Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1896-10-22


double standard. (Applause.) Now, If the
advocates of the gold standard had been
willing to fight an open, honest. manly
fight, why didn't they declare that the gold
standard was good and that the American.
people ought to maintain it because it Is
say 1t because to have declared so would
have been to contradict the testimony of
the masses of people of every country
which has ever had it. (Applause)
Now. my friends, do you believe that the
Republican party is going to try to secure
bimetallism? "a voice, eyes, sir" 81 don't.
(Anothcr voice. Neither do I.'O The Re-
publican platform was written by men
who do not want bmetallism. (Applause.)
The Republican platform was written by
men who believe that this nation must have,
whether it likes it or not, whatever fnan-
cial system foreign creditors insist on our
having. Applause) Therefore, say
they want international bimetallsm they
are merely holding that out as a mask
behind which they may work to fasten the
gold standard permanently upon the Amer
lean people. (Applause) No party in the
history of this nation has ever declared
that the
Gold Standard Was n Good Thing;
no party in all the history of this nation
has ever declared that the gold standard
is good thing. If you say that the So
called National Democrats have declared
that the gold standard is good thing "a
voice: FIFTY thousand majority in Mime
sofa for Bryan!'D If, my friends, you re-
mind me that the so-called National Demo-
cratic party declared for the gold standard,
I tell you that that is not a national party.
because no national party ever nominated
ing another ticket. applause, hurrahs and
voices, "Fifty thousand for the boy ora
tori "Hit him again!') No national party
was ever recognized as an adjunct of an
other party already in existence; no ma
tional party ever expected to have Its birth
day and its death at the same time. TAP
plause and, "Thats a good shot!") And,
my friends. the best evidence that 1 am
right in saying that the advocates of the
gold standard never fought an open fight
is found in the fact that the men who as
sembled at Indianapolis wrote platform
which was entirely different from the plat
form which the minority of the Democrats
at Chicago tried to secure the adoption Of
In the Chicago platform. (Applause0 At
Chicago the minority wanted international
bimetallism and were afraid that free coin
age would prevent 1t. But when that
minority got into a convention by itself it
was SO busy that it forgot all about inter.
national bimetallism. daughter and APP
plause) And then to further brand it as
nothing but fraud and deception, those
who advocate that Independent Democratic
ticket employ speakers who openly tell you
they are going to vote for the Republican
candidate and advise others to in sound
money meetings. applause, and a voice,
"They are curs!'D
I say, my friends. that these things all
prove to you that our opponents are not
making a square, open fight. They say they
are advocates of honest money. l tell you
that honesty Is not characteristic tfat
appears occasionally and disappears In
mans character. daughter and appl ,use.j
A man who Is honest in one thilg is ant
to be honest IN other things. i:ut tLese
men who pirate about honest money are
the ones who deal dishonesty 9th the
American people. Great applause They
remind me of Peter Cartwright, I think
it was-someonc 1sked him whether he
in spots" Naughter) These people seem
to be honest in spots (Renewed laughter)
And they want YOU to believe that lien
who put up one ticket when they expect to
vote for another. men who advise OF to
vote for ticket that they don't expect
to vote for. mel who talk dbn,,. saund
money without iel.'' s. you what it is. men
who prate about ~ honest doilas and then
worship the nost dishonest dollar III the
country to-day toe god dollar (apD' a>e)
they want you to believe that they are
the only people who can be trusted, to be
entirely unselfsh and patriotic in the es-
Establishment of financial policy daughter
and applause.)
Truth, my friends "a voice-What
about the 52-cent dollar0 1 will come to
you in moment Truth, my friends. does
not deal in ambiguous phrases: truth does
not hide behind words with double mean
ing; and when you find men who, instead
of talking for the gold standard, talk about
sound money. you find men who think that
they can make you think what they don't
think themselves. applause and laughter)
We are willing to meet any open enemy;
we are willing to present our cause ana
trust to the conscience and the Judgment
of the people. "a voice: That's lie!o And
I want you, my friends, to consider
Voices, ''Put him Quit" and hisses.} Be
quiet, be quiet. My friends, if you want
to be friendly to me I wish you would keep
still and not interrupt this meeting, and
let the gentleman ask his question. "a
voice, THAT'S right" and applause.)
Voice-Mr. Bryan, want you to ex-
we are going to get silver from the silver
people any easier than we can get gold
from the gold people.
MIR. Bryan-YeS, sir, l will.
The Voice-We should be very glad to
have you explain further.
Mr.. Bryan-Is that all the difficulty that
my friend has? or have you some other IL at
1 can explain at the same time? daughter
and appausc.l My friends, tie gentleman
has asked Il very simple question, and 1
am glad that 1t is asked because it will
show you what tiny things cal be stumb-
ling blocks for those who don't want to
step over them. (Applause) The gentle
man wants to know how we are going to
get money from the silver kings. l want
him to remember this. that he has. two ar
guments If he represents the gold standard
idea, which would like to have him rec
oncile when he has time. They tell us that
the silver kings will convert what is now
worth so cents into 100 cents and make the
difference. That is one of the troubles,
Isn't it? Yes, sir. And then when he has
done that, it will be 5O-cent doliar-that
is another difficulty isn't it? daughter
and applause. and a voice. Hes a news
paper man-he's all rightly Now. when
you have time to think about it, I want
you to try to figure out how that can be
a hundred-cent dollar long enough for the
miner to make SO cents on it and then be-
come 50-cent dollar for all the rest of the
people. daughter and applause) The
only way in which the miner can make that
profit is by converting piece Of silver now
worth so cents into ore dollar which will
be worth 100 cents. If, when he gets
through. he has only converted a 5O-cent
piece Of silver into a 50-cent dollar, he has
not made anything by the operation. (Ap-
plause)
Now. I believe that the free coinage Of