BAY MINETTE, Ala. — As September begins, we look toward what the new month has to offer. But for now, it’s time to turn the calendar back more than a century and get a glimpse of this week’s Baldwin Times in 1895.

   The front page of the Times, which was then published on Thursdays, is dedicated to the results of the Silver Conference that took place in Washington, D.C. the previous week. An article details the federal government adopting the use of silver in American coin currency alongside gold. According to the Times, using both gold and silver coins is known as bimetallism.

   “The Federal Constitution names silver and gold together as the money metals of the United States,” the article reports. “The first coinage law passed by Congress made the silver dollar the unit of value and admitted gold to free coinage at a ratio measured by the silver dollar unit.”

   The article on the front of the four-page publication unabashedly supports the action.

   “From the beginning of the government, following a policy formulated by Thomas Jefferson and firmly established by Jackson, the Democratic party of bimetallism, favoring the free coinage of both silver and gold at the national mints …”

   According to the 1895 article, the convention’s results undid the Act of 1873, which “’demonetized silver, was passed without public knowledge or input.”

   It seems the Democratic party actually pushed implementing silver coinage. According to the Victorian-era article, considerations were already under way for the selection of a presidential candidate, who would maintain bimetallism, at the upcoming National Democratic Convention in 1896.

   In other news of the day, an editorial comments on the poor state of education in Alabama, suggesting the implementation of a tax to provide more funding for better teachers.

   “Let a law be passed pertaining to the people of each district to vote a small tax in aid of the district if they want to and let this be made supplemental to the general school fund in the respective districts,” the writer pens. “The object of state aid is not to support the schools entirely.”

   Locally, the Baldwin Times reported a break in recent rains that had fallen the previous few weeks.

   Also, discussion of erecting a new sawmill on Hollinger Creek is reported in the newspaper that sold for a $1 yearly subscription.

   Additional news from this week in 1895 included the federal government’s intention to prosecute large lumber businesses that were stealing timber from government land.

   “We are making every effort to break up this business of timber cutting from Uncle Sam’s domain,” an official says in the article, “and most of the sawmill men are giving us their hearty support. You see, it is not to their interest to buy timber since the probability of having to pay for it twice is very strong.”

   The 19th century newspaper also reported a complaint from the U.S. Land Office against John W. Babcock for abandoning his homestead in north Baldwin County, Another story documents the completion of guttering, roofing and painting of the Daphne Jail. Also in Daphne, the Times reports the signing of a petition to move the Daphne Post Office from the head of the wharf to a centralized location. Plus, Sarah I. Johnson, who had been fired from the previously mention post office, was arrested and charged with a “shortage,” known today as embezzlement.

   The Times, which was also available for 50 cents for a six-month subscription, also reports the steamer vessel, Carney, began making round trips from Mobile to Point Clear on Wednesday and Saturday afternoons for 25 cents a trip.

   The Carney is also central to another article, which reports that 25 members of the German Baptist colony from Illinois, “known as Dunkards,” attended a gospel meeting led by the Rev. Neff aboard the boat.

   It seems that cholera in livestock was a problem in Baldwin County as the 19th century neared its close. An editorial by B.J. Howell recommends mixing a tea made from polk root into hog’s feed to cure “hog cholera.”

   News from the medical front is also mentioned in the Times, as the Baldwin Medical Society reported a case of “nemrosis of malarial origin,” cases of influenza and several cases of dyspepsia.

   This 1895 issue of the Baldwin Times includes a bit of humor of the day as a cartoon depicts two boys standing on the left side of a street corner. The pair are looking at an elegantly dressed woman walking her dog past two little girls on the right side of the corner. The following caption is a conversation between the two boys:

   “Bill, would you marry a gal like that?”

   “Not for yer life! It’ll take a Rockyfeller or a Aster to keep her in chewin’ gum!”

   Check back next week for another look at the Baldwin Times of yesteryear.