The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1894-08-26

The day which witnessed the nomina-
lion of Sedgwick county's winners was fit
tingly closed by the political address of
Colonel Dick Blue to an immense and en-
thusiastic audience at the auditorium last
Night.
Long before the hour appointed the seat
ing capacity of the great auditorium was
exhausted aud hundreds were standing on
the platforms In the rear aud lucky to
have that privilege.
The speaker aud his accompanying party
proceeded 10 the auditorium TO the music
Of the Second Regiment band, which dis
coursed inspiriting. music aud rendered
several selections after arrival. The col
Dred juvenile band also gave one selection
Ia excellent style.
Colonel Blue was escorted to the plat
form by COMMITTEES composed of J. II.
Mccall, Judge 7. B. Wall and Hon.
George l.. Douglass. Mr.. Mccall called
the meeting to order and Dick Hallowell
placed in nomination for speaker George
l.. Douglass. The nomination was sec
Dnded by dozen citizens who sprang to
their feet simultaneously, and carried
amid tremendous applause.
Mr.. Douglass arose and simply remark
ing that he understood that the business
Of presiding officer is to expedite bust
ness, introduced Colonel Blue in about
three sentences, simply hoping that If any
candidate might get any more votes than
any other that one might be ''Old Dick
Blue"
Colonel Blue had been vcciferously
cheered on his entrance into the hall, and
as he rose to speak the audience greeted
him with round after round which he &C
knowledged with grace and dignity.
The speaker began by recognizing the
ladies present and spoke feeiingly of that
feature of the present campaign. He paid
warm tribute to womanhood in general
and especially the type which the struggle
and the tTiun ph over hard conditions had
produced in Kansas.
Then in a large-he2rted, charitable, but
relentessly logical way he sailed into the
camp Of the enemy aud for two hours held
his audience in the lntensest interest while
he made good Republicans better and fixed
up old ones as good as new.
The tariff, the financial situation and
the administrations pension record were
naturally the three principal themes of the
discourse. He showed up the fiat money
fallacy of the POpulists and showed the
Rbsurdity of their theories and the incon-
sistency Of their demands IN calling for
fiat money-paper mOney-and at the same
time whining about 80 TO /, " and placing
themselves in the ranks of the advocates
of honest money. He defined money as
the measure of value and ID that as
it takes weight TO measure weight, so it
takes value TO measure value As the gro
Ger places, say sugar, on one beam Of the
scale and a weight of a known stand
ard on the other, so the same sugar, as ID
value, can be measured only by some other
commodity which also has value in itss'f.
,YaIf har ha Grg u
what gives the coin value instead of being
only a government trade mark. lie said
that the constitution as amended IN the
minds of the PoPulists would read: Con-
gress shall have power to coin money and
create the value thereof instead of having
rs at present power TO coin and regulate.
The tariff was extensively discussed
and the souudness of the prot lection idet
and the shakiness of the for revenue only"
idea were proved by line OF argument as
sound as it was ingenious and illustrated
by a series of honely examples which
brought matters within the grasp of al.
He proved that a protectiye.ta is such
when laid on articles the like of which can
be produced at home and that IN such case
the tariff is paid by the ImpoI ter;
that tariff laid on products not
of home production is not a protective
tariff, and not being sucn, the tariff Is
paid by the consumer. That the lcc-
procity idea is not free trade in another
form, siHce it extends only TO articles not
produced at home and arranges 10 secure
from articles which would be free under
the protective system, advantages as great
~ in case of protected articles, though OF
a different sort and in "A different way.
He gave the Old boys who have been in
duced TO follow after strange gods gen
tie roasting, which was all the more eltec-
tive that he offered them amnesty in the
name of the grand old party, provided
they would never do it any more. lie told
them that in his first administration
stood on the pension question and that
they had known when they voted for
Weaver in 1892 that they were voting for
Cleveland, hence voting a soldier
hater i'll and their own pensions out. This
shot told with tremendous effect and 1t
was some time before the applause sub
sided.
Ga these three matters, tariff finance
and pensions, Colonel Blue defues his
position thus: Protection TO American
labor, American manufacturers and TO the
capitalist who invests his money In manu-
featuring enterprises; the restoration OF
silver on any terms which VIII not destroy
its parity with gold; the passage of a
service pension bill for all soldiers, or as he /
expressed IL. when l 90 % congress, /
" here by the grace OF God and the Rspub- |
licans of Kansas | expect 10 go, he first |
thlnS snail 40 Will De 10 Introduce Dill !
10 pension all loyal soldiers of the age of |
81 years; aud l guess We will all be 30 by /
that time"
Colonel Blue spoke two hours and was |
frequently spplsuded His speech was a /
model of eloquence and refinement, but |
was none the less scathing as an arraign- |
meet of populistic heresy and Democratic /
iucompetency.
Immediately after the speaking Colonel |
Blue took the train for his hons at Mound /
CRY for a short visit 10 his family.