The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1919-07-03
Looking Backward Twenty E'aree
years

Twenty-three years ago cotton was
selling at five or six cents pound
and everybody in the South was de-
pressed. Farms were mortgaged,
money was scarce and, this being an
agricultural section of the country
and the prosperity of all the people
being dependent upon the farms,
wages were low. No one knew what
the trouble was and everyone was
cropping for "away out of the wild
erness." The cry was raised that
mony was too dear, that the pur-
chasing power of gold had been um-
fairly raised by the denometization
of silver in 1873 and the people, al
most unanimously in this part Ct the
United States, came to the conciu-
sion that the free coinage of silver
at the ratio of sixteen to one would
set all things right.
The advocates of this measure IN
sisted that if there could be per
capita circulation of $50, high prices
would be obtained for products and
prosperity would be universal. "You
shall not press upon the brow OF la
Dor a crown of thorns; you shall not
cruelty mankind on cross OF goldI
was the eloquent formula in which
Mr.. Bryan phrased the gospel OF the
day before the Chicago convention
and he was hailed as the deliverer,
receiving the nomination OF Presl-
dent by the Democratic Party. In
those days, the cost Of living was ex-
ceedingly low and that exactly was
one expression of the ground OF
clamorous complaint. The people
said that the prices OF commodities
were so low that there could be no
hope of escape from poverty without
raising them. The silver men assert.
ed that, as all debts were payable on
the basis of gold, the financial sys-
tenn of the country was framed TO
Cypress debtors. The creditors class,
on the other hand, replied that free
silver coinage would debase the cur
rency and would be equivalent 70
confscation of their securities
it would enable q man I'd pay a debt
of a dollar with half dollar, where
fore the creditor would be robbed.
Mr.. Bryan was defeated and with
him the cause of silver failed m
1896 and again in 1900. -
Free coinage as "a way out Of the
Il wilderness" has been forgotten,
even by the millions Of men who
pinned their whole hope and faith %
1 it, No one suggested or dreamed OF
strikes in that time as a remedy for
the economic evils that prevailed a1n
the people worked on in the firm %
lief that free silver would be suffr-
cient to save them. rs
Now, in 1919, it has come to pass
that the people have all that they
expected free silver coinage to give
them. The per capita circulation OF
money is as high as was asked and
the prices of products are high IN
proportion to it. Consequently, the
cost of living is high, too, cotton sell
ing for about FIVE times the prices
that it fetched in 1896. Still, we have
the unrest, the discomfort, and per.
haps the murmurings are more fui
of menace than they were IN tna1
time.
Nevertheless, in the twenty-three
years the progress of the people has
been considerable. The wealth OF the
country has tremendously increased
and it's distribution has been enlarg-
ed. Nearly one-fourth of the people
have purchased United States Bonds.
The average laboring man and busi.
ness man are distinctly better OIL
than they were when Bryan was first
a candidate; they are enjoying more
comforts and luxuries, they are more
Independent and they are working
fewer hours in the day and under
better conditions. -
Of course, there remain wrongs to
be righted, evils to be remedied, m
justices to be corrected and nothing
could be worse for the country than
to settle into an apathetic notion
that struggles should end. Always
there will be room for improvement
and a certain critical disposition OF
the people, with an ingredient OF
dissatisfaction, is necessary to adj
vance. The lesson, though, is plain
that advance is to be had without
violence and passion and that no sim
gle diagnosis of evil and no one
cure for it are adequate. -
It would be well for the ordinary
human being, with human limita-
tions, who is inclined to run amuck
to reflect a little on what has gone
before.-Columbia State.