The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-09-10
DO THEY BELIEVE THIS.

| The assertion made and repeated ad
nauseam by Mr. Groot in his address
of notification to Mr.. Bryan, at Lin
coin, and accepted explicitly by the
candidate himself, contains the most
| monstrous and impossible charge ever
made by any political party or it's
representatives against a large part
Of the people Of the country in which
they live, and against human kind.
If these gentlemen believe what they
profess to, they are either monu-
ments of credulity or hold such a dis
torted view Of human action and mo-
tive that they are unfit to be trusted
with power. If they do not believe
it, they are seeking political advance
| ment by setting before the nation as
truth an unparalleled and almost I'M
( imaginable lie. In either case, the re-
| Election upon them is q severe one.
Mr. Groot states his view of the
situation in his opening sentences:
We are now entering upon the great
est struggle for the emancipation of
| the people from Industrial bondage.
| industrial slavery, that was ever en-
| gagged in by man. If we fail, our
| country will be despoiled, out institu-
lions will be destroyed and our civili-
cation will perish" There is at least
| no uncertainty of language about this.
! Mr.. Groot has made use of words
which neither he nor Mr. Bryan can
| be allowed to take back He pro-
| ceeds, a little later on, as follows:
Ihe gold barons Of the world have
formed the most gigantic trust that
has ever been formed among men to
control and regulate the volume Of
money in circulation in the interest
| of themselves alone. They have set
about deliberately and premeditatedly
to enslave the American people, pros
trate their industries, destroy their op-
portunities and impoverish the nation
| and the people thereof"
This is a direct charge against
all those who uphold the gold
standard, and involved, as the
speaker and the gentlemen ad-
dressed openly state, both those Re-
publicans and those Democrats who
have heretofore urged and are now
urging the maintenance of the exist
ing monetary standard. We include
Mr. Bryan because in his reply he
| said: L accept the nomination ten
dered on behalf Of the silver party in
| the spirit in which that nomination
| was presented We have shown tba
! spirit in which Mr.. Groot presented
1t, and Mr.. Bryan says that he ac-
cepts it in the same spirit He there
| fore indorses with his name the
| charge brought by the representatives
| OF the silver party against what has
| always been up to this time. and what
| we still believe to be, an overwhelm-
ing majority of the American peo-
! pie
| We repeat that the men who can
thus libel a large portion of their fell
| low citizens, hitherto, at least, a ma
/ jority, and probably a majority at
the present time, are really unfit to
/ enjoy with them the rights of com
mon citizenship. We believe ourselves
| that the free silver people are utterly
mistaken, and that the remedy which
they suggest would be found freighted
with untold woes for cur people. But
we do not believe, we have not charged
and shall never assert, that the masses
of men who are supporting, mistak-
emily, the free silver movement, are in
| tentionaIly and willfully plotting de-
| struction to our institutions. Mr.
| Groot and Mr.. Bryan bar themselves
from this explanation of their posi-
| ton by the choice of words for an
occasion when they knew that their
utterances would be closely scrutin-
lied. Deliberately and premeditated-
ly'' is the language Of the charge. It
is not that the advocates of the gold
standard are, in the judgments of
these people, following wrong policy
through ignorance, but they are de
! liberately and premeditatedly plan