Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-08-13
Hoke Smiths Record.

To the Editor of The Esenih8 s&'F
Your editorial leader of Friday after
noon on Smith of Georgia in which you
style Mr.. Hoke Smith "a pretean artist
and charge him with changing his views
or the financial question from the gold to
the silver standard and back to gold
again. is carved out of total misinforma-
ton. Because quite number OF other
pood Washington people share with you
this transformation, l beg that you WILL
ir the interest of the truth and incident
ally of Mr.. Smith, print the facts con-
corning the incident that your editorial
discusses.
While Mr. Hoke Smith was Secretary of
tho Interior he was an earnest opponent
of the free silver theory which was then
advocated by many democrats Ihat
theory then prevailed largely in Georgia
and In most of the southern states. Mr..
smith made a strong effort to bring Geor-
gia to his way of thinking on that queS-
tion In the course of that effort he had
a series of joint discussions with the !ate
Speaker Crisp, who was one of the ablest
advocates of free coinage. During the gen.
eral contest and particularly during
those discussions each side was so posi-
tive that the other was wrong that the
question was often asked of each, What
will YOU do if the democratic convention
decides against your Mr.. Smith and
Judge Crisp and their respective follow
eJS nnhpSltaflngly
would take their medicine as gracefully
as thew could and support the nominee
and the platform of the convention.
Free coinage was approved and Mr..
Bryan was nominated. In keeping with
his pledge Mr.. Hoke Smith supported the
nominee and the platform. He could not
under the circumstances do otherwise.
Having to support Mr. Bryan and a plat
form that favored free coinage and criti-
cised the Cleveland administration, he re-
CT CIeyel1n0'S
any other self-respecting man would
have done under like circumstances. His
position was perfectly understood and
appreciated by Mr.. Cleveland and every
member of the cabinet; and the closeness
of his friendship with the President and
the cabinet was in no measure dimin-
ished. He publicly supported Mr.. Bryan
on the Chicago PLATFORM but prefaced
that support with the distinct reafffrma-
ton of his belief in the gold standard
and his opposition to silver He maintained
that other issues involved-such as the
tariff and the always appalling negro
uuestion-made it wise for Georgia and
the south to support the ticket in spite of
the objections to 1t. And in the position
which the democracy took at st. Louis he
has as good right as any other member of
the Cleveland regime to feel personal
pride and vindication.
Mr. Hoke Smith has since early man
hood shown keen interest in Georgia poll
tics and advocated the principIes he
thought would conserve the general
good. He has never been a candidate for
any political office; 5the only one he
ever held was that of Secretary of the
Interior. He has been leader in educa-
tional matters: he has borne his full
share in local charities; he has been a
conspicuous success in his profession of
the law; he has advocated the interests
of the masses of the people in every pub
lie controversy and he has always been
noted as a fearless. aggressive factor in
every movement In which he has taken
part 1t seems to me that the New York
democracy were rather fortunate in their
selection of a southern orator for their
opening rally. CLAUDE N. BENNETT.