Birmingham state herald. (Birmingham, Ala.) 1895-1897, 1895-11-05
rHD aovmRNoRps OPINION.


equal purchasing and debt-paying power.
With this state or condition Of the money
Of the country, If the people have pros
porous times they are content. Free and
unlimited coinage of silver would not
place an additional dollar in the pockets
of him who has no silver bullion to coin.
If mill grind grain free of toll for all
corners 1t will not give any flour or meal
to him who has no grain to take to the
mill. No one in the southern states owns
any silver bullion. There is no silver
mine within them, How then could free
and unlimited coinage put any more mon
ey into circulation there? If 1t would
cause a great quantity of silver to be
coined at the present ratio 1t would drive
gold out of circulation, in accordance
with Gresham's universal law. 1t would
thereby destroy parity and force our me-
tallic dollars to part company and gold
to go to a premium.
Our southern people, with few excep-
tions, are not gold bugs nor 'silverloons,'
but true bimetallists. They want all the
silver that can be kept on a parity with
gold, which the administration is strug-
Cling to do by means which the presi-
dent believes best calculated to accom-
plish it.
1.-THE people, from careful study of
the question, are beginning to doubt and
grow distrustful of the experiment of free
coinage of silver lest 1t may, If adopted,
beget another panic, or so impair conf
dence as to roll back the tide of prosper
ity which is now setting so beautifully to-
ward them"
The governor appears to be somewhat
hazy in his statement Of propositions.
The coinage of silver as primal money
is not a matter to be compared to the
grinding of corn for each individual.
The people of the south have very little
more personal interest in the minting of
gold than they have in that of silver,
other than their general interest in hav-
ing an ample coinage of the precious
metals. No matter who may bring the
metal to the minis the coinage is the
concern of all the people. 1t is not ma
terial to the question whether our gold
for coinage comes from Kaffir or our sill
yer comes from Denver There is not
man of the most obtuse intellect who
does not know that he cannot get money
except by working for it. But there is
no man, however dull of comprehension,
who does not know that when money is
abundant he stands better chance to
get a portion of it for his labor. Gov
ernor Oates knows that the population
and commerce of the United States are
this very article of his in the Review he
tells us how rapidly the south is growing.
At the same time he knows that the gold
of the world is not meeting the wants
of trade, that silver is relegated to the
condition of token money like copper
and nickel and paper notes, that no more
silver is being coined, that no new banks
are being established and that the
volume of money is being constantly
contracted. He knows that the per capita
of circulation in the past year has dimin-
ished in this country nearly If not quite
$100000,000. And yet, despite these facts
he declares that free coinage of silver
will not tend to put another dollar in
the pocket of the people. In this respect
Governor Oates differs from Alexander
Hamilton and Thomas jefferson, who
held that a diminishing and contracting
currency was a calamity to be avoided.
Those distinguished statesmen. following
the opinion and experience of the COM
mercial world, planted the currency up
on both metals. We regret that Governor
Oates plants the country upon the sole
gold standard, with only so much silver
as a subsidiary coinage as will not inter-
This view of the case Is not the view
taken by Governor Oates when Presi-
dent Cleveland called for the repeal of
the Sherman law With the message of
the president before him and after full
discussion of it in the house of represen-
tativeS Governor Oates, then a member
of the house, could not agree with the
president. 1t must be borne In mind that
at that time Governor Oates had been a
member of the house for fourteen years:
that he had become in that time one of
the leaders of the house, always listened
to with attention and respect upon all
questions to which he spoke The sill
yer question was no new question
Colonel Oates had spoken and voted for
free silver coinage upon every occasion
when it came before the house. Mr.. Cleye-
land. when first elected in 1884, had called
for stoppage of silver coinage From
that day to 1898 Colonel Oates had re-
sponded to the call of the president by
denying, through all his votes and
speeches, that Mr. Cleveland was ius-
titled in his war upon silver. Even after
the eventful campaign of 1893 had begun
Colonel Oates still denied the premises
and conclusions of the president. He
consented to vote for the repeal of the
purchasing clause of the Sherman act
but he did SO upon the express under
standing that the result was not and
would not be the establishment of sole
gold standard. He denounced the idea of
gold standard as being a monstrous
outrage upon the tax payers of this coun-
try. That we do not misrepresent his ex
cellency we beg leave to quote from his
speech in the house upon the question of
repeal of the purchasing clause of the
Sherman act. Colonel Oates said:
There is not now, and never will he
gold enough in the world to supply the
people with sufficiency of metallic mon
ey composed of that metal. Silver money
Is therefore an absolute necessity. and
no advocate of single gold standard
can produce any substantial argument to
controvert this proposition.
We have among us some wealthy
cranks. who possess no reliable informa-
tfon upon the subject, and who know
nothing and care less for the actual con
dition of the poor people of our country.
They clamor for such a standard. but
fortunately they do not rule this country.
Their voices are feeble and tbav 70 az