The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1896-09-17

| ulnucf anu lllCn went 10 lOnCOIuIu pdfk.
The Auditorium and Sp0rtsman's park
were in turn visited AMI he made Il speech
I mt each place. So great were the crowds
that hundreds were turned away at each
place.
While Mr.. Bryan was addressing the
meeting at Sportsman's park the plat
form on which he stood gave way and
he together with a dozen distinguished
citizens who occupied seats thereon, Were
preciptated to the ground. Fortunately,
none were hurt.
The crash caused an uproar and for a
time it looked as if a panic would result.
There were at least 10000 people present
and the connection was frightful.
When Mr.. Bryan and his escort step
ped upon the platform ut ConcOrdia park
the great throng arose and for several
minutes shouted and chcered. Upon be-
ing introduced Mr.. Bryan said:
Ladies and Commemorative are enter
ing upon Il memorable campaign which
means a great deal of good or i'll to the
people of this country and in this cam
paign there is one great overShadowing
issue and upon that issue people are di-
vided. There are some who believe that
the maintenance of gold standard until
foreign nations come to our assistance
is an absolute necessity for the welfare
of this country. There are those. on the
other hand, who believe with us that the
restoration of the free coinage Of gold
and silver at the present legal ratio of
l6 to /, without waiting for the aid or
consent Of any other nation, is absolutely
essential to prosperity. (Applausc.l This
is Il great question which must be sub
mittcd to the arbitramcnt of the ballot
ana in order that you may understand
this question | desire to submit Il few ar
gumentS in behalf of the restoration of
free coinage. | assume, in the first place.
that every American citizen is competent
to form an opinion on this issue Our
opponents tell us that the money ques-
ton is complicated question and that
only Il few are able to master il. There
is no question which can come before the
American people Whic! is too deep for
them. (ApplauSc.)
Il want to submit for your conSidcra-
ton two or three propositions and | be-
licvC they are so clear and 50 plain that
every one here can recognize the force
of them. In the first place, call your
attention to the fact that the republican
party is making no effort to supply the
people of the United States with Il suf
iicient amount of money to do business.
If | were to tell You that grown person
could wear the clothes of child YOU
would think me foolish. and if | were
to tell you that Il grown person could
live on the food necessary to sustain life
in Il child you would call me foolish, and
yet they call these men fnancicrs who
assume that the people growing i'll popu-
lation can live on money decreasing every
wear in amount CHEERS and applauSe.)
Mr.. Bryan then quoted from Il treasury
department publication to show that the
amount of money in circulation III 1881
was 81 $50, 100000. In 1899 it was 81
6O1 100000. and on June 30, 1896, it was
81 .J06. 00O.0O0. He continued:
What does it mean? In two years
time. according to the treasury report,
the amount of money in circulation among
the people had fallen about S15OOOO,OOO
in amount (Applause.) In other words,
in two years time there has been Il de-
crease of about 10 per cent in the amount
of money in circulation. This, my friends,
is the treasury report, and the report
shows that while the per capita circula-
ton in 1894 was S24.2S, in 1896 It had
fallen to sd, Il fall of more than So per
| capita"
Mr.. Bryan then quoted Senator Sher-
| mans statement that an increase OF NJ
100000 yearly in circulation was necces-
sary to keep pace with the increase III
population and business.
He then continued: My friends, he
says that we need an increase of some
| thing like S50.00O0OO every year, and
vet instead of having an annual increase
| of SJO.000.000 in the last two years we
have a decrease of about S255.OOO,OOO
| (applause). making Il deficit of about
$3.50, 600. 600 in the currency of the coun-
| try Now if Mr.. Sherman did right in
| 1890 in saving that the people needed
more money every year. | want to ask
you why it is that the republican party,
in the face of the constant decrease i'll
the circulation of money, has made no
provision whatever to satisfy the needs
of an increased population. (Applause.)
When we talk about these matters our
opponents tell us we do not understand
tinanciering.
MY friends. we understand mathemat-
| les and a man does not have 10 under
stand much mathematics to know that a
nation requires an increase in circulation
instead of decrease, but the republican
| Darty has been silent in regard to the
manner in which this currency has been
contracted If the republican party sue
ceeds we have every reason to pc
lieve the republican administration
will follow previous example ana =.
on contracting the currency instead OF
increasing it. We find the contraction
of the currency shown by reports OF the
treasury department.. We find property
falling in value. We find labor out OF
employment; we find business paraiyZeu
we find that men do not want to invest
in property for fear they will lose; every
body wants to invest in money. because
money is the only thing that is rising
This. my friends. is the condition Whlcl
confronts us Have we not right Il
look this condition in the face.
I'VE ask our opponents this question
How are you going to proylde Tor th'
money the people need? They propose
no plan. Why? Because the republican
party is dominated by Wall street, aan'
they do not want money plenty. No
only are their policies dominated by Wal
street. but. my friends, they are no
even willing to let Wall street have the
final say, because they make in theil
platform the declaration that we mus
go across the ocean to find out what 9th
err nations will do. The republican plat
form. written in this city and now the
creed of the party. declares the people
of this country must maintain golt
: standard-how long? Until we get tiret
of it? Oh. no: we are tired of it now
. We must maintain it until the leadin:
, nations of the world take pity on us ant
: let us get rid of the gold standard.
, the gold standard is wrong, rs | believe
it is. there will he agitation until we &c
rid of it. If bimetallsm is right, as
believe it is. there will be agitation unit
it is restored. | beg you to do your dut,
as YOU see it. and whatever the resul