New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-09-12
BEFORE THE IRA VELLERS' LEAGUE
COMMISSIONER ROOSEVELT SPEAKS ON
THE RELATION OF THE CAPITALIST
TO THE I.ARORER


THE RELATION OF THE CAPITALIST
TO THE LABORER.
The main floor Of the old Aston Building. at
Broadway and Prnce-st.. crowded with men
at the monday meeting held yesterday under the
auspices of the Commercial Travellers Sound
Money League The meeting opened with the
singing of several Republican National and State
campaign songs by the Diamond Quartet. The
songs divided the honors between Major Mckinley
and Frank S. Black and were loudly appauded.
Police Commissioner Theodore Roosevelt made the
opening speech. He was enthusiastically greeted
by the audience. His speech in part was as fol-
lows:
Of this campaign-the question OF free silver. 1t is
always difficult TO make an elaborate argument
quotes, Thou shalt not steal" and another
promptly replies by asking. why not?" really
ment If man cannot at the first glance see that
It Is equally as immoral and vicious to repudiate
task to Try to convince him by the most elaborate
There is much in the question of finance that is
very complicated There Is much which only those
special study of the question are competent to deal
with. The underlying facts however, are all very
he will see at once that the great element in our
financial system is the element Of credit Let me
other day | was speaking 10 one Of our detectives
19n the fact that wany Of the the big
sides sides OF the city rather than in fifth,ave and
great many of the wealthy people rarely carried
anything but small check-books in their pockets.
that is, by credit. On the other hand, many Of the
women going to market on the East and West
money they had saved from their husbands wages;
the workingmen coming home on Saturday night
In other words. 1t was these men and the women
who had the cash. and 1t was the rich men who
Now. the populists in their platform; on, which
the chcaso s' dsaed hs al re %9sS no
enough money 10 give each citizen So Mr. BRYAN 5
Democratic platform demands free silver upon the
ground tan entirely false ground by-the-way) that
It would double the amount of money in circula-
ton. DO not they see that it is not so much what
a man has actually In his possession as what his
merchant With the check book has perhaps less Of
the SO IN cash that r the hsppt dfynds h he
that the has unlimited amount Of credit;
No change in the coinage laws is going to alter
this fundamental fact that If We had free silver the
he has now. No Populistic statesman has been
able to point exactly how the $50 he demands
trary the workingman, if he had free silver, would
merely haYe a the saf Bc 0i a. lie mas
The things that give the wealthy man his credit,
be owns would still be his. Then. doubtless. there
would be depression. and he would not have as
to buy as much as he did before from the farmer
and the manufacturer and he would not be APE 10
the credit and the collateral, and he would there
his relative advantage Just as lnucn AZ
he does now The only thing would be that with
free silver instead of having the difference between
the wpll-to-do man Of means and the well-to-do
laborer as now we would substitute the difference
between the crippled man Of means and the starry
ing man.
The next speaker General Adam F.. King or
Maryland He was Consul-General TO Paris under
President Harrison He declared that the Repub-
lican political campaign was a hght Tor hohor'
honesty America for Americans
The League will be addressed to-day by /, fuld
and Charles W. Anderson. The quartet VIII sing
several new campaign songs