Birmingham age-herald., 1895-07-24
HOKE SMITH 0N SILVER Splendid Reception to the Secre- tary at Gainesville, Ga. AN 0LD-FASHIONED NEE TING Not the Stamp of Government But the Things
 Value. HOW HISTORY IS REPEATING ITSELF The Return of Prosperity Is the Best An- swer to the Shriek Of the Howlcr.
 Tho Party Will Show Q
 Brave Front.
HOW HISTORY IS REPEATING ITSELF


 Georgia gave Secretary Hoke Smith splendid reception this morning. The presence of hundreds of covered WIZ gons, surrounding the public square. denoted the interest that farmers felt in the finan- cial discussion now going on. Early it became apparent that the large county court house, which seats more than 1000, would be unable to hold all the country people, who had come from the distance. The committee requested. in view of this fact, that ladies and city people would not attend. The building was crowded to suffocation and many were unable to obtain admission. The secretary spoke partially as follows:
 'I am here in response to your invita- tion to discuss the financial problem. 1 shall support the national democratic platform and oppose the national plat form of the populists. At Chicago, in 1892, the democratic party, by it's rep resentatiVes for the entire union. voted down, overwhelmingly, the proposition of delegate from Colorado to insert in the platform the word free (which would have made the platform declare for free coinage of slVer) The platform adopted, when honestly construed, condemned the free coinage of silver at ib to l, and the delegates. on the first ballot. nominated by a two-thirds Vote as the standard bearer of the party one. who in 1885, by message to congress- had opposed both the free coinage of silver and the Bland Allison act, and who, later. on February 10. 1851, as a private citizen, in q public letter, declared the experiment of free, unlimited and independent coinage of silver to be dangerous and reckless This nomination emphasized the repuda- ton, by the convention of the free coin age of silver.
 We have been through panic. Times have improved. Without stopping to account for the panic it should be borne in mind that panics have occurred about every twenty years, usually accom- panied with distrust of the kind of money used. Every panic. has developed a party in favor of had roney, but with return ing prosperity the party has died Re- lief from nancs has always come through the restoration of confidence not through bad money
 Continuing, the secretary said, in part:
 Money Is a device to facilitate the exchange of commodities Property is exchanged for money that the money may be exchanged for some other prop erty. It's use is to enable a man having property who does not desire to keep 1t to obtain some other property which he wishes to procure. The more univer- sally recognized, therefore, the value of the money and the less bulky it is to handle the more completely will it facil- ilett tAcudISe. HnpiIS, SklDS, tDDaCcO, have been used as money. It was the actual value recognized in the commit nity and their value at those points where the people of the community traded that made them serviceable. Gold and silver are better than shells skins and tobacco On account of their more universally recognized value and on ac-- count of the fact that they are easier to handle"
 The secretary showed that it was not a ct sfNff hA value of the thing itself which fixed it's exchangeable quality. Confederate money had the stamp of government on it, but the fact that the government did not have the ability to redeem the bills in something of actual value de- stroyed its exchangeable quality The gold coins, however, of the Confederacy are perfectly good still. though the gov ernment has ceased.
 Paper money is good when the gov ernment IS able on presentation to carry out it's promises to redeem it in some thing of actual value equal to it's face. The stamp or government on coin IS good If the stamp tells the truth about the value of the bullion coined.
 History" said the secretary "teaches that bad money scheme should be ex- pected now. It comes in the form of a proposition for the free. unlimited and independent coinage of silver at Is to l. Coinage at 16 to l means sixteen times as much silver as gold in a dollar--25s grains of standard gold and 412h grains of standard silver. Free coinage means without charge to the bullion holder. but at the expense of the tax payer; un- limited means to coin all that is offered: independent means without reference to the course of other nations. In the lan- guage of Ben Hill, I oppose this proposed legislation because favor all of it's pro- fessed objects and oppose all of it's real objects
 "The free silver advocates claim, first, that the act of 1873 was surreptitiously passed and robbed the people of one-half the money of final payment; second, that for this reason there is not sufficient money of final payment, and the appre- citation of gold has deprecated every thing else. Upon these two propositions their entire arguments are based'
 The secretary met these propositions by claiming, first that the alleged con- traction of money of final payment had not taken place; second, that the pro- posed remedy would, in reality drive one-half of the money now in use out of circulation and produce contraction ruinous in its results.
 He said it was immaterial, so far as the proposed legislation was concerned how the act of 1873 was passed.
 'It would be folly to bring on disas- trous consequences for the simple satis- faction of repeating law improperly passed"
 The act of 1873, he claimed, did not re- move one-half of the money of final pay ment In 1873 the only silver coin in the United States consisted of subsidiary sil- yer amounting to $17.000.000, which was not good for the payment of debts in amounts beyond $5. The coined gold in the United States then amounted to only s135 0o0,000. The coined gold in the United States now amounts to $678. .569, 900. while the stsndard silver amounts to $423. .2s9,- 900, and the subsidiary silver to $76. .772.- GOO.
 The total gold and silver, therefore, in 1873. was $152.000.00O. while gold and sil-