The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-10-03
THE MASSES AND THE .CIaSSES,
Curious and Illogical Distinction
Made by the B~ryanites.

view IoTk Evening POSt.
1t is a curious feature of the present
campaign to make a Populist President of
the Nation, as it has been of every cam,
palgn to elect a Populist Governor of a
State, that the supporters Of Bryan regard
a mans financial success as necessarily
maxim him a bad adviser of 1.-The masses
excellent qualification for conduct of pub
lie affairs. Let anybody who has saved
some money talk what sounds like good
sense, and he is at once denounced by the
supporters of Bryan as a representative of
the classes" who are, by the very law
of their being. making war upon the peo-
pie. If the Industrious, thrifty and sue
ceSSful man owns some government bonds
or is an officer in a bank, he is denounced
While some loud-mouthed ranter who never
saved 81 cent is hailed as the deliverer of
the laboring man from "vassalage to Wall
street The Emporia (Kan.) Gazette notes
that among the Populists of that State it
is considered a clinching argument for
Bryan that AL the bankers in this town
are for Mckinley" The result of this State
OF mind is that in Emporia, a city of 1906
people. the local Popuiist considers that in
sorne way Mr.. Martindale, and Major Hood,
and Charles Cross. and others who are in
terested in banks, and who believe in sound
money, are the classes, while Jesse Gray,
and Ben Fowler. and Judge Peyton, and
others who, like these. believe in free coin
age, are the masses
The Gazette shows the absurdity of all
this very clearly by applying the argu-
mentum ad hominem. 1t is true, it says.
that the men in Emporia who conduct
banks believe in sound money, but it is
also true that only a small part of the
wealth of these men is invested i'll banking.
Mr.. Martindale, for amp has So invest
ed in farms where he has 81 invested in a
bank; Major Hood has four times as much
money invested in Kansas land as he has
invested in banks; Mr.. Cross'S investments
in farms and stock upon farms are larger
by half than his investment in banks. The
Gazette says that one may go clear down
the list, and it will be found that the bank
ers in Lyon county are, first of all, inter
ested in those things which should interest
the farmer. 1t declares that there is not
a farmer in the county who would be more
greatly oppressed by anything that would
Cypress the smallest farmer in the cons
munity than would Mr.. Cross; and that
Major Hood would be more benefited than
almost any farmer in Lyon county by a
law or a movement that would benefit even
the poorest farmer in the State. Such mel.
as these. studying the situation as owners
money; and yet the fact that they are sue
cessful. that they have operated farms al
a profit instead of at a loss, makes their
opinion and their business judgment WORTH
less in the minds of these wild-eyed theo-
r;st5 OF finance" who believe in Bryan ana
free coinage. After six years observation
Of the party. the Gazette sums up its con-
illusions thus:
What the Kansas Populist desires is not
advice from the successful man. but rather
the folly of a failure. What the Kansas
has no standing. no success. no nothing
but theories, figures and wind. The theo-
ries. figures and wind fellows are leading
the masses; the men who have succeeded
and who know how they did ii are the
classes"