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About The Sioux County journal. (Harrison, Nebraska) 1888-1899 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 15, 1896)
Ill A SILVER COUNTRY Condition of the Laborer and Business in a Land Where Free Coinage Exists. WHAT THE MEXICANS SAY. A Representative of the St Louis Globe-Democrat Tells What He Saw. Since the free-silver people began to point to Mexico as an ideal country where the free coinage f silver had made everyone happy, contented and pros perous, there has len much written by men who had lived there and others. The reports, which were not flattering to the country, were denied by the sil ver advocate and branded as lies. The silverites stoutly maintained that if la bor was as well employed here as in Mexico the great question of what to do with the poor would lie solved as there would be no poor. They claimed that in that country there was no Wall street: that food, clothing and the necessities of life were cheaper; that the nation was prosH.-ring as it never had before, and all on account ot the free coinage of silver. The St. Louis Glolie Democrat, wish ing to be just in the matter, decided to send a representative there who would report what he saw and learned, with out regard as to how the reports would affect the political situation. The man was one on whom the paper could de pend to tell the truth. Extracts from some of the letters which throw some light on the subject of free silTer and its effects are priuted below: rteea Depend on foreign Exennauge. ' Pirates on the high seas could hard ly be a more dangerous menace to com merce between nations than this fluctua tion of exchange between countries on different standards. Outside of a few money-changers at coast ports, business men of the states hardly notice from week to week the variations in exchange between their country and KuroH'. But in the business relations between the United States and Mexico the changing difference between the standards is a matter of hourly concern. "What's exchange today?" goes with every morning's salutation betwecu mer chants in Monterey. "Silver's up" or "silver's down" is the commercial news of first importance. The shrewd representative of a Pan Antonio (Tex.) jobbing house on his way back to the states from his midsummer round of the cities of Mexico said: "Here's a variation of !c between the gold standard of the states and the silver standard of Mexico within two weeks. How is a man going to sell goods or do any business 1 tween the countries when he has got to make allowances for such fluctuations. When I sell a bill of goods to a Mexican merchant on six months' time I've got to figure the prices high enough to save my house in the event that silver drops by one of those violent fluctuations before the dny of settlement comes. The merchant has got to mark the retail prices on a margin sufficient to protect him against possible change. And so American goods must be sold in Mexico at two margins alstve legitimate profits in order to protect the American jobber and the Mexican storekeeper against these rapid up and down move ments of the standards. The condition is simply ruinous to trade. People will not buy when prices are raised on them. My house may make a tremendous profit or barely save itself in a sale of goods on six months' time. That isn't the way to do business. Yon might as well have a Chinese wall between two countries as these fluctuations. And this is what we will have on a vastly greater scale if the United States goes to a silver stand ard and Great Britain and the European nations continue the gold standard. I know what this thing of two standards means between Mexico and the States, and I don't want to see it in our trade with Great Britain and Europe." A Dollar's Worth of Labor. A dollar worth 50 cents commands the same labor in Mexico now that a dollar worth a dollar did ten or twenty years ago. Right there is the cornerstone on which prosperity hi this silver country is building. That is what makes it now Jirofitahle to work mines with ores worth "7 and $8, Mexican money, a ton. That condition of labor brings the cost of min ing and carrying out the ore down to $1 a ton. That kind of labor built and operates the cables, which take the place of thousands of burro trains, at a frac tion of the cost for like construction and operation in the States. Cables have re duced the cost of conveying ore from the mine to the railroad, two miles down the mountain, to 20 cents and ') cents a ton. This labor enables railroads to haul ores at from 50 cents to $1 a ton. It figures in the cost of the transportation of the coke from the gulf and the coal from the border. And. finally, it enables the smelters to make an unprecedentedly low rate of $4 a ton for treatment of ore. At every step, from the first blow of the pick in the mine to the landing of the base bullion into molds at the furnace, this fixity of wages on the basis of a dollar depreciated to one-half its value is the chief factor which instires the profit. What matters it if silver goes down if it commands jnst as much labor as ever, and if the lead in the bullion can still be sold for gold? The smelters of Mexi co boy ore from the mine owners, and pay a Mexican dollar an ounce for the silver they get out of it. They paid this several years ago, when silver was worth more thau it is now. They still pay it. Recently, under the importation of com petition, While silver was dropping so rapidly in the United States, some of the smelters of Mexico advanced the price they allowed the mine owners for silver. They are now paying under some contracts $1.06 in Mexican money for every onnce of silver found in the ore. Today the brick-making plant a few miles out of Monterey, on the Mineral railroad, is shipping 1(10.000 paving brick to San Antonio, in Texas. It does this arid pays the ad valorem duty of 25 per e 'nr., which the Wilson tariff levies on brick importations. The contract for this brick shipment, was obtained at Knn Antonio because this company put m the lowest and best of twenty-eight bids. The Monterey .company enjoys the possession of excellent clay, but that isn't v bat enables it to send brick to the United fates at profit. It outbid the tirertty-eeven American brck-makin efti "sn'es - because It Bells brick (or m -ricaa money, worth IOC cent in Hold, and hire good labor for Mexican mrney, worth 00 cents in gold. This eompany repaying three miles of Monte rey streets with brick, displacing . the cobblestones of time immemorial. It r. driwM block of the brick ptrlnf as ,- object twaeoa, and the governor, Gon. FfrMrrta Beyee, with a keen perception fee good thing, ordered three mllea of i' - -nme to begin with. The brick mao t'HM M the Basis of unchanging rs and laid by the same will coat in mm mm taaa w same piving cnnimaods in American money in the States. American cities pay about I'J .'iO a square yard for brick paved streets. Monterey will get her streets paved for a little b-ss than $2."' a square yard, and that price will be in money worth one-half the American ;i rice. Other Occupations. As in mining and in hrickmaking. so it is in all industries. Monterey is boom ing. Wages remain fixed at the old rates, and can 1-e paid in the depreciated sil ver. That gives the margin of profit. The most striking of the object lessons, 'lerhaps, are those which the railroad furnish. These roads in Mexico are well managed. The depots and sur rouiidiui: are marvelously clean and neat. The roadlwds will eoiuimre most favorably with those in the states. The train service is exi-elleiit. Mexican money diics it. East from Laredo to Corpus C'kriti. on the Gulf, wholly on American soil, the Mexican National has a division 1HO miles long. Southward from Ijiredo the first division of the same road, within Mexican territory, ex tends to Monterey. lrt-S miles, shout the same distance. On one side of the Rio Grande the Mexican National pays wages in Mexican silver. On the other side the pay roll is met with American money. Conductors between Laredo and Corpus eet !Mr s month in gold. Conductors between Lnmlo and Monterey get fl.'JO a month in Mexican silver, which is worth $(".( I, for the same kind of serv ice. Engineers on the Texas side are paid $.'i.5ii in gold for 1I0 mih-s. Engineers ou the Mexican side receive 5.50 in Mexican silver, worth $2. NO, for 100 miles. Brakemcn running to Corpus get $50 a month in gold; to Monterey. p'Ai a month in Mexican silver, worth $.'10.50. Firemen on the Texas division are paid at the rate of Sl.Nt in gold for 100 miles traveled: on the Mexican division, $2,125, worth $1.17. A general officer of the Mexican Na tional, tisi modetit to bare his name in print, gave these wages from his hooks. When he had read them off to this point, an interested looker-on interrupted with: "I should think all of the fellows on the Monterey division would want to get on the J exas division. "Probably thev would." said the officer "but we have combined the runs so that on all mixed trains the crews go through from Corpus to Monterey. That gives them KIO miles on a gold basis in Texas and ihri miles on a silver basis in Mexi co. They have the gold and the silver di visions alternately. We do that to give tnem all ttie same chance. "When did the company adopt this plan oi evening tilings .' "About two vears aim." "How about wages of section hands' I tie official earned to the books again. "On the Texas division." he said, "fore men get .flO a month in American money. The laborers get 75cerits a day. On the Mexican side fosjjTget $40 a month in Mexvan silver, ami'i.iborers cents, b)th Mexican silver." W prevailing rate of exchange this gives section foremen on the Mexican side 2l a month and .sect inn hands about 31 cents a day in American money. "But you must rcuieiiils-r," said the railroad oflicial. "these fig urea for fore. men and labor hold good onlv as far be low the border as Snltillo. That is 240 paid $1.50 a day and laborers f0c a day, all in Mexican silver. Still further south, Islow San Luis Potosi, the pay is $1 2.i a day for foremen and for laborer ''"'Y" a day. Mexican silver." "Have railroad wages undergone any change with the decline of Mexican sil ver "No. These are the rates today, and they were the same in lKWj. when silver dollars were worth a half more than they are now." Concerning Lead... "The silver mine owners of Monterey would he greatly gratified ' to see Mr Bryan restore silver to $1.2!" an ounce''" was suggested to Mr. Joaquin Maiz. "On the contrary," replied the owner of San Pedro quickly and with decided emphasis, "the less silver is worth, the better for ns." This s.-eming paradox Mr. Mai pro ceeded to explain. In so doing he threw much light uiion the operation of the sil ver basis in a silver country. What he said of wages and living will be par ticularly interesting in the United States. -"If we got $1.2'J an ounce," he be gan, "it would lie $1.20 in Mexican money. Mexican money would be the same as American money, and both the same as gold. Under present conditions, suppose we got only 05 cents an ounce in American money for our silver. That American money is worth lt.HJ per cent, more than Mexican money. n other words, the J5 cents an ounce in Amer ican money or gold for our silver is worth double that in Mexican money. So yon see we would get no more per ounce in Mexican money if silver was worth $1.2i). Now the main value of our Monterey ores does not come from the silver, but from the lead. If I have lead in my silver ore running 25 per cent, that will lie 5o0 pounds of lead to the ton of ore. At 3 cents that lead is worth $15 in the United States. That is $15 in gold, which is $.'0 in .Mexican money. "Silver, yon must remember." Mr M aiz continued, "doesn't govern the price of lead. If silver should go up to $1.2!) an onnce, or, which is the same tiling, to par with gold, my lead would keep about even, regnrdless of the fluc tuation of silver. It would still be worth 3 cents in gold. My 5O0 pounds of lean per ton woiim ne worth $15 in gold, but it wouldn't lie worth any more in silver. It wonld be $15 in gold in Amer ican silver and in Mexican stiver." Having shown that he would get very little if any more in Mexican money for his silver if it commanded $1.2!t, or par with gold, and having demon strafed th8t the advance of silver to $1.2! would knock him out of half of his return for the lead, measured by the Mexican money, Mr. Maiz proceeded to that phase of the silver question which is most Interesting to Americans. "Now, there is another thing," he said, "and it is this: When gold was about even with Mexican money, or when there was very little difference, we oh id our labor at the mines 75 cents a day. The amount was equivalent to about 70 cents a day in American money. Today we pay those same miners 75 cents a dny in Mexican money which is now equiv alent to about 37 cents a day in gold. This 37 cents a flay In gold yields the mine-owner the same amount of labor which was produced for him when the 75 cents in Mexican money was worth 7( cents, in gold. The Mexican miner dees not consume for his nourishment and his clothing any but Mexican prod ucts, sncn as corn, nesns. coffee, sugar, cotton goods, etc , Nearly sll of these ar ticles are today sold at the same prices as when silver was at par with gold in this country. Consequently the living expenses of the miners haven't increased at all. They can perfectly well work now it the same wages as they received when silver was the same as gold." The Mlver Masts. Ip waves on a silver basis, the win,, owner of .Monterey finds his margin. In wages on a silver bssis, fhe smelters of Mexico figure out a great advantage mcr those of the United States. The Omiihu smelter is one which offers a fair com oarison with this Guggenheim plant of Heater ty. They are, probably, the larf- nines soutti ot the frontier. As you go toward the interior wages decrease From Snltillo Southward to San Luis Potosi. HlkS miles, section est silver smelters in the two countries Each gives employment to about 4i men. No one will traverse the great plant at Monterey and doubt that tie Mexican workman in the industry ren der equal lal-r, man for man, with the American employed in the Omaha smelt er. At Omaha there is little labor given at $1.50 a day. The wages in the various grades of the smelter range as high as $3 a day. It will not place the average too high to make it $2 per day. That is American money gold. Here the com mon latsir unloads the cars mr heap the ore by the thousands of tons in the yards. This same labor loads the ore into the little iron tramcars and heels it under the sheds, where the more skilled work men do the mixing of the ores in great l-ds. This common laU.r shovels and lifts and pushes as hard as the $1.50 gold labor at Omaha and does it for i2H cents a day Mexican silver, or 31 ceuts gold. This labor works ten boors a day for that price. Then there is the twelve hours labor, so divided to keep the smelter running night and day. Here something besides muscle en ters in. The iron barrows must be wheeled upon the scales, and one kind of ore follows another in, as beam after beam tips, until the barrow is .full of just the right proportions of lead and iron and lime and various ores to take out all of the silver in the smelting The Mexicans who do this are paid 75 cents a day, worth 37 cents American money. Then come the feeders and the furnace men, who know just when to dump in the barrow loads at the top and just when to tap at the bottom to draw off the bullion. This is lalxir that receives $1 a day in Mexican silver, or 50 cents a day in gold. The slag pullers get 75 cents a day in silver. The fore men of the yards, who moves slwut over seeing and directing, are paid from $:' to $5 a day. They are few in number. Still fewer are the furnace foremen of that ripe exjierience which is resjioiisible for the results. These get $2 a mouth, the equivalent of $100 in gold. The pay at the Omaha smelter aver ages $2 a day. or $NOO for the Mm :l. Isirere, the equivalent of $1KJ in Mexi can money. The pay at the Monterev smelter averages $1 a day in Mexican money, or $400 for the 4ot) employes. Here is a difference of $12Sl Mexican money or $J gold In the daily pay rolls. The Mexican silver smelters are said to lie making $10 in Mexican money where the American smelters are profit ing $1 in American money. Whether free silver in the United States would raise the Mexican money to the Ameri can money or lower the American to the Mexican it wonld require the American smelters to pay only twice as much for labor where now they pay four times as much as the Mexican smelters do. The wages paid at the smelters here com mand the best of Mexican labor. The lowest rate, 2'jC, is nearly double that Caid for ordinary common labor. It rings to the works brown men 'with muscles like steel, who trot along with ,I0 pounds of ore in a barrow. These Mexicans shed all clothing but sandals, strawhat and cotton drawers as they push and pnll the ore down the incline of the long roasting ovens. They have only one bad habit. They will come to work before breakfast. Von can teach Mexican labor to smelt ores to perfection but you can not teach the Mexican wom an to get up and prciare breakfast, sim ple as it is, lwforo the whistle blows for the change of shifts from night to day. And so, an hour or two after the brown men have begun work, the little brown women come stringing in with the beans and the corn cakes and the bit of meat. laborers' Wages. ' At Cerralvo. in the state of Nueva Loon, is located the Benavides smelters. From this smelter there has been shipped since the 1st of January, by ox carts. l.Hon.OOO pounds of bullion. This Cerralro district was a great mining cen ter 300 years ago. It had a government mint, and turned out quantities of coin during two centuries under Spanish do minion. When the revolutionary period set in mining ceased. Titles lapsed. With the establishment of stable gov ernment and the coming of railroads mining in Mexico took on new activity. The Cerralvo district was one of the last to feel the spirit of revival. The rail roads passed by and left this ancient town in the interior. Three years ago American enterprise found this long neglected district. A smelter was built. The highly successful operation of this plant for the past three years, ninety miles from a railroad, affords one of the liest possihle illustrations of the cheapen ing of silver production in Mexico. The manager of the smelter is Mr. H. C. Har rison, who has had a good deal of ex perience in mining and smelting. He furnishes the actual cost of ojieration from his books and makes a comparison with the cost of a like smelter in the States. These are bis figures: Kmelter operation In Mexico. Per day In Mexican jnoiiev. Superintendent .' .11.1.00 Two foremen, at $4 s mi Tk'O ore weighers, at $1 2.00 Ansa yer 4 (Si Two engineers, at $1 2.00 Two fiiniacemen, at 11 a.ori Two feeders, at 75c J Ml Four slag men. at 'Vjic 2 So Two ore men. at 1.2.1 Two charcoal men. at f!2fV'-.. 1.2-1 Two patio men. at Klr i;jr, Ten outside men. at .Vie.. 5.00 Two bullion men, at ftl'iy: ,. 1 2.1 Two cords of wood, at $2.25 4. .VI Oil for engine and lights j..vi Total In Mexlrsn money $.13.00 Smelter operation in Lotted States. I'er day In Tnlted States moiiev Fuperlntendcnt $10 oo Two forpinen, at $4 ft on Two ore weighers, at $2.50 B.on Assayer , r.S"i Two engineers, at $.'! f. (j no Two fornscenwn. t $t..., j. fl (Si Two feeders, at $3 ." 0 oo Two slag men. at 2..V 5 no Two charge wheelers, at $2..V) .1.00 Two chsreosl men. at $2., 4 tut I'lve ysrd men. st $2 10 on Two bullion men. at, 2 4 nn Two cords of wood, st $3 A (in Oil for engines and light 1.10 Total In t'nlted States money $l .so Exchange, HO , 7:.;is Total In Mexican money $1.14X1 The cost of pinning fhe same smelter would be in Mexican money $154X5 for labor on the American side of the Rio Grande. It is $53 in Msxico ninety miles from a railroad. "The present cost of smelting In Mexi co," said Mr. Harrison, "is only about one-third of what it is In the T'nlted States. This shows that a very low ifrade of silver ore which would be smelt ed at a loss in the United States can be treated here at a profit. Our furnace smelts twenty tons of ore a day at a cost of $2.54 a ton for labor. The rice and reliability of labor is an im. oortant factor in smelting. Here in Mexico we have cheap and steady work ers. The average income of an adult in the stste of Nuevo Leon is 10 cents a dav. There is scarcely a day I do not hsve to turn applicants awsv. The entire population Is offering service in a fearfully overstocked labor market. The cost of mining in the Cerralvo district, as compared with the western part of the United States, is abont one-sixth what It is in Colorado and one-eighth what it is In Arizona. " Ore Mine and Its Output. If you ask who is the richest man in Datango, the reply will be: "Maximiliatto Pamin. The rase of Miitlmiliitno Da mm it one of the answers to the question how cbeai nean- flt In Iv can silver Is' pi minced at a pr Mexico. Mr. Pamiu Is it momfant. A r.-w iinrs a no he owed $400,001) to Euro- pea a credited The story ef MaaiaxiMane Damn's rapid rise to the distinction, af the Croesns of Dursngo is the story of the Promoiitorio mine. That is a proper ty of w hu h the milling market never heard. It is known to Durango people tiecause they see the ox carta and mule wagons couie creaking in with sS) tons of ore monthly. The mine is Ka3 mih-s north of the city, and the ore must be hauled that distance in carts and wagons. 'The ore is quarts, and all that is thus transirted is of a grade which yields 150 ounces to the ton. The monthly ship ment from the Promoutorio is 90,000 ounces of silver. In a year this amounts to l.isst.fssi ounces. It is worth in Mexican money $1.2!st,O0a, and in Amer ican mnn v $j50,0U). But thie shipment of ore at the rate of 000 tons is not all of Mr. Damm's product. From bis own works at the mine he makes every day a bar of silver weighing 1100 ounces. A bar of silver worth $1210 in Mexican money and half of that in American mon ey is not very formidable in appearance. It is ouly 16 inches long by 4 inches in breadth and thickness. Every day one of these bars is turned out at the mine, brought down to Durango and added to the stack of treasure in Maximiliano Damm's warehouse. The mint officials of the United States will have an opportuni ty to handle a collection of these bars if free coinage tiecomes the law. The pnnent product of the Promontorio is l.HOO.iatO ouuee a year, worth $1,74!. 400 in Mexican money, and to be worth that in American money if Id to 1 pre vails. This is one man s mine. That is. perhaps, the reason so little has been heard of it. About ten years ago, when silver be gan to go down, the Promontorio liegan to urn-over its richness. With his rep utation established as the richest man in Durango, Mr. Datum does not admit that he has done any mining. He has imply been developing what there is in the Promontorio. blocking out Ihe mssses of ore to be removed when be gets down to the real business of mining. But while doing development work Mr. Da mm is taking out incidentally ore which yields him 1 .3110,01 Mi ounces of silver yearly. A fissure vein which gives him this ore carrying 150 ounces of silver to the ton is from 18 inches to 5 feet wide. While devidoping his property, Mr. Da i) mi has taken out a third-class of ore which has not U-en shipped to the smelter or treated at the mine. He now has a dump containing 50.000 tons of uch ore which, he says, will average S0 ounces to the ton. That mentis 3.(KKt,- ounces more, to he worth $3,H20, IS) when the United States declares for unlimited silver. Maximiliano Da mm can furnish all of the silver the mints of the Cnited Statics will be able to coin into dollars during five weeks of oH-ra-tion at thtiir present full capacity. Open Mints Cheapen Mlver. "Why is it that in a ailver country, with unlimited coinage, bullion does not go, to the Mexican mints to lie coined into dollars, but is sbi'incd out to be sold in another country where it has a fluctuating , alue and where so much of it as would make a dollar In your mint is worth now only half a dollar?" This was submitted, during the rest in the saddle of Las Mitras, to the owner of the mines lsdow, from which the Mex icans were trotting forth in never-ending file with their sacks of ore. The mine owner chncked a pebble over the preci pice, and shook his head, as if the ques tion ws too mui n tor him. "WelL.why do you send your own bullion'to the United States to be sold at bullion value under the gold standard instead, of having it minted into dollars which arc worth 100 cents on the silver basis?" The mine owner got out his pencil and figured. . He took the exchange, the cost of transportation, the 377 grains of fine silver in the Mexican dollar, the 371 grains in the American dollar, the ounce value, and made elaborate calculations. At length his face brightened. . "Silver," he said, "yields today 4 cents an ounce more when sold In the states as bullion, after paying freight charges and brokerage commissions, than it would if taken to Hie Mexican mints and coined into dollars." THE FARMER AM) THE RILVEHITE. He was set tin' on a shoe box at to' corner uv th' street, f'uawin' plug terbacker an' waltln' fcr a treat. While be antilrted his terbacker Juice at an Inerfeuslve fly. He saw an honest farmer come a-wslkln' slow iy by, tio he hlsted up bis britches, an' be took sn ot her chew, An' boldly waded Inter him, an' this Is what be blew: "fan yon tell me, mr friend, why the chinch hug Is eatln- up your grain? Have yer ciphered on the problem why we git wi little rain? Can ycr tell ine, plodding farmer, why the army worm's around? Why th' tarnal veller sunlight la burnio' np tU'grouud? ran ycr tell me why tb' weavll, th' rust an' Hessian fly . Are eatln' up yer substance? lo yer know th' reason why? Why th price uv eggs an' batter, oats an' corn, an' wheat an' rye. Are a-fallln'-lit the market as th' years sre pasaln' by? "The reason why these dismal clouds cast tbelr shadders 'crost th' sun? Why yer debts are gettln' bigger, as th' siasons go and k'lm? Th' reason fef tbla trouble Is plain eoougo ter see, Tla that orfnl, fearful, nasty thing; tb' 'crime av '73.' Tew be sure, yer didn't know It fer thirty veiira er so, Hut It worked tnls orful bsvue, it dealt this deadly blow. Th' (iold Hugs down In Wsll street under cover uv lb' Isw, llav' gobbled up yer earnings In tbelr thirsty, hungry maw. 'Hlxteen to one ' will cure you 'tis th' sllo- pathlc plan." The farmer stopped snd listened, tho' II almost mB(ie- blm Isf, At tbe stupid, senseless logic uv this whit- tlln' talkln' calf. An' bis dander 'gao arlstn' at this ever- Isstlo' bore. An' he racked bs heels together so' be shuk bis fists sn' swore: "You must think us fanners bay' antbla' else to ao Hut Stan' aroun' an' argify with such tarnal fools ss you. You'll leglslste the weavll, cblnch bug so' Hessian fly.. You'll resolute the raindrop er kaow th' reason why. You'll upset th' laws trr natur, you'll change th' seasons 'round. You'll stop lb' goMn sunlight from shinltT one th' ground. Til' law tbst flies prices, you'll change 11 lest fer fun. With rolnln' uv th' sliver 'sixteen tew one.' Half a dollar's worth uv acta I will be worth test twlct as much, When melted by th government an' glv'n Its msgle touch. You'll bust up sll th' railroads, shops, an' savings banks. With th' drlvlln' silly nonsense av you crasy silver cranks. , "It seems fer me that I remember wfcu things were all askew, Rome time snout November la tb' year uv 88. That the same gang av fellers promised another '-eat. That yer to d tb' grabble' farmer that you'd gin blm 'dollar wheat. That he'd sorely tnea be happy, as' bla fort a n weald be aisde. V,t he'd Jest upset IT tsrin, vote fer Cleve land aa free trad. Now, ws don't pertend ttj knew so or I, fer we never nan mors snow. Hut there la quite a grist o' things thst eveu fnr:urs kaow. They know ilea they've been Had to, an' taken f r a dunce. An' they're gain tew be d d keerful that IH0V7 WILL THEY VOTE? Sf&oj Tho titan da of Young Men Have Beached the Threshold of Their Career. TWO POLITICAL PATHS OPEN. Sound Money Stands for Nationa Honor Debased Coinage Stands for Dishonor. There are a good many thousands of yeung men who will this year cast their first vote for President. They stand on the threshold of their career and are looking forward to achieve success in life in some chosen vocation. With but few exceptions they all expect to be business men and by their own efforts (win a competence if not a fortune. 'This ambition to obtain wealth is laudable and should be cherished by every honest and industrious youth. To these young men the money ques tion, which is now the political question of the moment, is of surjussing impor tance, not only for the right casting of their votes but for the right understsnd Ing of business principles, for if they do not understand the meaning of money, what it ahould be. what it is for, and what it can do, there is but little hope that they will be able to accumulate much of it. or, accumulating it, know well how to nse it. The common phrase in business la lmaking money," but money is only a means for obtaining otber things. When a young man has saved his first hundred dollars he doesn't put it away or hide it, but invests it in other property or loans it at interest until he can find ao oppor tunity for otber Investments. As be in creases his money be sets it at work for bim, and in this way grows rich. Money is not tbe ultimate object of business, but it is the means whereby men obtain what tbey want. It ia of the first importance, therefore, and each man's common sense confiraH it, that the money we earn, that the money we borrow and lend and that we use for the purpose of exchange should be uniform and stable in value, that it should mean the same thing next year that It does today,. and the world of busi ness has agreed that gold and silver makes tbe nearest approach to that kind of money gold for large transac tions, silver for small. That these metala can be eqnally nsed history shows to be impossible, so the wisest nations have provided that gold should have the principal place and silver be treated as subsidiary. ) The political question, then, for the young man who now votes for the first time to decide is, whether it is wiser to follow the teachings of history and the example of the most successful hnsiuess nations of the world or to start out on a 'plan that has already been tried and found disastrous. Shall we as a people take pattern after Kngland or sfter 'Mexico: Shall we learn from Cblni or from Germany? How does a young man art for himself I when looking around among his elders land superiors in business life? Does he choose the example and advice of suc cessful men of the Armours and Fields and tinges of commercial and financial life or does he start out regardless of their methods and attempt some slrort cut to success? How many young men have stood at the parting of the ways looking wistfully into the future? How few have taken the narrow and forbid ding natb of hard work, thrift and self sacrifice, but that leads to the mountain tops, and how many the flowery road that is so enticing in its ease and pleas ure, but which ends only in morasses and despair? As it is with individuals so it is with nations, and no people can defy the principles of honesty snd Integrity in their national life any more than in personal life. Hound and honest money, which means money as good as gold in this campaign, stands for national honor. A debased coinage stands for national dishonor. Which banner will onr young men fol low? Chicago Times-Herald. THE MODERN ALADDIN. How Bryan Ignorea the Experience of This and Other Nationa with Free Coinage. Mr. Bryan states that he believes the free coinage of silver, by our govern ment alone, at the ratio of 10 to 1, would raise the price of silver to $1.29 per ounce; and lie never tires of alleg ing that our government is strong, and rich, and owerful enough to accomplish this result without waiting or asking for the co-operation of any other country. Ia making this prediction Mr. Bryan ignorea tbe experience of this and otber nations of tbe world in regard to tbe coinage of silver during the past 100 J ears; but waiving that, let us see what is proposition involves. I presume it will In; conceded by Mr. Bryan and his adherents that the price of silver bullion in this country cannot be affected without at the same time affecting it everywhere, and that the rise in the price will apply to all silver, whether in bars or wares as well as in coin, throughout the world. The figures I shall give, except those showing tbe production of silver since lHtr2, are all taken from a report sub mitted by Mr. Veorhees, a free silver advocate, on behalf of the finance com mittee of the Senate, March 5, 1MM, which report is entitled "Coinage Laws of tbe United States from 17U2 to 1WM. with an Appendix Relating to Coins and Currency; Fourth Edition, Revised and Corrected to August 1, Prepared Under the Direction of tbe Committee." According to that report, page 175, tbe production of silver la tbe world from 1493 to lWr2 amounted to 7.522.- 807,716 ounces, and there has been pro duced since 1882 about AuD.OOO.OfJO ounces in round numbers. Add this to the other sum and we have a total of 8,122,A07.7ie ounces. I have no data showing the production of silver prior to 1408, and hence I cannot give the fig ares; bnt I think it may be safely as sumed that it amounted to as much as tbe whole amount of silver that has beau lost or destroyed. In order to be sure that we are on the right side, however. let as deduct 122,.V7.7ltf ounces, pm) state tbe present supply of silver in its various forms In the world si $.000.- 0UIJ,laj ounces, inis is worm y lent per ounce, or ...yr .'ssmsi in tn ur negate. To this, according to V Bryan's opinion, the legislative fl. of erne aersrawicDt alone weald adJ UO rents per ounce. fcVMO.OOT.Ofin. And strange to ssy. the Isrgcr part of this added wraith would le outaide of our own country. In gold standard coun tries tbe commercial vslue of the silver coins iu circulation would be brought nesrly to the gold standard. This list of ours would suUtantmlly double the vslue of $1 l.s'l.'s's'l in sil ver coins in Great Britain; Kssl.(.GW) in France; $l'l!i.(SSt.lSiO in Germany; IM.WSi.tsai in Belgium: f lO.raKM Italy; $15,lMJ.fssJ in Switzerland; 13, (agi.fgsj m (Jrcece; ll.Vi.msi, ' ia Spain; $10.10.0Ut in Portugal; $85,000, (aVl in Anstro-Hungsry; S.Ws's'Ms'gJ in the Netherlands: 4.lsi,fx) in Sweden; $5,400.01' in Denmark; M-t.000.000 in Tnrkey; $7.0Ms'l in Australia; $15, OOO.OHO in Egvpt and fllO.tsai.fKKI in tbe Straits, besides $U5.fl0.0rtJ in this country, and raise all this money near ly to par with gold; and yet we sre told that all these countries not only refuse to join Mr. Bryan and his supporters, but even do not sympathise with them in this stiiMMidus enterprise w hich would add so much to their wealth, and in a large degree relieve them from the burden now resting u:mn tbem of keeping their gold and silver coins at par with each other in their circulation. But bow would it work in the silver standard countries? This government fist of ours would at one fell swoop sub stantially double the value of $4 1 .tSsl.Otal in silver coins in Kussia; $.KI.'s'Sl.fSSJ in Mexico- $8,01X1.) Ml in the Central Ameri can states: $rMI.MUMI in the South American states; $;t.VI.(K).KKI in India, and $725,MXM) in Chins, snd would at the same time double all the private and public debts of those countries, which nave been contracted on the silver basis. But Mr. Bryan's proposition is more fsr reaching than that. He asserts that he believes that this legislative fiat on our part would not only bring the silver now In existence to par with gold at the ratio of 1(1 to 1, but wonld keep it snd the future production there, although doubling the price would hereafter probably double tbe production. In view of these facts ia there any im propriety in inquiring how it is that we, 70,(s,X).0'0 strong, can affect tbe money of 1,350,000,000 people by a simple stat ute, while the 1,H5J,000.0(S) cannot by legislation affect us? And are the iieople of Great Britain and continental Europe and many millions of Americans to Is? dubbed "money-grabbers" and "pluto era la" if they hesitate to believe that Mr. Bryan has found and carries Aladdin's Wonderful Lamp, and can produce these stupendous results? And sre the millions of people in this country who hsve made contracts and investments upon tbe pres ent monetary stahdard, which ia gold, and which has been the standard at least since 1879. and I think since 1814, to tie chanced with being unreasonable when they ask Mr. Btfm t statr explicitly What hm heHeees wwaid occur net only to their Interests, bait to the business of the whole country, -if his prediction ss to the rise in the price of silver should not be fulfilled am' tbe standard of ex change ahould suddenly be changed from a gold to a silver bssis with no, or st best a slight advance In the commercial value of silver bullion? J. L. T. Has the American Farmer Forgotten That under President Harrison's ad ministration the prohibition against our meat products by Great Britain, Ger many, Denmark, Austria. France, Italy and Spain were removed? Has he forgotten the high prices he received during the times reciprocity and protection were in force? Has he forgotten that our trade in all agricultural products was extended dur ing tbia time? Has be forgotten that our exports of bacon, hams and lard was increased $19,000,000 in one year by this same policy? Has he forgotten that we exported $12,000,000 more of American beef products in a single year? Has he forgotten that we exported $K',000,000 more of live cattle annu ally? Has he forgotten that we exported $1.V'(M1,000 of cereals, namely, wheat, $115,000,000, flour $2X,0U0,000 and corn $7.0M,000? Has he forgotten that we increased the foreign sales of all our agricul tural products $275,000,000 annually' over what it had been previously? Has be forgotten that four years ago Mr. Brysn and his free trade fnnds promised him that if the McKinley bill was repealed better prices wonld be ob tained for all of his products? Has he forgotten that all these prom ises failed of fruition, and that instead of receiving better prices all agricultural products have depreciated in value? Has he forgotten the good times that all classes, the farmer, the wage worker and the business man enjoyed under protection and reciprocity? Does he propose to accept the promises of this same Bryan crowd, who make no references to their pledge of four years ago that the reiieal of the McKinley bill would bring relief to all classes in tnis country, and who shamelessly Ig nore all reference fo those promises, and now seek his votes nnder pledge that a debased and depreciated money will remedy the hard times? The American farmer should not for get that protection and reciprocity brought bim prosperity. The Working; Man's Vote Is Ilia Own. Bryan and his shooters make much of the charge that efforts are being made to control the labor vote. The Is (sir vote cannot Ik- controlled. It is free. A secret vote must of necessity be free. It was to make it free that legislators made it secret. There would be a tuple ground for criticizing the writing of let ters to working people by their emnlov- ers on the subject of election, If suclt action oy tne employers involved com pulsion; for this is a free country, and the right of every citizen to freely ex press his own views by his own vote should and must be sacredly maintained. Under existing circumstances letters of advice written by employers to their em ployes are no more to be regarded as attempts at compulsion than is the cir culation of any other class of campaign literature to ne consiocrcd as an attemnt at compulsion. They are a legitimate part of the "campaign of education." to be judged by the arguments they con tain, and acted upon aa the recipients may decide to lie best for their own in terests. Milwaukee Evening Wisconsin. FARMER BROWN'S DILEMMA, We had a public meetln' In tbe scboolhouaa her last week And a feller from tbe city was Invited down to spess. He'd studied up the -subject ef flaanea la every light And claimed that be was competent to shew us what wss right. He says this whole blamed country Is s-gohV straight to smash I'alesa we get free coinage sad Increase our stock ef cash. He's flggered ont a dslsy scheme sad claims 'twld work Immense He wants to make our dollars oost us only fifty cents. He'd take "four bits' of stiver snd would run It through tbe mint And stamp It plain "one dollar" with tbe eoTsrnaisnt'i lanrlnt: The mines wosld dump tbelr silver aad the nation, sues as greass. Would grind out braad-new dollars at lest nftv enta aniaoe. Tint sounds all right; hat sloes that nlaht somehow I've wondered vlen I buy dollsrs for fifty cents who'll tske 'em for s hundred? -V. a P., In Chicago TImes-Hereld. 1X4