The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1896-08-12
THE PEOPLE AROUSED.
NIL IAuRlh'S DEBATE WITH HORR IN
THE HEGoLDCoUNTRY.


He stirs the People Up On the Free Silver
matter-He Was Given an Enthuslastit
Reception by the Crowd Out There.
The Hon. John J.. McLaurin has re
turned from Franklin, Ohio, where
he went to debate the money question
with Mr.. uorr, the leading gold advo
cate of the north western country.
That Mr.. McLaurin Jared we'll in his
debate with the famed gold fighter
can be seen from the following taken
from the Cincinn sti Enquirer:
Hon. j. l.. McLaurin of Bennetts- =
vile, s. g., member of congress,
member of the ways and means com,
mittee and ex-attorney general of his
State, was at the Gibson yesterday,
returning from the great debate he
held with Hon. Roswell G.. Horr OF
Michigan, the gold champion, at
Franklin, Warren county, Ohio.
Speaking of the great controversy he
said: 81 was most agreeably surprised
at the reception | received and the
number of silver people present to
greet me with enthusiasm. [ had ex
pected to encounter an iceberg, but on
the contrary, I found a multitude of
my way of thinking. There were
5000 people present and I could tell
by the applause and cheers that 1 re.
ceived that | had fully half the assem-
blage with me. We made five speech.
es, and during one of mine some one
raised picture of Bryan in the audi
ence and thousands stood up and
cheered and it was fully ten minutes
before I could proceed. 1t was a grand
meeting of the people, and after it was
over MIR. Horr suddenly departed in a
carriage and I could not leave for an
hour, the crowd gathered thick and
fast about me to shake my hand and I
will pledge you my word that my
right arm is so sore from hearty shakes
that can hardly lift it today. All
this I attribute to the cause advocate
and the straightforward way in which
presented it. MIR. Horr got mad
when T pinned the shortcomings of
his party down to facts. quoted
them from Senator Sherman's strong
silver speech made in 1869, when he
was a poor man, and contrasted that
with utterances since he has grown to
be a millionaire and lives in q marble
palace.
II told them that those marble
walls could not shut out from his ears
the murmurs of disapproval and dis.
content occasioned by financial policy.
I showed them from statistics how in
their district in 1880 the number of
tenant farmers was "a per cent; in
1890 it had increased to 3S per cent,
and 40 per cent. of the farms under
mortgage. Prices of products were
falling all the time, it taking more
and more wheat and corn to get dol.
lar, and it is only question of time
when Is per cent. of the citizenship
will own all of the rich Miami valley.
read them something from the rec.
ords of the Ohio legislature, joint
resolution adopted when General
Grosvenor, now gold advocate, was
speaker OF tie house of representatives
something they had forgotten. 1t
is history, and here it is:
Joint resolution relative TO the res
toration of the silver dollar to its for.
mer rank as lawful money:
Resolved by the general assembly
Of the State of Ohio, that common
honesty to the taxpayer, the letter and
spirit of the contract under which the
great body of Indebtedness was as
sumed by the United States, and true
financial wisdom, each and all demand
the restoration OF the silver dollar to
its former rank as lawful money.
G.. II. Gresvenor,
Speaker OF the house of representatives.
H. w. Curtis,
president of the Senate.
Adopted April "a, 1877"
Il read them from James G.. Blain' s
speeches in 1877 and 1880, extracts
which I would like to see printed
every day. Here is what Mr.. Blaine
said in the senate in 1880 on the mon.
ey question:
ION the much vexed and long.
mooted question as to bimetallic and
monometallic standards, my own
views are sufficiently indicated In the
remarks l have made. I believe the
struggle now going on IN this country
and in other countries for a single
gold standard would, if successful,
produce widespread disaster in and
throughout the commercial worlds.
The destruction of silver as money,
and establishing gold as the sole unit
of value must have a ruinous effect
OH all forms of property except those
investments which yield q fixed re-
turn in money. Those would be
enormously enhanced in value and
would gain disproportionate and un'
fair advantage over every other spe
cies of property. If, as the most reli
able statistics affirm, there are nearly
81, 600, 900, 900 of coin or bullion in
the world, very equally divided be-
tween gold and silver, it is impossible
TO strike silver out of existence as
money without results that will prove
disastrous to millions and utterly dis
astrous to tens OF thousands.
II believe gold and silver coin to bt
the money of the Constitution; indeed
the money of the American people
anterior to the Constitution, which
the great organic law recognized as
quite Independent of its own exist
ence. No power was conferred or
congress to declare either metal should
not be money. Congress has, there
fore, in my judgment, no power t.
demonetize either. If, therefore, silve
has been demonetized, l am in favo
of rernnnefizino II liz its cninaoa ha