The Houma courier. (Houma, La.) 1878-1939, 1896-08-15


that an attempt tn do so would bring
distress and many evils. We may
respect their honesty, but must we
enter into a lite and death struggle.
with them because we assert here that
the financial domination By a foreign
power is as dangerous = the liberties
Of the people as polifsca1 domination.
(Cheers). But / must not talk. (Cries
of $50 on Eyes, you must" Eyes,
YES, 90 on.")
"You tell me you owe something to
yonr party; tell you that ynnr party
owes a higher duty to you than you
! can W to it, tGreaE a~pplause.1 I
would not say one word that would
lessen the esteem which any one Of
you may have for the achievement of
the party TO which you have belonged.
but | say that parties cannot live upon
the past, Parties must face the present.
Parties must be prepared TO meet
and solve every issue as II arises, aud
the party that does not meet an Issue,
does not care enough ia meet an issue,
il not great enough to live in the
United States. AD issue has arisen.
lt vas forced tupOn the people For
twenty years it has been growing, and
during the last three years its growth
has been more rapid than in six
years before. This issue was presented
to the American people. The Repub-
liean party met in convention. 1t
had its opportunity. When Abraham
Lincoln was the Idol of the Republican
party, the Republican party was will
ling to meet the issues of the day.
Great applause) The Republican
party at st. Loais was not willing to
meet the great issue of the day. Cap
plause.l The people are suffering from
q gold standard. The leaders Of the
party knew it. In the platform they
declared that the gold standatd is a
bad thing, because they said they
wanted to get rid Of it Us soon as they
could. (Applause Ifany Republican
tells you that the gold standard, is ~
good thing, tell them t. look al his
platform. Applause aud laughter.)
his platform says that the Republican
party will substitute b~imetallism for
gold monOmetalism, whenever some
other nation will help US to do It.
applause and laughter.)
II have said and | expect to keen
on saying, that there are two ques
tiuns which will drive the Republican
party FROM the field. The first is if tile
gold standard is u good thing, why not
keep ii9 Ii it Is a bad thing why
should we keep it'll [Great applause.
1T it is a good thing, why try to get
other nations to help us to deny to
our people The benefits Of 1T? Ali-
plause. 1t it is a bad thing who
dares to say that the American peo-
pie shall suffer fora bad thingq [Great
applause. Now, my friends, 1 did
not intend to make speech. [Cries
Of Go on! Go on!l | must stop now
A~voice-"Tell us about 16 to l."
MIR. Bryan-ffThere are several defni-
tions of 16 to 1, / will give you some.
(Applause). Some think that l6 to l
means that the government will coin six
teen silver dollars every time it coins one
gold dollar. [Laughter). Some think
itmeans that the government will give
sixteen silver dollars for every gold dol
lar. (Laughter). 1t. does not mean that.
[Laughter], Some think that it means
that under free coinage it will be as easy
to get sixteen dollars as it is to get one
dollar under the gold standard. lLangh-
teri. Ihat may approach the truth
lLaughter and a~pplanse1. sixteen to one
simply means that according to law the
deDt.paylng power of one ounce Oh golu
Wheh coined shall be equal to the deOG-
paying power of sixteen ounces of silver
when coined. 1t simply means that inc
SILVER dollar is sixteen times as large ~
the gold dollar, That is what 16 10
MEANS. And whom we say that we are u
FAVOR of the present legal ratio of is to l,
we Simply say that we are in favor OF
having the silver dollar remain the same
size as it is nov, and nave the gold dol
iar remain the same size as it is now.
Ihat is what we mean. ~EApplause]. We
mean that is the ratio, That has been so
since the days of Andrew Jackson, that il
snail be the ratio at which the minis shall
be opened to the free and unlimited coin.
age of silver. ~CApplausel. 1t means this
that if we owe a debt you can go out into
the market aud buy silver and have il
coined and use that silver to pay yOul
debts. Already you can go out into the
market and buy gold and pay your debtt
after it is coined, and when you have the
right to use either one, if they attempt tt
corner one metal you can use the other
Loud and continued a%pplause]. Whereas
If you have but one metal which you car
1 convert into money, and that metal il
cornered, yon are at the mercy of those
who are making the corner. LApplause1
Now, just one word more. Iheard peO
pie talk about the great advantage il
would be if we had the free coinage Law
so that men could go out and buy silver
for fifty cents aud have it coined into 10(
cents and make the difference. IhavS
known men to spend time specializing
upon how much could be made undel
such a system. I am going to illnstrat,
that proposition by a story told of Igna
tins DOnnelly. Mr.. Donnelly observed
two men discussing the question in a
car, and one gentleman said to the othei
free coinage man, Don't you think 1t il
wrong for the government TO say by Law
that any man could go and buy silver fOl
fifty cents, and after it was coined coult
sell ii for 100 cents, and make the diff
ferance9" And the advocate of fire.
coinage said to this person, Under fire.,
coinage any person who holds 412 +.
grains Of standard silver can take tina
silver to the mint and have it coined int
a dollar at any time. Now if that i
true, who, he asked under the free coin
age of silver would sell his silver for fift'
cents9'N LGreat applause.
There was q silence for q moment, enc
then some one said: II would"
1.-THE free silver advocate went to SO
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