Birmingham state herald., 1895-11-19
OPP0SESES GOLD STANDARD
Meat Furnished Authenticated Editors of 0b-
 scure Journals.
SILVER PRIMAL AND LEGAL TENDER MONEY
Is Not Contractionist-Vot Voted for the Coin- age of Silver at 20 to l-No Man Can Get Money Except by Work
 ing for It.
Montgomery. Nov. 16. 1895.
 ila cAn1 Ion1a nirrai,a (.

Editors of the State Herald. Birming-
 ham, Ala:
 In your issue of the 9th instant. under the heading. "The Governors Opinion," you indulged in commentary of near two columns on the article wrote for the North American Review for November. The editorial was written In a very re- spectful manner. and in some respects very complimentary, The anjmus Of it was 10 meet and overturn what I wrote about the free coinage of silver by comparison with passages extracted from my speech in congress in 1893 at the ex- tra session pending the consideration of the bill to repeal the pur chasing clause of the Sherman law. You should have done me the justice to have stated that in the Review article did not undertake to discuss the entire financial question as I did in the speech, and hence the comparisons you made bore the ear marks of a purpose to make me incon- sistent and to show a change of opinion from subserviency to the president rather than any change of circumstances. And some mutton-headed editors of more ob- scure journals have seized upon the idea advanced by you and made 1t their au- thority for applying to me course, vui- gar and abusive epithetS, such as no gen. tleman or we'll bred man would use. This, however, am satisfied you did not intend to inspire. The following Is the extract you made from my article in the Review:
 "They 0he farmers) don't care what the standard is so long as parity is main- tained and the gold. silver and paper dollar possess equal purchasing and debt paying power With this state or condi- ton of the money of the country, If the people have prosperous times they are E.,r. ap1 tpJir tad silver would not place an additional dol lar in the pockets of. him who has no sll- yer bullion to coin. If a mill grind grain free of toll for all corners 1t will not give any flour or meal to him who has no grain to take to the mill. No one in the southern states owns any silver bullion. There is no silver mine within them. How then could free and unlimited coin age put any mote money Into circulation there? If 1t would cause great quan- ratio 1t would drive gold out of circula- tion. In accordance with Greshams uni- yersal law It would thereby destroy parity and force our metallic dollars to part company and gold to go to pre- mium
 "Our southern people. with few excep- tions, are not gold bugs nor 'silyerloons,' but true bimetallists They want all the silver that can be kept on parity with gold, which the administration is strug- RllnR to QO DY InednS WHICH tilc lsiCStNChl believes best calculated to accomplish 1t.
 "Thc people, from careful study or the question, are beginning to d0nbt and grow distrustful of the experiment. of free coinage of silver lest it may, if adopt ed, beget another panic or so impair con fidence as to roll back the tide Of pros perity which is now setting so beautifully toward them"
 Your commentary then proceeds:
 ''The governor appears 10 be somewhat hazy in his statement of propositions. The coinage of silver as primal money is not a matter to be compared to the grinding of corn for each individual The people of the south have very little more personal interest in the minting or gold than they have in that of silver, other than their general interest m nav ing an ample coinage of the precious metals No matter who may bring the metal to the hints the coinage Is the concern of all the people. It Is not ma terial to the question whether our gold for coinage comes from Kaffir or our sil- yer comes from Denver. There Is not a man of the most obtuse intellect who does not know that he cannot get money except by working for it."
 That last proposition Is exactly what I meant to illusrate-that no man can get money except by working for it. The free and unlimited coinage of silver at ld to would give the wealthy mine owner the right to take 50 cents worth of the pro- duct of his labor to a United States minf and have 1t coined into $1 without paying anything for the mintage--its value doubled by law of congress and not by, the laws of trade. which govern the price to be realized by other people for the products of their labor. to-wit: cotton, pig iron, coal, etc. That would be get ting money by statute without working for 1t We democrats condemn the doc urine of protection and this would be down right protection to the silver mine owner and an utterly unjust discrimina- ton in his favor which Is not extended to other industries. It would violate the sound democratic principle in legis- lation of "equal rights to all and special privileges to none." It would be simply putting money in mans pocket by law which he never worked for. Your argument that the general public is in- terested in it is the same that has always been made for the discriminating duties called protection to other industries. It would be law 10 make Appreciated. or more worthless money that the thriftless man might the more easily get some of 1t.
 Then you undertake to show that ana contractionist, charge which no one at all familiar with my record ever made before. You said that I knew that the commerce and business of the United States are increasing enormously year by year and that the south is growing rapidly, and assume that favor a con- traction of the currency, which is an ab- such assumption. I suppose that you assumed 1t because in the article l did not advance your idea of the proper method for the increase in the circuIa- tion.
 You said: "At the same time he knows that the gold of the world is not meeting the wants of trade. that silver Is rele- gated to the condition of token money like copper and nickel and paper notes. that no more silver Is being coined, that no new banks are being established and that the volume of money is being con- stantly contracted. He knows that the