Birmingham state herald. (Birmingham, Ala.) 1895-1897, 1895-10-06

peen 100000 bales, whereas in 1880 the
worlds crop had been only 7,200, 900 bales.
Inc same was true of other things. I'M
proved methods and machinery had IA
ellitated the farmer and the manufac-
turer They sold their goods for less,
but they sold more of them and bought
what they bought correspondingly
cheaper. Mr.. Herbert said that oats and
mess pork had not been overproduced
like other things in the past twenty years
and the prices of these articles were
practically unchanged.
The speaker said Ii by the passage of
16 to bill the United States could raise
the value of all the silver in the world
to that ratio he would favor 1t, but such
proposition was a farce. He said that
Captain Johnston had recently III
speech in Eufaula challenged anybody
to show where the silver would come
from that was to swamp this country In
the event of the passage of free coin
age law. He said he accepted the chal-
1enge; that IL a free coinage law was
passed China, Japan and India would
telegraph their orders to purchase all OF
the gold that was possible for their sill
yer at anything under the market price,
and that these three countries alone
could and would buy all of the gold we
have In circulation. Our supply of gold
would not last from sun to sun, he said,
If the holders of the gold saw fit to trade
1t for foreign silver. But the holders OF
the gold would not trade 1t, he said; they
would lock 1t up, and the day that free
coinage law was passed would see s6So,-
900 900 locked l. vaults, our circulating
currency would be that amount short
and the balance that was left would be
cheap money. This would happen, he
said, the moment that 1t was known that
a free silver president and congress had
been elected-such a panic as was never
known would ensue and the country
would go to the demition bow-wows.
The speaker said the panic of 1893 IL
lustrsted this That this country owed
some $4,000, 100000 abroad in gold stand
ard countries, that these creditors saw
that under the Sherman law we were
coming too much silver. Under that cir
cumstances they considered that they
should begin to realize on some of their
securities They accordingly collected
$155, 900. 600 of gold and took 1t away. The
speaker then undertook to explain that
by repeating the Sherman act and issu-
ing bonds the administration had restored
confidence here and abroad, had checked
the fury of the panic and by issuing more
bonds, ETC., had persuaded foreign coun-
tries that there was man at the head of
this government who did not propose to
see them paid off In cheap money The
result, as pictured by the distinguished
speaker. has been that the country has
smiled like basket full of 'possr m heads.
wages iron, cotton, everything has ad-
vanced in value. The currency had not
been increased but confidence had
The speaker explained that If we got
on a silver basis the banks would pay off
their depositors in 55-cent dollars, guar
dians and executors would pay the
widows and orphans cheap money. the
life insurance companies would pay poll
cies in deprecated dollars and every man
would be licensed to repudiatc his debts.
He said there%was no party in any gold
standard country in favor of putting 1t
on a silver basis, and that 1t was mar
tya1f 10 h hfyr.f hot SIJnt q ma Tf aYi
that all of the parties In the old countries
that favored the use of silver were, thank
God. in favor of bimetallism He held
the history of the Latin union and said
that not a dollar of legal tender silver
money had been coined in Europe since
1873.
Secretary Herbert denied that Wall
street caused the late panic. He said
that Wall street suffered more than any
place as result of 1t; that it would be
suicidal for capital to produce panic,
as the capitalists were the chief sufferers.
He said he did not propose to defend all
that the men on Wall street did, but he
intimated that they were pretty clever
fellows and bought and held the cotton
cite, of the farmers when the demand for
1t did not meet the supply.
The secretary concluded by saying that
the capitalists at home and abroad had
concluded that the silver sentiment was
not strong enough in this country to eff
feet anything, and that for this reason
they were opening their safes and allow
ing the country to prosper He said that.
the party that elects the next president
will be In favor of sound money. He said
the democratic party would easily be in
favor of sound money, and advised the
boys, whatever their sentiments on the
the question may be, to climb on the
band wagon and help the party win
again, as 1t could easily do under sound
money colors. He said there was no hope
for the republican party in the next ma
tional election. except in the division of
the democrats; that If the democrats
would stand together for sound money
they would win In a walk.