Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1896-10-08
Highest all Leavenng PowerLatest U. S Govt Report
R3%!A!!! g! RskiRs Rskaesz
ABSOLUTELY PURE

would have been our conditions this
fall. And how they failed in their
promises, it is unnecessary for me TO
say, Empty houses, idle workingmen.
discouraged merchants, foreclosures
on homes, only made as last resort,
and factories either idle or running
short-handed on part time, speak more
convincing than can words of mine.
Let each man before voting take a
moment to think in what shape and
with what hope he approached the
winters of 1890, 1891 or 1892, and then
place beside it the conditions in which
he has seen the winters OF 1895 and
1896 approach. If he can provide for
his family better, if he now burns coal
where he then had TO go out in the
country and cut wood on shares, il the
"shoddy" cloak of his wife and his
overcoat OF sold rags" OF which the
| Democratic orators said so much, have
been replaced by better and warmer
goods, then surely he must now vote,
at least the Democrat part, of the quad
rupleX DemiPop-Pro hlbition-Silver
ticket that is now presented to him
| The promises quoted above were made
by Mr.. Bryan himself in my hearing,
and were also made by every Demo
cratic orator in that campaign, tell
no man how to vote, but | do earnestly
ask each workingman for his own and
his family's sake and for the sake of
every interest Of the country, to earn
estly think over this vote as never
before.
During the last presidential cam
paign, heard an old gentleman say,
that each generation must learn for
themselves, that the present genera
tion did not know what Democracy
meant, and would probably try it.
Well they have tried it and the ques
tion asked Brigham Young by Artemus
Ward, how he liked matrimony a.
far as he had gone, ]" would with slight
charge apply to them. If they like it,
of course they will do as Brigham did
about matrimOny, try SO more of it,"
The other day | opened book and
by chance it opened to the last annual
message of President Buchanan, the
last complete Democratic government
this country ever suffered under, until
four years ago. Then, as now, they
had been tearing up tariff laws and, as
now, showed their utter incapacity To
build up new laws That portion of
his communication relating to the con-
dition OF the country could well be
copied by Mr.. Cleveland to save wear
and tear on his massive brain. He
says, business is paralzed, capital
idle the revenue of the government
insufficient for its needs, and conf
dence everywhere destroyed. Boys,
that was the country's last experience
of Democratic legislation until we
tried it again. Does not our expert
ence tally. You now know what it
means. Shall we try it AGAIN.
The new Moses now Offering to LEAD
his people out of the wilderness, says
he has one more remedy which he
wants US to try. Says our present ills
come from new and heretofore undis-
covered source, and that he has new
and sure remedy called l6 to and
wants US to risk four more years of pri
vation so that it can be tried. The /
Democrats were in sore straits and /
hailed this new discovery with Joy and
spurred on like the Ephesians OF old
by "those who work in silvern have /
now shouted for more hours than did |
their predecessors, great is this new
god of Democracy. (If | haven't got
that quotation right, am at least as
near right as Mr.. Bryan recently
quoted it, so the silver men cannot
blame me.
This letter has already run to much
greater length than ! intended, so |
will not presume on the Editors cour-
tesy further, except to call attention to
this one fact, the silver advocates are
constantly using few catch phrases,
such as "The policy OF the fathers, y
"The money of the constitution, "The
dollar of the poor man, )" The system
inaugurated by Hamilton, Washing
ton, jefferson, and supported and ad-
vocated by Blaine" That these ex-
pressions will have weight with those
who do not investigate the true facts,
am well aware, but / challenge any
advocate Of the free coinage OF silver
under present conditions at the ratio
OF rs to | to prove that either Haml- |
ton, Jefferson, Washington, or Blaine !
by any word, written or spoken, ever
advocated the coinage OF the two
metals into money at any other ratio
than that OF their exact commercial
ratio. The present ratio is usually
given for convenience sake as l6 to /,
but, the exact ratio is a very small
fraction less than Is. Now one OF the