The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1896-08-12

I annual for figures sound argumenta7
/ tive whether they are or not.
The main thing after all is to keep
/ the other man from talking.
A little man stands no chance at ALL
] big man can hold him by the throat
and outtalk him every time
! On Kansas avenue between Sixth and
/ Seventh the other afternoon a little
/ man with a hooked nose who said he
/ was from Colorado stood haranguing a
crowd on gold.
How funny it is that all the gold
! men of Colorado have suddenly drop
| ped everything else to go east and talk
| against free silver. They are always
| from Colorado and they never seem to
I have anything to do but strut around
/ and pick up arguments with silver men
/ who know Colorado is a silver state.
He was telling what big majority
/ Colorado will roll up for Mckinley this
| year. Somebody started to check him
but he was too much for an amateur
He was smooth in his line and was
rolling up figures about the output and
| the coinage and different stages of ratios
so fast that a little silver man with a
/ book in his hand and a poor memory
/ could not turn the pages fast enough
to stop him.
Some of the listeners finally hooted
at him but it didn't stop his flow of
language and to this day nobody knows
whether his figures were right or wrong.
| They were figures nobody had ever
heard before.
He has been talking necessarily for
ten minutes when big man pushes
through the crowd. He listened for a
moment to find something to contra
dict. He didn't find it,
He had an idea, however, and sud
denly he took a bold stand.
Look here" yelled the big man with
a jerk shaking his finger in the other
mans face. You're a fast talker and
you've just said that money talks. You
put those figures you've been quoting
on paper and I'll bet you 81, 600 and put
the money up in ten minutes that I can
2 liar in T1la0pS in
side of half an hour. You say you are
gold man and that you are from Col
OradO. You've made a big talk about
that and to begin with I'll bet you $500
more that you never saw Colorado. You
talk about Cripple Creek and III bet
you 500 you can't tell whether the
main street of Cripple Creek runs
northeast or southeast. You told what
you heard in Denver and I'll bet you
can't tell this crowd which direction
the Tabor Grand is from the postCfffce.
You can't tell without asking somebody
whether Larimer street is paved with
asphalt or brickbats Which is the
principal bank on Wazee street?''
1t was a bold bluff but it worked; the
man couldn't tell.
Money arguments are generally good
natured- There has been but one fight
growing out of the money question in
Topeka this season, and that was yes
terday in North Topeka
There was a redhot debate one after
noon recently on the west side of Kan
Se3S avenue between Firth and Sixth, In
front of Lawyer Stebbins' office. Final
ly he came down stairs in his shirt
sleeves.
I'm settle this thing of who is going
to win with a straw vote" he said;
this is a representative crowd that is
interested in finance and we'll see how
it blows
He had with him a lot of type writ
ten slips with the two names Bryan
and Mckinley on each. They were
passed among the crowd and the an
nouncement made that the undesfred
name could be torn off and thrown
away.
Bryan got "a votes and Mckinley u.
A cheer ended the dispute; but the gold
men said that Lawyer Stebbins had
looked the crowd over thoroughly be-
fore he took the vote.
A man from one Of the counties out
in the state who was here to look at the
Republican state convention carried
with him perhaps the most original ref
erence book any man ever carried.
He was a silver man and had got into
an argument with a gold bug near the
Copeland. He wore a thin coat and it
was buttOned.
Suddenly in the heat of debate he lost
some figures from his memory and sud
denly ripping open his coat his OppO-
nent found himself confronted with a
shirt front that was a regular table of
recapitulatOry figures from the time OF
continental currency. They were in
lead pencil and carefully done.
This raised a laugh that broke up the
argument.
7 tell you" said travelling man to
Journal reporter the other day, "a
Kansas farmer is mighty hard man to
run up against in a silver argument |
He knows from experience what times (
were and what they are and he has his
own indiSputable way of showing that
the crime of '73 is to blame for it. |
There is a disposition among a good !
many fools to make light of a farmers
opinion and financial education but I
just wish they could run up against a /
good live specimen once. have"
A young silver advocate and a gold
Republican got together last evening |
and after he had been pretty nearly |
wound up the gold man resorted to
sneers and jibes.
He had sneered at AItgeld and the |
silver man had replied rather heatedly:
How about Altgeld running on a sill !
yer platform and making gold leases % |
he asked with a laugh.
The silver man was stumped for lust |
one second. Then he said:
He did that to make sure of his rent, |
of course. You don't imagine he would !
be fool enough to make leases in silver
when silver is demOnetized do you If |
silver had it's rightful place-the place it |
had in 1873-there wouldn't be any gold |
leases
What do you think about this silver
question:" was asked of a quiet looking |
old farmer, a delegate to the Repubn- |
can convention, yesterday morning.
I don't think anything about it," |
said the old farmer, frankly; ''and I |
don't think nine men out of ten know |
anything about it. I've got a good farm |
that is clear of encumbrance and as I'll |
be dead and gone before long I'll leave |
my two boys to fight it out as best they |
can. The place is well stocked and |
didn't stock it by neglecting my work |
to talk tariff or money"