The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1896-10-02
CAMERON SPEAKS AT HOME.
Ills. Appearance Before a Representative
Audience Of PeterSburS'S Citizens.
AN ELOQUENT And practical ADDRESS
Greeted With Hearty Applause and
Plunges at Once Into His subject-A
Clear and Lucid Discussion of
the Financial Question.

PETERSBURG, VA, Oct. l-Special.-
A large n representative audience OF
Petersburg citizens greeted ex-GoSernor
william L. Cameron at the Academy OF
Music tonight. Long before the hour
for the exercises to begin, the main noor
was crowded and the galleries were well
filed, many ladies lending their pres
ence to grace the occasion A consider-
able number of colored people occupied
seats i'm the gallery. Upon the stage with
the orator OF the evening were seated
among others: Judge Sedden, OF Missou-
ri: William l. Zimmer. Bartlett roper.
Pascal Davie. E.. q NenSAc, oeoIso
Cameron, Jr., James Quicke, JF' W.
Smith and Samuel Mitchell.
AT a quarter past 5 o'clock, Governor
c,meron ACCOMPANIED by q large number
oe nromlnent sound-mpncy DemocrAtsi
entered the Academy and to tho inspiring
strains Of Dixie" filed upon the piatioi"
while the audience gave a nearly cnS1'
A minute later Captain y W, F~Ac
civ chairman Of the National DemOSl%el"
party, IN a brief, Dut DeAu~A
troducod tho speaker.
II AAAIfisNN'
covernor Cameron was greeted with d
round OF applause as he " ~
front OF the platform and "i1nouH w.,
OF words. plunged At once INTO lNo 49,
OF his subject. He was mere ne 80
representing that portion o oArd nv
cratic marty. which refused to Do uouio ~,
81 lion Of the Chicago Conyenuoh- nc
- there TO discuss important PuuDuc
,ssnos seriously and fairly not 10 aousS
- oeSand those holding different opiinon'
oor 10 Indulge In the language OF Pyio-
,ochrics bur as an American cllzcn "
e,orcise the Democratic JiBhI VI N
sneecb In a Democratic coup.ry,
s' THE MONEY QUESTION.
r,ore 1vero many questions OF import
"ond,ng consideration. said the
Ioaror bt. the one above all o'hS''
y~rnost in the public mind was Ins
a-rnotol question. He would ptocc1u
- 20 q consideration OF some maj
,ers that arise from a cons-oet"',o"
- suhtect. There Is a large element
So nonulation. said he, that - @0'a'"u-
- ~ Government shall make u ne"
l~o - In national finances, the DtiH-
e,,sI nroposition being that hoiueiS -
- hrlIon may go 10 tho mint a"u
80 two dollars in coin Tor eNel'
-. y, bullion. lie would not uVns
49, silver would rise TO soue i'ue'",eo
-. at.ove its present market prce "
r,r,ua Of free coinage, but ne "ouAu
san. commercial ratio Throughout
rfs address for tho purpose u
Ing his argument. rrpcoN
r~ THE DAYS OF JEFFEksON
II 1922. when the mint was esI1SaroS
H. suhiect Of coinage WIS - a.
10 the statesmen Of that dep /" I'll
I.arIngs. and II was oeclueu' i
COZ, Jefferson. and the other liOne-9
the Government, agreeing thAt out ia
aga system should include Do'n ~ -
,~ilver az a ratio That re-Ht TIL
commercial value OF the ins'a. o-orv
,S-+-ino mon settled required that ever
- ,,hether OF gold or silver, shou.u
-, ono hundred cents or she oea1
ne ~ the country. The proDosllon
-, .dvanced bp the various free-sntel
"er,,,s &C. that dollars for paying uoDsS
III bs coined at a false riuo' Ia
49, ~~enresentative Of free SILVER aD'
oI-o +hs idea. that the effect q OPEN
- tbe mints TO free coinage of sH'el
III IN hs 10 raise the price or sh'er ="
=, 20 or ounce. II that could ne ~,
4, denied. we should be no DS''0'
off than We are now.
SILVER HAS FALLEN. ,
, bos fallen in the last twenty
- ,hro,eh the natural law OF supply
and demand, which governs the pl,0o -
on oommodlties. owing to the reatly III
creased production Of bullion Il the re-
duced cost OF mining IL. The present coSe
OF producing an ounce OF silver Is ot cents
and the market price &c cents. Yet the
auver m-dne,owrers want the price put up
40 81 9 and their chief -mOuth-piece pre-
cicts that free coinage will have that
enect. In 1873 the Government UNDER
took 20 keep up the price OF silver by
buying y coming an immense quantity
OF bullion every mcnth, but despite the
EFFORT to maintain tho price, silver con-
tinued 20 fall, ard has continued falling
TO this day.
THE DENOMINATION ACT.
The so-called characterization act OF
1873 was engineered through Congress by
the votes Of silver senators from the Pa
cihc slope. a warm personal friends Of
the speaker told him that the bTl was
passed like the steal.hy tread Of a cat.
My friends. said he, II such a cat was 10
pass through your house tonight Won
would think that an earthquake had
burst upon you. or that the hurricane o,
Tuesday night had returned. When that
act was passed the people had The Same
opportunity for keeping themselves in.
FORMED OF the progress OF legislation a.
they nave to-day. But the truth IS ,hav
LOOK no interest IN the subject. becarqo
the silver dollar had long since ceosel
70 De a circulating coin OF thecountrv
IN h5i Andrew Jackson, through Thos
H. benton. advocated and had naesod
through both Houses OF Congress. a bfI
10 chanSe the weight of the gold dol
Jar the purpose OF the measure heinz
as stated IN a report accompanying In,
Dill to place the coinage OF the United
states upon a gold basis. because gold was
the only stable standar OF the world.
SILVER DLSAPPEARED
In 1873 all OF the silver coined In m,
country bad disappeared from circulation
ana Congress passed an act making Tor
eign silver coins a legal-tender. but e,.
prrssly providing that each coin rendered
should be OF such weight and hneness as
10 be OF equal value with the standard
coins OF this country. Our friends wan,
TO return TO the milenial days before
1873. when silver dollars were plentiful
At this time there were no silver dollars
In tie country. Fractional currency had
been Issued, but 1t. too. Lad left tbs
country.
From 1894 10 1873 there was no silver IN
the country except In museums and old
stockings. From the days OF Jefferson the
steady policy OF the Government has been
10 maintain the parity OF every form OF