.
Schemes are being constantly devised for in
creasing the demand for gold, and tho strain
. npon It If tho money-changers
have their way tho demand
will not only be made equal to
the supply, but enough greater
- than the supply to insure an era
of falling prices, a condition beneficial only to tho
owners of money arid fixed Investments.
The quantitative theory of money is now gen
erally admitted.; It is a well recognized fact that'
a doubling of the population without any Increaso
in the supply of wheat would raise tho price of
wheat, and it is also understood that a doubling
of the gold using population without an increaso
in the supply of gold would raise tho purchasing
power of each ounce of gold. The director of tho
mint is already discouraging tho production of
gold, and the financiers are doing what they can
to increase the demand for It These offorts can
not be successful without serious injury to the
producing classes of the world. The people in
gold-using countries ought to be grateful to Mex
ico for standing steadfast in her determination to
keep silver a part of the currency of the world,
for, to the extent that silver is used, the strain
upon gold is lessened.
In conclusion I may add that Mexico furnishes
a complete anpr to the arguments of imperial
ists. In the first place, those whp say Yhat wo
cannot haul down the flag when once it has been
raised will find that our flag once floated over
Chepultepec, the rocky hill that rises abruptly
from tho plain of Mexico and which was for ages
the citidel of tho Montezumas. When the treaty
of peace was signed our flag was hauled down and
brought back more than 800 miles to the Rio
Grande. This not only proves that the flag can be
hauled down, but subsequent history shows that
if was better for the flag of the Mexican republic
to float over the Mexican people than that tho
character of our government should have been
changed in order to make our flag wave over a
subject race. Mexico has made moro 'progress un
der the stimulus of self-government than she
could have made under a carpetbag system such
as is employed In the colonies. Her officials are
of the same race and blood as her citizens", and
they are knit together by bonds of sympathy that
are impossible when a foreign master rules a con
quered people.
Sometimes the imperialist attempts to ap
peal to a patriotic sentiment and argues that our
flag must float over the Philip
pines because Americans lie bur
led there. If he will visit Mex
ico ho will find in .the suburbs
of the capital an American
grave-yard where the stars and stripes are raised
at sunrise and lowered at sunset. In this ground,
owned by the United States, the -soldiers of the
Mexican war, known and unknown, are buried
and an American citizen, an appointee of our' gov
ernment, sees tha'f their graves are kept green.
Here on Decoration Day flowers are brought, and
the sleep of these soldiers is nono the less sweet
because their companions in arms and their coun
try's officials preferred to observe the principles
'pf tho Declaration of Independence father than
Our
Soldier
Dead
convort a republic into an empire.
' Again, . tho imperialist will And in Mexico
moro progress made in tho last thirty years than
ho can find in India durlpg tho hundred and
fifty years of English rulo. And in Mexico the
imperialist will find moro great menMevoloped by
tho inspiring doctrines of civil liberty and Inalien
able rights than England has over sent to India
to conduct her colonial government.
All things considered, Moxlco's experience Is
Illustrative of tho growth of democratic prin
ciples and can be studied with profit by Ameri
cans. The friendship existing today between the
United States and Mexico is basod upon an Iden
tity of intorests and upon a growing identity of
Ideas. If any conflict arises between the United
States and European countries In respect to the
enforcement of tho Monroe doctrine, Mexico Is
likely to bo our staunchest and most valuable
ally.
JJJ
Stop the Lottery,
On another page will bo found a copy of
the bill introduced by Senator Jones of Arkansas,
amending tho anti-lottery law so as to prohibit
the guessing contests which are springing up all
over the country. It is appropriate that tho chair
man of tho. democratic national committee should
take the lead in this -effort to take tho govern
ment's support away from a money-making scheme
that Is as demoralizing and corrupting as the old
Louisiana Lottery. The guessing contest was
started some months ago and has spread until in
all sections of the United States publishers, whose
scent for money outruns their sense of propriety,
have taken it up and If tho mails can be made
tho vehicle for the" advertisement of such con
tests there will soon be one located In every town.
Let every reader of The Commoner who is
opposed to tho gambling principle involved in the
guessing contests send a letter to his member of
congress and to his senator urging the support of
Senator Jqnes' bill. These letters will show that
public sentiment is aroused and art aroused public
sentiment is all that is necessary to secure tha
passage of the bill.
Other papers, daily and weekly, are requested
to bring this matter before their readers and to
urge action. Even the republican ministers who
were a few years ago so sollcitious about tho na
tion's honor can find In this movement a field for
the employment of their energies.
Push tho Jones bill and kill tho guessing con
tests. JJJ
A Real Trust Fighter
The Globe-Democrat In a recent Issue tells
how President Diaz of the Mexican Republic
thwarted tho Standard Oil company. According
to the Globe-Democrat the oil trust got control of
a Mexican railroad and attempted to freeze out a
rival by putting a prohibitive rate on oil from the
competing Well. The matter was brought to the
attention of the president and he at onco put the
legal machinery Into motion-and the railroad soon
had to choose between the restoration of tho old
rate and a forfeiture of its charter. The result
was that the railroad reduced Its rate for carry
ing oil and the Standard Oil company had to
meet the competitive price of oil.
Our president could do the same thing In ef
fect If he desired to do so. If he was really
anxious to exterminate the trusts he could do
so in short order. Ho could prepare a bill mak
ing it unlawful for any corporation to use the
malls, railroads or telegraph lines for Interstate
commerce until that corporation showed that its
s;ock was not watered and that it was not trying
to monopolize any branch of business or 'the pro
duction of any article of merchandise. His power
to appeal to tho people and his ability to focus
public attention upon a question would enable him
to secure the passage of a really meritorious law
, but such action would antagonize the money
power and bring a fight in the next national con
vention. . ' .
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