The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1896-04-03
TuE JOINT DEBATE GEORGIA.

The Joint debate in progress in Geor-
Ola between ex-Speaker Crisp and the
Hon. Hoke Smith, Secretary of the In
terror, is of interest not only to Geor-
eians, says the Baltimore Sun, but to
the people of the whole United States.
The speakers are men of great promi-
hence in public life, and they address
the people of the most progressive and
wide-awake State of the great South
Their discussion is not academic, but
looks to practical results. The Geor-
gians are appealed to by the eN-Speaker,
who is trained orator, to pronounce
for the free coinage of silver dollars, at
the ratio l6 to |, and incidentally to
send him to the United States Senate
to sustain the cause of silver. Secre-
tary Smith stands for sound money
for the use of gold as the standard OF
measure and for the concurrent use Of
both silver and gold in the currency.
A man of excellent sense and solid ac-
quirements, the Secretary is able to
marshal forcibly the facts that tell
against the free-silver fallacy. He is
no orator, as his opponent is, and lacks
the telling advantage with a Southern
audience of flowing periods, ornate
language and graceful delivery. Nor
is he definitely a candidate for election
to the Senate and animated by the in
terest of a personal ambition. His
grasp upon his audience results from
his obvious sincerity and his character
as solid business man. What he says
obtains confidence not inspired by
tricks of oratory or the ready volubili-
ty of a practiced speaker.
The contest is, therefore, between
foemen worthy of each others steel.
The eX-Speakers rapier thrusts are met
by the solid massing of ponderous facts
and the result of the melee is the edu-
cation of their fortunate listeners.
Wherever the doctrine of sound money
has been placed before popular audi
ences, with fair ability, it has Won
This was the case in Alabama and i'll
Kentucky; and in Georgia, the Empire
State, like victory for common sense
is to be expected. If the Georgians
are distinguished for anything. it is for
''horse sense They have been both
enterprising and prudent, with the re-
suit that they have created a reputa-
ton for sagacity throughout the Union.
Yankees. with the idea of compliment
ING the Gcorgians-and themselves
have called the Georgians the "Yan-
KEGS of the South The description is
supposed to imply the possession ofun-
usual shrewdness. 1t suggests that
Georgia's voters cannot be taken in by
elusive fallacies about silver, the plain
English of which is that 80 cents worth
of silver is to take the place of the 100
cent gold dollaras the standard of value.
Secretary Smith puts his points with
force. He does not, he says, oppose
practical bimetallism. He wishes sill
yer and gold to continue, as now, to be
used concurrently as money, gold being
the standard and silver in subordinate
position. We have now in circulation
an enormous volume of silver 1t is
overvalued, it is true, but so long as
the government keeps gold as its stand
ard it can be kept circulating at par
with gold. Once attempt to make sill
yer the standard and the 50-cent dollar
falls to it's intrinsic value. Gold will
90 out of use, and the result will be
silver mOnOmentalism- silver basis.
1t is this silver monometalism the Sec
rotary opposes. He wishes both met
ais to be in use, and both metals are
used only in countries that have the
gold standard. England, Germany,
France and the United States, being
gold-standard countries. have vast
quantities of silver in circulation. but
Mexico and other like silver-standard
countries have only silver in use-they
have silver mOnometallism. This is the
danger and the evil which the free-coin-
age advocates refuse to see. They talk
bimetallism, but their proposals mean
silver monometallism.