The Florence tribune., 1896-10-24
SPEECH OF A PROTECTOR.
Truthful Remarks Of c. A. Wallace, De-
 livered in Casa Grande.


 Mr, Chairman, Ladies and Gentle man; thank you for the honor that you have conferred upon me inf asking me to address you. As you are most all of you aware am prospector and not n politician, and.of course you must not expect to hear eloquence or be in formed on those deep and profound in trieaeics of political economy by me But if you win give me your kind at tention I will enseavor to give you my view of what think is the greatest problem thar hos eyer come before the American people.
 The question as it appears to me is, shall we continue to support the gold standard at the expense and enslave- ment of the laboring and producing masses, for the benefit of the consum ing and coupon clipping classes, or change the present order of things and strive to benefit all mankind? I have not the least doubt what your answer win De to the question. But you ask me how is this great object to be ac- eomplished? In this age there Is but one answer to a question of this kind, namely: By the judicious aud intelli- gent nse of the ballot. Less then two centuries ago my answer would have been thad lived in that age) by force, for in that age all, or nearly all poli- tical points of difference were settled by fierce of arms, but in this age of advanced civilization the ballot is the most hnmane and powerful weapon of defense. You may propose the strike, with it's attending evils, riot and destruction of property, and sometimes its fatalities, but it is impo- tent. You loose sight of the nest and all important factor in the case when you strike, the destruction of values; you loose your time which is valuable, you destroy property which is likewise valuable, and only in one case in ten, do ycu succeed in gaining that for which you were contending. No, gentlemen, the strike, which is an in cipient revolution, will never win for you back again the good old times of yore. There was strike in 1873, though, that was successful from one point og view. It was strike that destroyed more values, a strike that destroyed more property, a strike that caused more hardship, strike that naademore poverty than all other strikes in the world, and yet there was not the least riot not the least bit of oloodshed, not the least of noise. It vas theImost quiet, the most peaceble strike in the world, and yet the most dreadful in it's consequences. It was the blow that was struck our monetary system, when the Benedict Arnold of our fnsnees, John Sherman, struck down and demonetized half of the money of the world, in an underhand cowardly, sneaking way, at the in aligation and under the pay of the money lending shylocks Of foreign country.
 Now, my kind heare's, fit was for the benefit and the advantage of those shy locks that this infamous deed was done it does not require profound reasoning of political economists, the deep re- seBrches of statisticians to tell us that it is for our benefit to right that wrong. In this campaign the child of nature can see as plainly which is right and which is wrong as the great est savant in the world If in twenty three years this plan has made over four thousand millionaires and over fonr millions of paupers it does not re quire much perception to see that it is not good plan. You do not need to be dosed with figures after figures to convince you that the plan is wrong, and all the figures in the world would never convince you that the plan is right By the same taken, speaking of figures puts me in mind of a story; man was once settling with one of his employees, and the settlement did not seem to suit tile employee who was an illiterate man. The employer in his grand way says, Well, John, you know figures won'tlie. "Yes, know that alright, J says John, but liars can figure. Pardon for the Aggression, but if it was for and ill the interest of the capitalists of Europe to demoaetize our silver ia there anyone over here so foolish as te expect them to help us remonetize it. I think that forever should lay at rest the hope of international bimetalism.
 If no other country will help us re montize silver, and do not blame them. when we can see that those govern
 nents arein the hands of and conducted by capitalists and aristocrats, why should we not remonatize it without their help or consent. We did not ask fol the consent of England tofree our black slaves (and would not have got it, if ws had) why should we ask her to free our white slaves-ourselves? Gentle men, Idon't blame the coupon clipping classes for fighting us tooth and nail for if we win their occupation will be