The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1895-07-30

question, which is now agitating the
country from centre to circumference,
appears in the most ambiguous light to
my dul comprehension. The cam
paign of education has been going on
at a pace unsurpassed, and if the people
are not we'll grounded on the su0sect,
n way or the other, it is not the fault
of the newspapers, for they are all chock
full of silver, and nothing but silver,
from beginning to end. As the question
has assumed a phase Of such mighty
import, I have esteemed it a duty,
as a voter, TO try to understand it sc
that I can take an intelligent stand
on one side or the other, but I'm bound
to admit, such is my lack of aptitude
in grasping the subject, that l find it
impossible to discriminate between the
merits or dement's of either side. Iu
fact, the more I study and reflect On
the subject, the more l get into a state
of confusion worse COMPOUNDED, and
become utterly bewildered and fAbber
gasted. When I read an able goldbug
argument I am a goldbug for the time
being, and when I read an able silver
argument | am q silverite for the time
being, and thus I waver from n to
the other, unable to arrive at any def
mite conclusion. Without egotism or
deceit, 1 don't consider myself an ar
rant fool, but when I realize the guam
Diary in which I am placed with regard
to the subject, I can't help from put
ting myself in the same category with
thousands OF clodhoppers of about the
same mental calibre as myself (beg
ging their pardon, who are unable to
give a rational idea why or why not
they are a goldoug or ~silverite. Such
being the case, euch financial igno-
ramuses (and they are counted by tens
of thousands) have no other alternative
than to go it blind, adheriDg to q side
or the other through sheer force of
party spirit, which necessity controls
them when unable to decide upon the
merits of the vital issues constituting
the respective principles Of antagonis5ic
parties. [ venture the assertion that
there is not one voter in a thousand
that can give a clear and understands
BILE answer why or net he ia a silver or
gold man, as the case may be, and l for
one confess Ian honest confession, they
say, is good for the souD. my inability
to give an intelligent why or wherefore
to such a question. To uphold what
you don't understand, not t speak Of
blind prejudice, seems to ne the height
of pitlful a~bsurdity. Yet this is the
condition of a multitude Of voters who
are as dull as the fat weed that rots
on Lethe wharf" on the currency qIes
ton. The most of US are, On the fnan-
ciaI question, in the fix of the young
fellow who, the more he tried TO learn
the more COMPOUNDED, and who accord
ingly exclaimed:
Myself when young did eagerly frequent
Doctor anC Saint, and heard great argument
About and about, but eve,mOre
Came out by the same door wherein went"
We financial amateurs have q faint
idea of the thing, and that is the sum
and substance of our financial acquire
ments, but we haven'G the least concep-
ton of it in the broad sense of its as
poets as regards its beneficial effects,
pro or con, upon the c0uatry at large.
AS the question is a very intricate one,
and not even thoroughly mastered by
the best financial minds, it can't be ex-
pected of a layman of a clodh0pper to
have more than a mere superficial
knowledge of the subject. Besides,
when the best financial minds, minds
that after the experience of a lifetime's
occupation solely devoted to finance
(made of it a speciality radically differ,
how can it be expected Of others, not
professional fnRnciers, to comprehend
the subject even sufficiently to arrive
at an intelligent conclusiOnG For in
stance, how are we to decide when we
see the advocate of free silver averring
that silver is sound money because it
carries It's own value and redemption
along with it; because it possesses in
trinsiC worth of it's own, and does not
need to be exchanged into something
else in order to vindicate itself, while
the gold monometallist retorts by say
ing that silver is a fraud, because the
dollar of that metal is worth intrinsic
ally only fifty cents in L )ndon; because
its value as 100 cents is, to the extent
of one half, fictitious. Such, in short,
Is the great breach between the fnan
cial factions that the chasm is not to
be bridged on any terms. We must