The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1896-09-02

| TO tile Editor Of the News and Cou-
rter: You will see that your old cor
respondent is again in the quiet and
peaceful valley of Nacoochee. I feel
it g. great privilege to once more visit
this
"Child of the Chattshooohee,
Hid in the hills afar."
| Nearly all the friends and relatives
| of my early childhood have crossed the
river. Since | was here last summer
an only brother, Edwin P. Williams,
aged So, died. Two sisters and the
colored mauma, who is 100 years old,
are the only ones left of my early
companions. The old must make
places for the young. None Of us,
however aged we may be, or however
good off in healtt, are willing to die.
Heaven We all believe to be very
good place, but we know more of our
earthly home than we do of Heaven.
All are willing to live as long as they
can. It is a merciful provision of
Providence that the young or old ever
realize that they are going to die. All
want to live, even if they have to work
SO hard and struggle for living.
The rest in my quiet mountain home
gives me an opportunity to investi-
gate the much agitated question of
"gold and silver.
I take up this question from the
beginning of time. We find that an
cient Abraham dealt in silver. He
weighed four hundred shekels of sill
yer to Ephron to pay for the field of
Machpelan. For a long period the
metal that was used for money was
cast into rude bars and stamped.
Originally, so far as I can learn, silver
coin was in all countries, for a long
period the only coin which was con-
sidered as the standard or measure Of
value.
In England gold was not legal ten
der for century after it was coined
into money. Before the discovery of
the mines in America the value of
gold and silver was regulated in the
different mints in Europe between the
proportions of / to TO- That is one
ounce of gold was worth ten ounces of
silver, while at one time it was to 5.
For the past two hundred years it has
been about 1 to Is. This vexed and
much misunderstood question will
have to be settled for the good of the
country by the people and not by the
politicians and spectators.
More than $50 years ago DeSoto
marched from Florida to 'Nacoochee
Old Town" with an army Of Spaniards
and Indians numbering some five thou
sand. Here, in this beautiful coun-
try, then the capital of the Cherokee
Nation, he established, in Nacoochee
Valley, his headquarters, sheltered as
they were on the north, west and
south by mountain walls, some of
them towering five thousand feet in
the air. DeSoto had been informed
by earlier Spanish adventures that
great quantities of gold could be found
here. He built long row of houses
and in a short time his Golfers were
filled with gold.
DeSoto was consequently the first
"gold bug in this country. His fate
is known to your readers. The reason
the natives are for gold is because of
the discovery of that precious metal
here in 1928. Notwithstanding the
vast quantity gathered by the Span
iards and the millions and millions
since 1928 by our people there is still
more gold in ''Nacoochee and its sur
roundings" than there is in all the
vaults of the United States. How
much it will cost to remove it from
it's snug deposits remains to be seen.
The modern improvements in ma
pense of mining.
When I was a boy here in my early
teens and saw the miners picking up
nuggets worth from one to four thou
sand dollars I was a true, true gold
bug. But my father, who was far
mer, was not willing that the agricul-
tural currency of the country should
be disturbed, ordered me to the corn
field to make corn, which was legal
tender at one dollar per bushel and to
make bacon at ten cents per pound,
and other farm products, which had
their currency value. I was taught
that agriculture was the true founda-
tion Of all wealth and labor the power
that supplies nations with their annual
consumption. And that labor, either
with the hands Or the brains, the ap-
plication of our gifts to some benei-
cent result, is the basis of improve
ment and happiness.
If our people will devote more time
to the cultivation of the soil and less
to politics it would be better for the
whole country. I shall be glad when
our Presidential election is over.
Since my earliest recollection it has
been thorn in the flesh. In 1843 I
was deeply interested in the election
of Henry Clay for President. Politi-
cal excitement at that time ran high,
brother arrayed against brother, and
father against son. [ was an old line
Whig. I had worked myself up to the
belief that if Clay was not elected the
country would become bankrupt
To my surprise and modification
Henry Clay was defeated by James K.
Polk. AS I now remember Polk's ad-
ministration was brilliant one. The
great State of Texas was admitted into
the Union. The country prospered
from Maine to Texas. / was so dis
appointed at the defeat of Clay I have
never gone crazy again in politics. I
have always endeavored to vote for
the best man.
do not now believe that the elec-
tion of either Mckinley or Bryan will
ruin the country. Some of my best
friends think that if Mckinley should
be elected the great financial question
would be settled. So far as I can see
very few men have clear understand
ing of the gold and silver question.
For ages it has bothered the best
minds in the old and new world
am pleased to report the improve
ment in the people in this mountain
region. I have been to large gath
ering of men and women. The change
for the better in the past ten years
way very perceptible.
am gratifed to say that Of the
thousand men that [ have met / have