Birmingham state herald., 1896-10-27


 a man believes he is right he can afford to stand alone; he can afford to be called anything, because it is not what people call you that determines character-it is what you are yourself.
 Tn order" as he said, that you may apply these things in the study of this question:" MT. Bryan quoted from pr. Sturtevants book and went on to com- ment:
 ''Now, I say the doctor recognized that when a man made contract he ought to be paid in the same way, with the same quantity or value that 1t had when it was made, and he goes on to argue that if you attempt to make contracts in any kiHtfsof commodity these fluctuations in value would make the contract inequitable." After again quoting Dr. Sturtevant, MT. Bryan continued:
 'I was glad when began to study the money question to find that Dr. Sturte- want recognized that the great thing de- sirable in a dollar was stability, and I can find no better illustration than the one have read you, where he speaks of it's being negotiable to compel a man to deliver 100 bushels of wheat when wheat has doubled in value. Now, you know the whole bone of contention in this con- test which we are engaged in is as to which kind of standard gives you the best dollar. There are some people who
 TALK ABOUT HONEST DOLLARS without exactly defining what they mean by that so that you have to take their conclusions instead of being able to form your own conclusions We believe that gold and silver, used together, gives more stable dollar, a more equitable cur rency, more just standard than could be obtained from the use of one with the other eliminated from use; and the very argument Dr. Sturtevant makes there, that short crop of wheat will make wheat rise in value, applies to money; be- cause, if there is short crop of money, money rises in value.
 Now, the crops are determined usually by the weather and by various things which man may not control, but the volume of money is determined by law, which man does control. And so, if you by law make your crop of money short you raise the value of the dollar; and if you raise the value of the dollar you pro- duce the same injustice to the man who owes a dollar that Mir. Sturtevant calls attention to in the crop of wheat that doubles value.
 Now, want you young men to realize that when you have received great ad- vantages, great responsibilities go with those advantages, and that you have no right, as citizens in a land like this, to keep in darkness upon any public ques- tion; nor have you right to listen to any persuasions except the persuasions which come from your conscience and your Judgment. I appreciate the advantages of living in country like this. You may have had people to tell you that my ideas were antagonistic to our form of govern ment and to law and order; but I want you to believe me when l say that there is not a person in this country who loves our institutions more than I do, or who feels a deeper interest in their perpetua- tion. And what young man has more right to prize our institutions than I have? In what other country is 1t poSsi- ble for a young man to accomplish as much as he can accomplish in this coun- try? In what other country is it possible for young man, with nothing to com mend him except his interest in the cause, to be selected by those who believe in him to carry out their ideas? I so much prize the ideas of country like this that I want to keep this government as our fathers intended. I want 1t to rest se- curely upon the foundations which they laid, so that it will guarantee equal rights to every citizen, and give special privi- leges and advantages to no citizen.
 T want it still to be so that the child of the humblest citizen of this land may be able to aspire to any office for which his ability or his ideas or his labors and his integrity fit him. And it is because that realize, as I think do, some of the influences which in society are tending to close the door of opportunity to young men, that I have felt the indignation that have expressed against great aggrega- tions of wealth, which have in many in- stances trampled upon the rights of the weaker members of society, and have at tempted, by the power which they can command, to drive out competition and to prey upon society after 1t has been rendered helpless and lies at their mercy.
 But, my friends, I am here more to greet you than to talk to you, and have digressed only this much because have so little chance to have my side heard in some of our institutions of learning that I do not feel that ought to neglect an opportunity to say word in the defense of the cause for which I stand"
 1T read in the papers that in various in- stitutions of learning they are nearly all against me My friends, if I should read in the papers that there was not college professor not business man, not man prominent in society who believed in what I am teaching, while I would be- lieve in it l would still teach it. When hear people say the trouble with the masses of the people is that they don't work hard enough recall what the Bible tells us, that when Pharaoeh, when he heard the complaint that came up from his people, said the same thing. He said: They are idle, that is what troubles them; make them make more bricks and make them furnish the straw I know, too. that all the great reforms of so- ciety have come up from the common people, not down from those who were well-to-do, or who were so surrounded that they did not feel the need of the people. I remember that the Bible tells us that when one young man was inquiring what he ought to do and was told to sell what he had and give to the poor he went away sorrowing because he had great possessions. l know that great possessions sometimes so monopo- lize a persons thoughts, so occupy his time, that he has not time to give to those needs of society which are felt and real- ized by those who suffer.
 q want you, in the study of all ques- tions, not to take my views, because I may be wrong; not to take anybody's views, but to try to find out what is best 2 for the people and be satisfied that you can only lift yourself by lifting up those who are about you"
 When MT. Bryan concluded there was more cheering, and again the students broke forth when President Branley an- nounced holiday in honor of the demo- cratic nominee. The members of the Phisigmapsi society escorted MT. and Mrs. Bryan to their carriage, singing their fraternity song, and sent cheers af- ter them as they were driven away.
 After the exercises in the college chapel MT Bryan made little speech to a dele- gation from the porch of the residence of his host, Dr. H. K. Jones, in which he said that he had been accused of being