The Big Stone post. (Big Stone Gap, Va.) 1890-1892, 1891-02-13
WARNING THE SOUTH.
Edward Atkinson, tho statsstician Cen
Senans the Action OF Southern Sen.
ators and Representatives on
the silver Question.
THEIR FOLLY MADE KNOWN.

Editor Manufacturers Record:
AS your paper reaches many of my
Southern friends who have from time to
to time expressed confidence in my judg-
ment, and who think they have some rea-
SON 10 impute to me some small part Of
the great progress in material welfare
which has been made in recent years in
the great Southland, I now desire to make
use of your columns to utter word of
warning.
The South has already saved consd-
cradle amount of capital, and may now
be content to depend upon the develop
mcnt of its own resources with the use Of
it's own capital only. If that is the case
the present warming may be superduous;
but, if 1t is hoped and expected that En-
glish and Northern capital may continue
to he invested in Southern securities, and
may thus tend to promote Southern en-
terprises, then in the present aspect of
financial legislation in the Congress Of
the United States, that present cxpecta-
tion may as we'll be given up.
The votes Of Southern and Southwestern
Senators who have been recorded with
the Senators who represent certain silver
mines which exist in States that have not
vet a sufficient population to entitle them
to a 1.-THE of the influence which their
mere number in the Senate enables them
to exert The vote Of the practically solid
South in the Senate of the United States
has been given with theirs in support OF q
measure for the free coinage of silver
dollar which will not stand the true test
by which alone can any kind of money be
tried, namely, the test By fire.
The worlds standard Of value. which
/, has been reached by process OF natural
selection, and by and upon which all IN
ternational commerce is measured and
established, IS coin or designated arcight
of gold. ANY coin made Of this metal will
stand the test Of fire. tits worth as much
before its weight and 6neness have been
verified by the stamp of the government
upon the coin as it is after it is coined.
BosroN, Mass, January 10, 1891.
It is worth as much after the coin is mel
ted as it was when circulating in the form
of money. Therefore, the single standard
ofgold coin governs all international com
merce, and will continue to do so in spite
of any and all efforts to substitute an ap-
parently cheaper lower-priced Or varia-
bic standard Of value in this or any 9TH
CIR country. Is not this country entitled
to and capable Of maintaining tbs best
standard or unit of value?
To me it seems passing strange that the
representatives Of Southern States, whose
welfare depends so much upon the export
value of their cotton and their timber,
and who might very soon govern and con-
troll many foreign markets for iron and
for coal, should be willing to cut them
selves off from the most favorable condl-
lions in conducting the commerce by the
adoption of the huctuating, doubtful and
uncertain standard OF value. 1t is passing
strange. that they should be ready to tic
themselves to the single standard of a
silver dollar, which may be worth in the
worlds commerce 70, so, 80 or even 100
cents. Who knows? Such a dollar is
unfit to serve as standard OF value under
the present conditions of commercial ana
financial relations and will continue to
be unfit until the time comes, it 1T ever
does come, when all commercial nations,
byan international treaty, shall agree to an
alternative legal tender Of gold or silver at
an agreed ratio.
Bimetalism exists in every country,
although in some countries gold is the
standard of value; in others silver is the
standard of value; but in all commercial
nations bimetuH;sm, yes, trimetailism and
Guadrumetailism, exist. Gold, siivcr,nickel
and copper coins serve their respective
purposes; but they are ill alike bound to
the standard of gold. whether we will or
no, and that nation which adhcrcs most
fully and absolutely TO that standard is
entitled to be the clearinghouse OF the
world, because it is the safest and surest
standard 1t is the standard by which
prudent and sagacious men are governed
in their transactions, and no law can alter
the facts.
1t is very unfortunate that measure
which will force upon this country mono
metallism, or the single standard of the
silver dollars, has been brought into
prominence at the present time. 1t be-
comes the paramount question, anu II the
Solid South unites with the so-called sill
yer States in support of the act it Will
maintain its separation apart from the
North and West on this issue, no matter
what other issues may come up. | do not
believe the solid sense of the South will
submit to such measure.
1t is an error to assume that the silver
craze has any more solid foundation IN
the great and populous States in the West
than had the greenback craze few years
since That fact is rapidly becoming APP
parent. A small but noisy, aggressive mi
nority in some Of the border States has
created an appearance of popular support
to this measure, of which the wiley and
astute representatives Of the silver mines
have taken advantage thus enabling them
to secure temporary victory, for which
the solid South must be held responsible.
Without Southern support the free COM
age of silver would he sustained by mere
faction. That victory will make ultimate
defeat more certain. II has alarmed the
country, and for the present it stops all
loans or advances on investments of En-
glish or Northern capital in Southern
and Southwestern investments, leaving
the fields in those sections open only to
the spectators and the boomers who con-
troll little orno capital. THIS check has
already 6een .teA. Negotiations which
were far advanced have closed abruptly
and the representatives of what might