Birmingham state herald., 1896-07-28
1r poN,r SCARE woRTH A oENf.


 Birmingham, July 26, 1S96 To the State Herald:
 would like for you to answer the fol- lowing question without elaboration, but straight from the shoulder:
 If you had deposit now of s5000 in savings bank and you were satisfied that the free coinage of silver would become law would you withdraw your deposit and put it in gold or would you let it re- main and take chances of being paid off in a 50 cent legal tender dollar?
 If you had 5000 paid up stock in a build ing and loan association, to which you had contributed on gold basis and the stock would wind up very shortly after a free silver congress was in session with the certainty that they would pass the l6 to bill, would you retain your stock and take the chances of being paid in a 50 cent dollar or would you turn it into gold quicker than hades could scorch feather?
 l could mention other Investments in- volving the same business principles, but these two will suffice to illustrate the point, and would like to have your an
 swer from a common sense, prudent standpoint exactly as you wouldw act if placed under the conditions mentioned. The truth is, I have some money in a savings bank, all the money on earth have, and the results of long years of hard work and economy, which l want my wife and children to get intact if 1 should drop off. Respectfully
 HAYSEED.
 The State Herald is in receipt of the above communication, We take pleas ure in answering the questions pro- pounded.
 The only complaint that could be filed against the writer is that he fails to give his real name and uses nom de plume, which is intended to convey the idea that the questions are asked by a laboring man, when in reality such is not the ease. We don't know who he is, but we do know who he is not-he is not a labor ing man. He has no sympathy whatever for the class of people whom he would make believe are represented by the au- thor of the queries. There is not 'hay- seeder,' as some of our people are pleased to call the farmers of this coun- try, in the land who can write his name who cannot promptly answer the quer- ies referred to, and do it in such way as to satisfy the mind of any reasonable man that free coinage will not cause anybody to be paid off in 50 cent dollars.
 To the first question we answer that if we knew this government was going to the free coinage of gold and silver at 16 to 1 and had on deposit in a savings Ddih poOuV we SHOuiu HOt tUlDh OL WllH- drawing the same and getting it in gold.
 To the second query we answer that if we had 5000 paid up stock in a build ing and loan association the fact that the government was going to the free coin age of gold and silver at 16 to would not induce us to think of parting with it.
 If we honestly believed, however, that the adoption of free coinage law by the United States would enab ble the sav- ings bank to pay us off in 50 cent dollars, and the building and loan company to liquidate our 5000 of paid up stock at 50 cents on the dollar, we would, of course, promptly take steps to get the depos- it and the stock into gold. But we don't believe that and SO long as we find the banking man and the building and loan
 man fighting the free coinage of silver we shall rest assured that they have no faith in the proposition that free coin | age would enable them to pay off their l customers in 50 cent dollars and in doing | so be complying with the letter of the | law and in every way acting honorably. | If we had money on deposit and owned building and loan stock paid up, and | doubt in our own mind as to what effect | the free coinage law would have we | would not be long in deciding that so | long as the banks, loan associations, money gamblers and bond gobblers were | willing to contribute liberally of their | time, talent and means to help defeat the enactment of a free coinage law we were safe in advocating it's passage and in allowing our deposit and building and loan stock to remain in statu quo. If at any time in the course of the cam paign that Is now on for free coinage the class of citizens mentioned above and who no doubt have faithful representa- tive in "Hayseed," change their minds and go to work for a law that will enable them to double their holdings and pay off their liabilities in 50 cent dollars and still be acting honorably and strictly within the pale of the law, as they now claim a free coinage law would enable them to do then the dopositors in saw ings banks and the holders of building and loan stock would do well to go to | hedging.
 "Hayseed" and his kind can't frighten | the people with the kind of talk he in dulges in in his article to the State Her. l aid so long as the people he represents I fight the proposition to operate the | finances of this country independent of
 the Rothschilds on the plea that 1t would l damage the poor and make the rich | richer.
 The common masses of the common | people are beginning to realize that l about the safest guide for them in this l contest is fairly illustrated in a story once told by the Hon. Alexander H. l Stephens, which runs about as follows: While serving his first term in the Geor- | ga legislature MT. Stephens said that | there sat not far from him in that body | an insignificant looking fellow who never l offered any resolutions, introduced any
 bills or made any speeches, but he was | always on hand when the roll call to | vote took place, and, according to MT. Ste | phens' idea, he always voted right. The | member went on in that way until one