Birmingham age-herald., 1895-07-23
STICK TO FACTS.

Facts disprove the free silver theories and completely refute the so-called ar guments of it's advocates. If sound money men will only stick to facts and not be led off Into side issues, the disinte- grafton of the sllverloon forces will be speedy and complete.
 It should be borne in mind that all this agitation had it's basic point in the 'crime of 1S73," tue demonstration of silver at that time being the preeminent cause of the ills that afflicted the body polite in 1S93 And yet here is one fact alone that should serve as a final and overpowering refutation of that allega- ton, viz: the remarkable growth of the trade and population of the United States during that period as shown in the census of 1880 and 1890. During the period from 1873 to 1893 there was pe- riod of prosperity unsurpassed by any similar epoch in our history, official fig ures being the proof. Then there is an other fact that would serve the same pur- pose if there was no other, viz the re- sumption of specie payment was pracu- cally accomplished without the aid of silver Here is great financial reVolu- tion-a change from fiat circulation to sound money basis-and with little or no silver to aid it, and yet the country did not more than temporarily feel 1t.
 But there comes another fact that could be relied on. sngle-handed and alone, to destroy all their fine spun the ories, and that is. that the panic of 1893 came at time when there was more sill yer in use than at any other period in the countrys history. That one fact is complete answer to the whole of the sill yer cry.
 There is another fact that goes with this that is equally conclusive against them. The price of silver steadily de- clned from 1873 to 1893, notwithstanding the unparalleled accumulation of 1t by this government, The more our govern ment bought the cheaper it got in the markets of the world. How free and un- limited and independent coinage can be advocated with that fact standing out in bold relief, with all of it's dread conse- quences before the world, is simply as- founding and repugnant to all reason.
 But the climax comes in the final ar gument. They tell us the fall in prices was due to the demonetlzation Of silver, and that there could not be relief without a restoration of that metal. This is lit tie like the fellow in jail, who sent for an attorney to get him out and to whom he related the cause of his imprisonment. why man." said the lawyer, they can't put you in jail for that" To which he replied, But they have done it all the same" So it is with prices. Look at the advances within the past few months. Cotton, 25 per cent; wheat, 32 per cent; leather, 5 per cent; corn, 10 per cent; pork, IS per cent; steel rails 9 per cent; print cloths, 10 per cent; iron, 40 per cent, with an advance in wages to 1,0OO,- 900 men of over 15 per cent, and 40 per cent more employed than year ago, and there has been no restoration of sill yer either, nor any possibility of 1t in the near future. And the best of all this advance is that a Democratic tariff keeps down living expenses, coffee and sugar and clothes being less than before, giv ing that much greater purchasing power to wages. These are facts potent to all, and they tell their own story. They de- stroy free silver fallacies.