Rocky Ford enterprise., 1895-05-16
SILVER DICK" BLAND
HIS FIRST VISIT TO DENVER.
Tho Veteran Apostle of Free Coinage Ad.
dresses an Enthusiastic Audience
Urges His Hearers Not to Vote for .
Gold Man for President.

dresses an Enthusiastic Audlence-
Urges His Hearers Not to Vote for .
Gold Man for President.
Denver, May 12.-At the Broadway
theater last night Richard P. Bland,
ex-Congressman from Missouri. deliver
ed an address on the Twenty Years
Battle for Silver and the Fight Yet to
Come"
There was large and distinguished
audience present to welcome the emf
nent advocate of the free coinage of
silver at ratio Of 10 to 1. The ad-
dress was an able one and was re-
ceived with much favor by the audi
ence. The speaker after narrating the
history of the struggles in Congress
over the silver question, said:
I'm all the great battles in Congress
on the silver question, the Southern
people, while enthusiastic for silver,
have had that sympathy and enthus.
iasm clouded with the dread Of force
bill or federal interference witt their
local self-government. Doubtful as to
whether their safety depended upon an
| alliance with New York and the East
for protection of their local affairs, or
whether to go to the people Of the West
and southwest. where nature points
as their true friend and allies, caused
them to hesitate upon the threshold of
victory for silver. Fortunately, how
ever, In the great battle over the force
bill In the Senate, the senators from
the West, and especially of the gold
and silver mining states, In their OPP
| position to this measure, which resulted
In Its final overthrow and defeat, has
given assurance to the people Of the
South that their political reliance, both
FOR safety Of their home government
and their prosperity on economic ques-
tions, point to the West. We do not in
tend to draw sectional lines further
than those who insist on the single
gold Standard have forced upon us this
| situation. The great money centers Of
the East, whose banking institutions
are principally owned and controlled
by European banking houses, have
forced the people of the West and
South in self-defense to make war up
on their system of finance.
"The day has now come when war Is
sues cannot longer dominate our poll
tics. The great political battles of the
| future will be fought on economic
questions. The battle Of the standards
Is the greatest battle to be fought in
this country and the world over. The
enslaved masses of the Old World look
naturally to this free people of ours to
lead the way. This vast country of
ours of forty-four Independent states
and other vast territory, with over sew
enty billions of wealth, and with a
population of seventy millions of peo-
pie, increasing at the rate Of more
than million annually, Is strong
QnnJ1ph m n a n mo
system, to open the mints to the free
coinage Of gold and silver, and thus
again restore, not only to ourselves, but
to the world, the old order of things, by
which gold and silver circulated side
by side, aiding and supporting each 9TH
er in giving labor employment and ef-
fecting the exchanges of commerce"
I'm conclusion, attention should be
called to the fact that heretofore no
president of the United States since
1873 has been n friend of silver. Mr..
Is well known that every president
since that time has been hostile to free
coinage and would veto any such bill
II sent to him. This has had the effect
of discouraging Congress in all these
contests. l have reason to believe that
silver would have long ago been re-
stored to its old place In our system of
money had there been a president of
the United States favorable to 1t. 1t Is
well known that the Senate to-day Is
overwhelmingly in favor of free coin
age, and will probably remain so for all
future time. The battle to be fought,
and the all-important point to gain, is
to secure president who will sign a
free coinage bill If sent to him, and will.
not use the power and patronage of his
office to prevent such a bill coming :,
him; but, on the contrary, will + COM
mend such legislation. If we can once
secure such president the battle is
won. To this point all our energies in
the future must be directed. 1t is not
my purpose, and would be out Of place
in non-partisan lecture or speech Of
this character to indicate how that may
be brought about, further than to ex-
press the hope that every true friend
Of the free coinage of silver will make
a firm resolve and stand to 1t, that lie
will not support in any manner presi-
dental candidate, no matter how NOM
mated or what party platform he
stands on, unless that platform and
candidate give assurance of silver res
toration.
At the conclusion of Mr. BANDS ad-
dress, Senator Teller was called for. He
said he had just finished congratulating
the speaker on the closing words of his
address that each one should pledge
himself or herself not to support any
one for president unless he was for the
free and unlimited coinage of silver.
1t was the great question before the
people Of this country, and should b..
settled. The people were considering
greater proposition even than thu
question they were called on to decide
whether there were TO be two flags.
There might have been two republics
conducted with prosperity on this con-
tinent, Senator Teller said. but 1t was
impossible that there could be prosper
ity under the present financial policy.
The effort to restore silver was not
an experiment, it was in accord with
the history of the world for 1000 years.
Senator Teller announced that he had
cast his last vote for any candidate who
was opposed to free silver, or was luke
warm In Its interests.
The meeting closed with three cheers
for ex-Congressman Bland.
Monaco's Supporters.
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