Birmingham state herald. (Birmingham, Ala.) 1895-1897, 1896-09-29


that he gave evidence of ability, of cour-
age and of patriotism, those three char
acteristics which combine to earn for a
man the love and gratitude of his coun-
trymen.
To-day I leave Connecticut. 1 have
been through several New England
states, and only one, l believe, 1 have
not been able to visit. l came to New
England to preach the cause and defend
the principles for which l stand at this
time. (Applause.)
II came here because there is no part
OF this country where those who advocate
Tree coinage are unwilling to present
their cause. There is no part of this
country which is excluded from the bene-
fits of bimetallism; there is no part of this
country which we are willing to concede
to the gold standard. applause and
cheers)
There is no state in this union which
will be benefited by the maintenance of
the present financial policy, and If in
some portions of the union the silver SEN
timent Is not as strong as in other por-
tions, it is because those portions where
the silver sentiment is weakest are the
portions where there has been the least
agitation and discussion and study Of the
money question. applause and cries of
You're right.'O You not only have
lacked the opportunity of investigating
this question which some other portions
of the country have had, but your papers
have denounced it as a matter of un-
worthy of study, even If they have not
Insulted the Intelligence
of the voters by telling them
that only few people were able
to understand the question anyhow
(Applause) Some of the republican plat
forms of the eastern states have not only
declared against silver, but declared
against agitation. When I find man
who is opposed to the discussion of q
mn tn L G..xl 4
feel more at home under a monarchy
than he would in republic. (Applause)
Agitation is nothing but discussion.( Ap-
plause and cries of That's 500, and dis
cussion is the only means by which the
people can find out what is best and
remedy wrong. (Applause.)
"A man who denounces agitation-a
man who opposes the public discussion of
public questions--would have you suffer,
and not permit you to secure the only
means by which relief can come. My
friends, our opponents think that they
can destroy agitation by commanding it
to keep still. They might as we'll try to
sweep back the waves of the ocean. Gap
plause.) You cannot speak agitation into
silence. You cannot command 1T to be
still and expect it to obey. Agitation is a
result; not "a cause. 1t is a result of
condition, and that result must remain
while the condition remains. You have
condition.; agitation follows as a conse-
quence and reform comes as conclusion,
and that is the only way that agitation
can be stopped, my friends.
what does the gold standard do for
the merchant? 1t has driven down the
value of the goods upon his shelves, while
it left his debts as big as they ever We're
1T has destroyed the ability of people to
buy goods, although the merchants
goods have been bought and are await
ing the coming of the customer. The
gold standard has multiplied the number
of failures, and the gold standard is put
ting the merchant under the complete
domination of any man who holds his
note and he can close his store at any
moment If he desires to exercise his right
as an American freeman to vote as he
wishes on the money question. Cap
plause.) / want to lay down this propo-
sition-that when you borrow money of
bank the banker has no business
Interfering With Your Political Rights,
and the banker that does 1t ought not to
be permitted to engage in the banking
business. (Applause) Is there banker
who will dispute that? If there is, then
he must be a man who believes that the
right to vote goes not with the citizen,
but with the money lender, and the man
who asserts that asserts that this Is not
a democracy-not a republic-but plu-
tocracy, in which money, and not brains
or heart, rule in this country" (Great ap-
pause)
A voice: '.where will we be when we
get free silver?'
Mr.. Bryan: Are you in favor of
gold standard?" df
The voice: 'I am
Mr. Bryan: "Tell me why
The voice: Because believe It is best
for the country. Every nation will accept
a gold dollar for dollar"
Mr.. Bryan: "Why? I will tell you.
Because of it's value. The reason why our
gold dollars and our gold bullion are
worth the same is because the law says
that you can convert bullion into dollar
at the mint"
The voice. "Well, how about silver?"
Mr. Bryan: when the laws are so, un-
der the free coinage of silver that the
holder of silver bullion can convert his
silver bullion into dollars at the mint,
that will fix a mint price for silver then,
as we have a mint price for gold now,
and silver dollars will be worth as much
abroad as our gold dollar. (Great ap-
plause and cheering.)
Now, my friends 1 do not object to
having questions asked, because II l am
wrong on this question there Is nobody
more anxious to find 1t out than l am;
but if am right and my friend wrong,
/ hope he will be as anxious to get right
as / am. Questions do not hurt, my
friends We are glad to answer ques-
tions, because there IS not question no, ln,. ,.
can be asked by an advocate of the gold
standard that cannot be answered by ad-
yocates of free coinage. Applause and
cries of "Why don't Mckinley come out
and answer some of them?')
A voice-People here have the impress
sion that when the free coinage of silver
Is brought into effect they can take their
silver tea pots and coin them into money.
Mr.. Bryan: "The gentleman says that
the people have the impression here that
under free coinage the people can take
silver tea pots and their silverware and
have it converted into money. 1t Is true
that under free coinage that any man
can melt up a dollar and halfs worth Of
spoons and have the silver coined into
$1.29, If you have man who is
Fool Enough to DO It.
Now, why will people refuse to melt
up their silver plate? Because 1t will be
worth more as silver plate than it will
be worth as silver dollars under the free
coinage. And, my friends, you can de-
pend upon 1t that people will not do
things which are going to hurt them IL
they know it. That Is one of the things
that you can base your reasoning upon,
and in that connection / frequently have
people ask me: Would rot 1t be possible
for a man to buy silver for SO cents and
have it coined into dollar, and make
1nb ri