The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1893-07-12
Nae Merald aud Melps.
= RasKER,s TALK ABOUT MONEY.

a
The following interview with Mr..
w. S. Witham, of Admission, Ala, ap-
peared in recent issue of the Hot
Blast. Mr.. Witham is the president
of fifteen banks, most of them located
in Georgia. He is a successful business
man and his views are entitled to great
weight.
he was first asked "what is meant
by fat moneyw and he answered:
'.It is made Of paper. 1t passes be-
cause the law says it's got to 60. III
has nothing to secure its redemption,
consequently irredeemable."
Would that pay debts?
"Yes, for while. but as Abraham
lincoln said, you can fool some of the
people all the time, and all of the peo-
pis some of the time, but not all the peo-
ple all the time Fiat money would
lead to imitation"
What do you mean by that?
ga man drinks lager beer. His
friends say, show fat and slick John is.
They are fooled. The slightest attack
of sickness John has proves thatjohn's
fat was only wind"
Now what is bimetalism?
s.Any two metals being different in
name and quality made equsl in value
by law"
That is plain, now what does demone-
tize mean?
.sWhen one of those metals ceases to
pass as money it has been demone-
tied
That word parity" what am I to
understand by that as applied to mo-
ney?
equal in name but not in real value.
A dollar is the unit in our money and
stands for 100 cents whether made OF
gold or silver. There is 36 cents in real
value between them. Parity is fooling
the people into the belief that they can
keep up the same purchasing power"
Well, Mr.. Withani, you and take
the gold or silver dollar to-day, and
are they not on parity" made so by
the law of our Congress?
ait seems so. Longfellow says
things are not always what they seem.
Gold is at premium IN New York
and has been for some months. Here
is oae thing you must never forget.
There are Interchangeable laws and prin-
ciples in the science of business as fixed
as the laws of gravitation.> Twice two
make four. The value Of a thing is all
it will bring. Settlement day must
come, sooner or later. Buying and SELL
ing is governed by personal will and
not by Congress. No law can make
me buy Of you when I can go into the
market and do better. Supply and de-
mand regulate prices. Now here is the
point: These mud sills of business ap-
ply to towns, States and government
as well as they do to the business OF a
mill, store, Or peanut stand"
aWhy, dc you know that some of
the railroad people think that all Uncle
Sam has to do is to grind out money,
put his name on it and she goes. The
United States can't put out dollar
without its being backed by something
of value held in reserve"
But credit man, credit.
stOh yes, credit! In that word we
haye the music TO which is set the
march of the masses leading on to
financial ruin"
ga government is like an individual
when it comes to business, both have
credit, but when either puts out more
s.promises to pay'' than their assets
warrant, their paper sells at a dis
count"
Now understand these money
terms. what is the Sherman law?
that'sa sticker
ga law compelling the man in Wash
ington who has charge Of all the money
to buy 81. SOC, 900 worth of silver every
month and forbids his selling any. It
goes farther, and forbids him paying
with silver any bills due by the gov
ernment."
1t does? Why, that makes our gov
ernment holder of silver. Why is
that?.
sit came about in this way: A lot
of western men owning silver mines
came South and persuaded all our
farmers and a lot OF town folks to join
them in compelling the passage of fsilver
laws, upon the theory plenty Of money
for everybody The southern mar
dropped his candy there. He should
have said, We'll join you if you'll
agree that the government shall issue
money secured by pig iron and cotton,
just as it does against your silver bull
lion. AS it is, the silver miner gets all
the profit
But Mr.. Witham, a country can't
issue money based on cotton and iron.
eyes it can. They all come out Of
the ground, are bought and sold as
other commodities. Iron and cotton
are just as saleable as silver.
But don't iron and cotton fGctuate
too much?
$50 does silver. During the past
eleven months the United States treas
ury has bought over one hundred mil
lion dollars worth of silver, which has