The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-08-24
FLOOD OF SILVER
In DUCHESS
The Boy Orator. Free, Independent and
Unllmlted.
MONEY QUESTION AN EASY ONE
1t May he Solved by Moro Money.
Billy Bryan's EiOquence Sweeps
Like u Hurricane Over the Pasture
Fields..The Manner in Which Sill.
yer May be Raised to el.29.

!. Bryan yesterday at Madalin, a town
in Duchess county, delivered the first
actual campaign speech since his NOM
ination. Mr.. and Mrs. Bryan and their
hosts, Mr.. and Mrs. Perrine, drove over
to Madalin at o'clock from Upper Red
Hook. A number of houses along the
five miles of road were decorated with
flags and the town of Madalin and the
adjacent village. Tivoli, were also made
attractive by a display of bunting. AT
the outskirts of Madalin a reception
committee and brass band greeted the
candidate. and with the band in front
a procession was formed for the entry
into the town. Fifteen hundred persons
were situated in large pasture used
= in all campaigns for political meetings.
Mr.. Bryan wore again the old black
alpaca coat in which he was attired
when he made, the famous Chicago
speech. His voice. after his long rest,
was clear and strong. In the course of
am going to call your attention to
few things for you to consider when
you are trying to make up your mind
what you ought to do. You take the
gold-standard Democrats. Some Of
tHcIil Sdy tuey Ou6ut W out opCh-
ly and indOrse the Republican candi-
date so as to be sure to elect him. and
others say mo, that would be danger
ous, because unless we have candi-
date Of our own, why, there would be
great many Democrats who would be
foolish enough to vote the Democratic
ticket of the common people" Uaugh-
teri. And there they are divided. They
al! want the same object--they all want
On lot hn-
cause that Democracy Is better eXem-
pltlied through Republicanism. Laugh
teri. But. as l say, they are divided
as to the means Of getting at it, and
think that they can elect a Republican
candidate better by having n candidate
Of their own to fool Democrats with
than they can by openly supporting the
Republican ticket. Not only are they
divided there, but they are also divided
all the way through when they come
to argument, Why. some of them will
start out to show that the gold stand
ard Is good thing, and after one OF
their speakers has gone on n while
showing what n great thing the gold
standard Is, then another speaker
comes along and he says that 1t is a
mistake to say that the gold standard
Is good; the gold standard really is not
good. What we want is bimetallism,
but we cannot have it until somebody
helps us. Uaughter). Now, those two
arguments are not consistent. If the
gold standard is good thing, why
should they want bmetallism, and yet
II they ever have two men making
speeches the same night the chances
are 16 to l Uaughter) that one of
them will praise the gold standard as
good thing while the other will tell
you how anxious they are to get rid of
1t.
Well, then they come to the details
OF the argument. One man says the
reason why he does not want free coin
age Is that he does not think that the
government should pass law that will
enable the silver miner to take so
cents worth of silver bullion and con-
vert 1t into 100 cents and make the
difference. and he will get red in the
face and become indignant at the idea
that the government should attempt to
rob some individual In this way. OF
course he may have been in favor of
SYSTEM Of taxation that would give
200 or 800 per cent. but that does not
count. 1t Is a terrible thing to allow
the silver miner to make that profit
Then the next man who comes up will
say that as a matter of fact the stamp
OF the government adds nothing to the
value Of the metal. and that the free
coinage of silver simply means that
you convert so cents worth of bullion
into 50-cent dollar and nobody makes
any profit out of it. (Applause). Now,
l say that the chances are that If you
have two men making speeches on
the same platform In favor of our not
taking any action until some foreign
nation helps us, you will find that one
of them will. in all probability, make
one argument and the other will make
the other argument, and very often the
same man makes both arguments.
NOW you can see the absurdity of it.
III the silver miner. under the law of
free coinage. finds that his silver bull
lion is raised so that which is now
worth 90 cents will be worth 100 cents,
then there are no 50-cent dollars and IL
the other man is correct, and the law
adds nothing to the value of the metal
and you simply convert 80 cents worth
or silver into 5O-cent dollar, then the
mine owner hasn't made a cent
MONEY QUESTION IS AN EASY
ONE.
Well, then, you will hear other men:
II two men speak against our position
one of them will probably say that
there has been no fall in prices and he
Will denounce the people who are COM
planning that gold has risen in price
and after he has proven that to the
satisfaction of every man who does
not think, then his colleague will tell
you that not only have prices fallen,
nut that 1t Is the greatest blessing in
the world to have prices fall. Now,
these two are not consistent, but it fol-
lows all the way through. Why is it?
1t Is because our opponents have no
tneory, no principle, no policy upon
which they are prepared to stand and
tight and they do not dare to say
that the gold standard is a good thing,
because no party in the history of this
country has ever declared in favor of
gold standard, and they do not dare
to say that the gold standard is a bad
thing and then tell 10000, 900 of liberty
loving people that they have got to
suffer until some foreign nation brings
them relief. (Cries THAT is right!"O.
MY friends, I want you to remember
that In the discussion of this money
question there are certain fundamental
principles. and when you understand
these principles you understand the
money question.
was out in portion of the country
wnere they irrigate on a large scale
ana round enormous plants and in in
vestigating this the thought occurred
to me, What principle underlies the
subject of irrigation? 1t is that water
runs down hill When you understand
that water runs down hill all you have
to do is to dig ditch with a slant
and you can carry water wherever YOU
want. So 1t Is with the money aues-
tion. You have got to find out the
fundamental principles which underlie
the subject, and when you understand
them you understand the money ques-
ton. What is the principle that under
Hes 1t all? 1t is the law Of supply and
demand, which applies to money as to
everything else. You know that IL the
worlds crop next year Of a certain ar
ticle Is very much greater than the
crop this year, that article will fall in
price; II the crop Ia much smaller than