The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1896-04-08
MIR. SMITH IN REPLY.

When Mr.. Smith was introduced Int
reception was equally as enthusiastic
: as that rendered to Mr.. Crisp. Aftel
thanking the people for their Invitation
to him. he said:
1T is not my intention to say any
thing that will hurt any one who dis
} agrees with me. 'Tis but right that We
should counsel together and find Out
what is right. In opposing the free
coinage of silver, I want you to dis
tinctly understand that make no fight
on silver as final payment and as
legal tender. When we oppose this
plan of free coinage at 16 to 1, we be-
lieve its advocates will understand its
effects. We oppose it because we dc
not believe that it will give you what
you want. In the first place let us see
how much money we have now and
how much we had in '73. In TS We
had in gold and silver one hundred
and fifty million of dollars and now
we have one billion, one hunared and
seventy-seven million, eight times as
much money as we had when silver
was demonetized. The advocates OF
free coinage mislead you when they
say that we wish to contract tia cur.
rency and that we do not wish silver
dollars to be legal tender.
"The gentleman reports Mr.. Cleve'
land (applause) as saying that there is
a difference between currency and
standard, but the gentleman miscon-
ceives it. A currency can be checks,
due bills, silver or greenbacks, but q
standard is measure. Suppose that
there was such a law as to alls " you
to coin thirty grains of silver into dol.
lars or twenty grains of gold into dol
lars, do you think that you would car.
Try your twenty grains to be made into
a dollar when you could exchange it at
the jewellers shop for sixty graias OF
silver, enough to coin into two dollars3
No the gold would not be coined. /
am here tonight, not to fight bimetal
lism but silver monometallism. ZAP
plause.) 1t is the actual value Ut the
dollar, or the credit of the country
which puts the value on it, which
makes the. dollar.
| all veil a;:.,rc ia. i. is easier to
captivate an audience by reference to
Wall street and Lombard street than
it is to present solid facts, My friend
played to the prejudices of the Popu-
lists in this district and I have no
doubt but that it was only they who
applauded him. He ought to do bet
ter than to play on the low prejudices
of some people. cloud applause and
a voice 'aurrah for Tom Watson y
These gentlemen who wish to rob the
people have absolutely coined in the
past three years seven million silver
dollars. We have coined more sub
sidiary silver in the past three years
than in any three years since the gov
ernment began. (Applause.)
THE effort to sustain the ratio OF
silver and gold at Is to has been
tried by five nations combined, the
Latin Union, and failed. The price of
silver became cheaper and they we're
about to become silver monometallic.
Why not have a ratio of 81 to 1, then
we would enjoy all the comforts of
bimetallism, according to my distin-
guished friend. The gold in gold dol
lar will buy two Mexican dollars and
the silver in two silver dollars will
buy only two Mexican dollars 1t is
undemocratic, it is unlike jefferson s
teaching, it is unlike Jackson's teach
| ing and it is unlike the teachings Of
Grover Cleveland. prolonged ap-
plause. )It is more like the doctrine of
Mr.. Jones of Nevada, Mr.. Bryan OF
Nebraska and Tom Watson of Georgia
What caused silver to fall3 Not the
Act of 1878. We had coined but g.
600, 900 silver dollars. What caused
silver to fall2 In '73 the worlds out
puts of silver was 7O,000,00O. In 1894
the worlds output was 200, 600, 900.
three times as much, when the price
only fallen one-half. 1t iidn't cost as
much to mine silver in '93 as it did in
73. In '73 it cost 80 cents to dig a
dollars worth of silver and in 1894 it
cost only about 46 cents to dig dol
lars worth of silver. Have you got
any silver mines in Richmond County
that you want to unload on the gov
ernment9 That's why Mr.. Jones and
Mr.. Stewart want free silver.
"Since 1873, or shortly before that,
fourteen countries on the Eastern
hemisphere have banished the free
coinage of silver. The supply of sill
yer is three times as large and four
teen counties not carrying it. The
gentleman now wishes us to carry a
load that fifteen countries staggered
under. He wants us try it. 1 have
no interest in this issue, other than a
citizen of Georgia. I wish you to study
the question before you take the fatal
plunge. 1t is not for the good of the
bondholders, but for the constituents
of both of us, and they have not a
bond in the world. The working men
of Fulton County are my friends and
God knows that would rather put
my arm in the fame and burn it than
to advocate law that would injure
them. (Applause.) I had hoped to dis,
cuss the remedy tonight but on &C.
count of my time being out l will be
compelled to refrain, but will do so
| in Atlanta on Thursday night.
| "a True Wife,"
There was never given to the world
a more life like pen picture of a true
wife" than by Oliver Wendell Holmes
when he writes: Oftentime I have
seen a tall ship glide by against the