The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-05-10

htnFEAA opportunity
/ The states which furnish the money TO
build the railroads. establish the FAC
+ tories nd carry on the business Of the
country. favor sound money. They know
/ that one OF the greatest obstacles TO pros
perity Is a degraded currency. The south
! is a great borrower. She is looking to
Z the capitalists Of the sound money states
TO build railroads for her, open her mines
and establish factories within her limits.
All these things mean more prosperous
times. not only for the business man.
but also for the farmer and the laborer.
The democratic party. which is the
dominant party in the south, has. in
several of the southern states. declared
for silver mouometallism. which means a
degraded currency. If the democratic
party Of Georgia is wise. 1t VIII declare
for sound money and condemn the Is to
! idea. And the democrats Of Florida
should do the same thing. Both states are
prosperous and progressive. They are in
viting capital and immigration. What
better inducement could they offer for
these things than the announcement that
they favor a sound and stable currency
Such an announcement would reach
every part Of the country. 1t
would even reach Europe. 1t
would bring to Georgia and Florida in
vestors and the kind Of immigrants that
are priced the most highly.
The sound money men Of the democratic
party Of each Of these states have it in
their power to put their state in a po-
sition to make such an announcement.
! If, in each county. they will organize and
| do a little missionary work, they can
control the county conventions, and
through them the state conventions.
There is no argument in favor of silver
monometallism that can convince think
! ing men that that kind of a currency
would be a good thing for the country.
A degraded currency cannot possibly be
a good thing for any country. That this
is true is proven by the fact that every
country that is really prosperous is on a
sound money basis, and some countries
that are not are trying to get on that
| basis. From the close of the civil war
until 1879, when specie payment was re-
sumed, this country struggled to get on
/ a sound money basis, and Russia at this
very moment is making an effort to do
| so. What folly. then. it would be for this
/ country, having a sound currency, to
abandon its commanding position TO take
a place alongside of Mexico, the South
| American states and China There isn't
a silverite that can show that the adop-
ton Of the 16 to l idea wouldn't give us
a degraded currency. In fact. no one of
them attempts to do so. All their ar
| guments are based on the idea that the
| adoption Of unlimited silver coinage at
the ratio of 16 to l would reduce the
| purchasing power Of the silver dollar about
one-half. Their arguments about higher
prices mean that prices would be in
creased by reducing the purchasing power
of the currency.
Every sound money man in this state
and Florida should make 1t his duty to
devote some of his time from now until
this silver question is settled to strength
ening the sound money sentiment. They
should organize, adopt means for educat-
ing the people on the silver question and
see to it that only sound money delegates
in each county are chosen to attend the
state conventions. The silver monomet tai
lists are extremely active. The sound
money men cannot afford to be less act
i've. If they do their whole duty, they car
keep Georgia and Florida in the sound
money column.