Birmingham state herald., 1896-02-15
OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.

We didn't quite beat the French in sup porting a government loan; but no other nation ever did, for that matter The big S699 000,0 900 loan put out in 1872 by the French government to meet the German indemnity was fourteen times oyer-sub- scribed.-Springfield Republican.
 The New York Mercury rises to remark that MT. T. B. Reed will now be seen in his great act of knocking the stuffing out of free silver" We venture the opin- ion that MT. T. B. Reed would much pre- fer to try his hand at knocking the stuff- ing out of sand dbag.-Wilmington tN. CD Star.
 It requires a good deal of nerve to charge the democrats with being the only free silver party, excepting the populist, in face of the fact that the silverites have the chairmanship of the republican
 national committee and that the chair man voted early and often in the senate
 the other day to commit the country to
 free coinage.-Springfiel Republican. The manufacturers are going on with their manufacturing and are selling more goods to outsiders than they ever did be- fore. They would not object to more tariff and more profit; but they are do- ing very well with the present average
 duty of 42 per cent. The Hobbies at Wash ington are not as full of tariff fixers as usual this winter, and we imaging that there will be more difficulty in frying the
 fiat" out of the protected interests than was experienced In the campaign of 1892. Things are different now.-Philadelphia Record.
 Cleveland's Venezuelan message is all right, and as matter of fact 1t is about the only message he has ever written 1 that has not cost him popularity and his party votes. temporarily, if not perma- nently. Cleveland's biggest hit was his marriage to Miss Frances Folsom; his Venezuelan message ranks next. One was a home run, and the longest one ever made on the White House grounds; the other was corking good three-bag- ger and the crack was heard around the world.-New York Mercury.
 There is no good reason why the south ern agriculturists should not be the rich est and most prosperous people in the world. To be truly independent, how ever the cotton crop should be, as it were, but a by-product. With such di- version of the products of the farm as will insure enough food to supply the daily wants of the farmer he is absO- lute master of the situation, for then he need only sell his cotton as he wants the ready cash to buy agricultural supplies or for personal expenses.-Boston Jour- nal of Commerce.
 It appears that the Morgan syndicate, which could not pay over 105 in Decem- | Der, raised its bid to over 110 per cent, but there were other bids so much high | CT that it seems entirely probable that | the syndicate will get few of them. The | result is a victory for the people and a strong condemnation for MT. Cleveland s | past policy. It shows that there are people outside of Wall street who want | bonds, and that a little coterie of New | York and London financiers cannot con- l trol the credit of this nation. The bids 1 came from all parts of the country. showing that there is plenty of demand | not only for the amount asked, but six 1 times as much.-Philadelphi Inquirer.