Birmingham age-herald., 1895-03-26
A COIN OF TUE UNION, Says Col. Alexander K, Mcclure
 the Veteran Editor, MUST BE AN HONEST ONE His Letter of Encouragement to Florida and the
 Entire South.
MUST BE AN HONEST ONE

JACKSONVILLE, Fla, March 25.-It was expected that Col. Alexander Mcclure, editor of the Philadelphia Times, would stop in this city on his way north, and preparations were made to give him re- ceptiou. But today Mayor D. U. Fletcher received a letter from the veteran editor, who is at St. Augustine, stating that 1t would be impossible for him to accept Jacksonville's hospitality. The letter is most interesting one. Colonel Mcclure cevotes a large portion of the letter to Florida and her resources. He urges the people not to despond because of the freeze, and says the state has great future.
 The forthcoming letter is devoted to the financial question, and is as follows:
 'Pardon me for saying that have grave apprehensions from my intercourse with the people of the southern states during my present journey. l believe that you are now confronted with an issue second in importance only to the issue which led to the civil war.
 "We have tested the question of the dis mantling of the states and decided it by the arbtrament of the sword, but a nation would be vastly better dismembered by fraternal strife than to demand its disunion by baptism of blood and then destroy it's honor and credit by obedience to the subtle teachings or the demagogues.
 "A nation cannot live without scrupu- lously maintaining it's integrity, and the southern states above all must com maud the confidence of financial, commercial and trade circles at home and abroad if they would hope. for prosperity. They possess countless millions of wealth, which awaits development, and that development can only come by commanding the confidence of those whose capital and labor must be invited to aid in the. work. That can be done only by maintaining honest money and proclaiming to the world that every honest dollar invested in the south will be repaid in equally honest money.
 IA coin of the union, whether silver or gold, must possess the intrinsic value and not promise s to pay, and every dollar as gold or silver, should be such as would be acceptable by the civilized world, and every paper dollar issued should be of equal value because redeemable in coin of iudisputabe value. 1 am not capitalist nor money lender; l have no personal in- terest in the issue excepting that which is in the entire sonth. My life pursuit is aided or hindered in prosperity by the suc- cess or misfortune of the industrial classes of our country, and when they are pros. porous am prosperous, and when that class is prosperous iu the north there must be prosperity in the south.
 A~'.rhe southern state that shall first plant itself unmistakably on the platform of ab.
 
 all in development, in credit and in respect in our own and all other countries, and as long as there shall b, hesitation in the south as to her financial policy there must be distrust in every quarter that can aid you and growing paralysis and distress throughout all classes and conditions of your people. l speak earnestly on this subject only because l earnestly desire that the south shall prosper, for when the south shall be prosperous there must be prosper ity throughout the entire common country.
 ''I hope that Florida will make an earnest and united effort to aid the Atlanta exposition. It should be landmark in the history of southern progress, and every state south of the Potomac should make common cause to aid in the great work. Great as has been the advancement of the southern states during the last dozen years, you have hardly reached the beginning of southern development, and the Atlanta exposition should be made the most suc- cessful illustration of industrial possibil- ties and achievements in it's reconstructed state. Sincerely yours,
 IA. K. MCCLURE. n