Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1896-10-01
Mr.. BRYAN IN WEST VIRGINIA.
Hon. William Jennings Bryan. Il


upon thousands of enthusiastic Dem
ocrats and advocates of the free silver
cause. Mr.. Bryan, accompanied by
number of prominent West Virginia
Democrats, arrived at Harper's Ferry
about 1890 o'clock on a special train.
The place was gaily decorated with
flags and neat stand had been erect
ed, from which the candidate adj
dressed large crowd of people. Mr.
Bryan spoke for fifteen or twenty
minutes, when his train, which was
already an hour late, bore him on to
Martinsburg.
Wednesday was the biggest day
Martinsburg has seen since the war.
By every road the visitors focked into
the town-in vehicles of every sort, on
horseback and afoot The Cumberland |
Valley Railroad carried large num-
Der Of passengers, but the B. & o.
service was badly crippled by the storm
and hundreds of persons were left at
the various station unable to get to
Martinsburg. When the special train
carrying Mr.. Bryan and his friends
pulled into the B. & 0. station, it was
met by an immense crowd of persons, I
who had been waiting patiently for
hours. Carriages quickly carried the
distinguished visitors to the place of
speaking, escorted by Jefferson coun-
ty contingent of cavalry.
The speakers stand was built in
vacant lot near the c. V. freight |
depot. The Boy Orator of the Platte
was greeted with tremendous cheers
when he made his appearance. Sen
ator Faulkner in a few brief sentences
introduced him to the audience, and
when Mr.. Bryan came to the front of
the stand to speak he faced ten thous-
ond people. Cheers and shouts Of APP
plans prevented him from speaking
for several minutes, but he finally
succeeded in quieting the enthusiastic
crowd. He wasted little time in pre-
liminaries. His voice was quite hoarse,
and it was impossible for him to make
himself heard by all the vast throng.
But there was force behind the voice,
and it reached many thousands. Mr..
Bryan spoke as follows;
In a platform many questions are COW
cred, but the election always turns upon |
some paramount issue, and in this cam
paign we have declared that the money |
question is the paramount issue. Ifthere |
are other things in which you believe,
the settlement OF those things can be |
postponed until after we 'have met and |
passed the crisis presented by the advo-
Gates of the gold standard
Our opponents, not we, are responsible |
for the fact that in this campaign we are |
engaged in a battle royal between the |
money power and the common people. |
These contests are always brought about |
by the aggression of those who seek to |
use government as a means of private |
gain.
All the great questions which fro m
time to time have been forced upon the |
public have been forced not by the
many, but by the few, and the great |
struggles which have occupied the |
thought and the effort of the peoples of |
the world have been the struggles made |
by the masses in self-defenSe. And so |
in this campaign the hosts are being |
marshaled to resist the aggressions of |
the gold standard.
If | were to tell you that foreign |
army was coming to attack us or for
eign navy was anchored at our gates, | |
could expect everyone of you to join in |
and fight to protect our country from |
invasion. | announce to you that for
eign financial policy has not only invad- |
ed our country, but it has gained a |
foothold here, and great national party |
the Republican party-has declared |
that this foreign policy shall remain here |
until foreigners themselves shall consent |
to its retirement The gold-standard |
idea is an imported idea. My friends, | |
care not whether you attempt to restrain |
it by high tariff, | shall not be content |
until it shall be driven back and find no |
more a home in our midst.
This contest upon which we are en- |
tered is not temporary fight. Some of |
our Democratic friends who have worked |
with us in the past tell us that in this |
campaign they will either work with the |
Republicans or stop half way between |
our ranks and the Republican ranks I'M
til they summon enough courage to go |
the other half and declare themselves |
Republicans. | want them to go on the |
understanding that they go never to re- |
turn until they come back in sackcloth |
and ashes.
If these men, who have gained their |
prominence through the honors given |
them by the Democratic party, have an |
idea that they can withdraw in the face |
of the enemy and then be invited back |
to take command hereafter, they are
making a mistake, the greatness of which |
will increase as time goes on.
This is no temporary disagreement.
Those who leave the Democratic party |
today leave Democracy and can never |
excuse themselves hereafter. In this |
campaign, when on the one side are ar
rayed the great common people and on
the other side all those trusts and COM
binations and syndicates which prey |
upon the people, in such a campaign as
this there is no middle ground.
You have here farming community. |
| understand that many Of those who are |
gathered here earn their living by the |
cultivation of the soil. am glad to talk
TO farmers, because | believe now what |
Mr.. Mckinley stated six years ago. but |
what he has forgotten in the six years
which have elapsed since that time.
Six years ago, after we had had thirty |
years of this kind of tariff policy, he |
stated in his report accompanying the |
Mckinley bill that agriculture was de-
pressed and that without prosperity |
among the farmers there could be no
prosperity among other classes of the
people.
That depression of six years ago has
continued in spite of his tariff or low
tariff, and must continue in spite of any
kind of tariff legislation as long as the
dollar goes up and the farmers products
go down.
The dearer you make money, the low
er you make prices generally, and falling |
prices mean hard times. No party ever