arguments for newtext command

["Erik Nauman" <ENauman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I'm trying to make a project that emulates Excel in that it covers the screen
with rows of adjacent text boxes. The problem I'm having in the below code is
that newtext "does not like -300 as input in cell." This suggests a syntax
error but when I replace the variables :the.x.cor and :the.y.cor with absolute
values instead of variables it works fine, it just doesn't shift the x and y
positions for each new text box to make the whole row. So why won't newtext
accept variables for x and y values?
Thanks, 
Erik
 
to makerow
make "the.x.cor -300
make "the.y.cor 200
make "place 1
row
end

to row
if :the.x.cor > 300
[stopme]
cell
make "the.x.cor :the.x.cor + 80
row
end
 
to cell
newtext word "a :place :the.x.cor :the.y.cor [80 30]
make "place :place + 1
end

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