Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1896-07-22

not a spot of ground upon which rne
enemy will dare to challenge to battle.
Why, If they tell us the gold standard
IS a good thing, We point to their plat
form and tell them that their platform
pledges the party to ger rid Of the gold
standard and substitute bimetallism.
Applause.)
IF the gold standard is a good thing,
why try to get rid of it? daughter
and applause) And 1 might call your
atteTs ion to the fact that some of the
very people who are in this convention
today, and who tell you that we ought
to declare that the gold standard is
wrong, and that principle of bimetal-
lism is better. These very people four
months ago were open and avowed ad-
vocates of the gold standard and were
telling us that we could not legislate
two metals together, even with all the
world. Renewed applause and cheers)
1 want to suggest this truth, that if the
gold standard is a good thing, we ought
to declare in favor of its retention and
not in favor of abandoing it; and if
the gold standard is a bad thing why
should we wait until some other ma
tons are willing to help us 10 let go.
(Applause) Here Is the line of battle.
We care not upon which issue they
force the fight. We are prepared to
meet them on either issue, or on both.
If they tell us the gold standard is the
standard of civilization, we reply to
them that the most enlightened of all
nations of the earth has never declar-
ed for the gold standard, and both par
ties this year are declaring against it.
| (Applause) If the gold standard is
| the standard of civilization, why, my
| friends, should we not have it? So if
| they come to meet us on that we can
present the history of our nation. More
| than that. we can tell them this, that
| they will search the pages of history in
vain to find a single instance in which
| the common people of any land have
ever declared themselves in favor of the
| gold standard. (Applause.)
'"They can find where holders of fixed
| investments have been. Mr.. Carlisle
said in 1878 that this was a struggle be-
| tween the idle holders of idle capital
and the struggling masses who produce
wealth and pay the taxes of the coun-
| try and, my friends, it is simplay a
question that we must decide upon
which side shall the democratic party
fight. Upon the side of the
idle holders of idle C nital,
or upon the side of the struggling
masses? That is a question that this
party must answer first and then it
must be answered by each individual
hereafter. The sympathies of the DEM
| ocratic party as ascribed by the plat
form are on the side of the struggling
| masses who have ever been the foun-
dation of the democratic party. Gap
| plause.)
There are two ideas of government.
| There are those who believe that if you
don't legislate to make fell, to do pros
porous, that their prosperity will leak
! through on those below. The demo-
cratic idea has been that if you legis-
late to make the masses prosperous
their prosperity will find its way UP
and through every class and rest upon
it. (Applause.) You come to us and tell
us that great cities are in favor of the
gold standard. 1 tell you that great
cities rest upon these broad and fertile
prairies. Burn down your cities and
leave our farms, and your cities will
spring up again, as if by magic. But
destroy our farm and grass will grow
in the streets of every city in this coun-
try. cloud applause.) My friends, we
shall declare that this nation is able tc
legis1ate for it's own people on every
question, without waiting for the aid
or consent of any other nation on earth.
(Applause) And upon that issue we
expect to carry every single state in the
Union. (Applause.) 1 shall not Islander
the fair state of Massachusetts nor the
state of New York by saying that wher
its citizens are confronted with the prop
osition that this nation is able to at.
tend to it's own business, and I will moi
SANDER either one by saying that the
people of those states will declare oul
helpless impotency as a nation to at
| tend to our own business. It is the is
sue of 1776 over again. Our ancestors
when but 5000, 900 had the courage tc
declare their independence of every 9th
er nation on earth, shall we, their de-
scendants when we have grown to TO-
900, 900 declare that We are less indie
pendent than our forefathers? No. my
friends, it will never be the judgment
of the people. Therefore, we care moi
upon what lines the battle is fought. II
the say bimetallism is good, but we
cannot have it until some nation helps
us, we reply that instead of having the
gold standard because England has it.
we shall restore bimetallism and then
let England have bimetallism because
the United States has it. (Applause.l
If they dare to come out and defend the
gold standard as a good thing we shall
fight them to the uttermost, having be-
hind us the producing masses, the com
mercial interests laboring interests an6
all toiling masses, we shall never an
swer their demands for the gold stand
ard by saying to them you shall not
press down upon the brow of labor this
crown of thorns. You shall not cruelty
mankind upon the cross of gold. (Great
applause)