The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1896-09-15

bIed in the Building and Nine-Tenths
of Them Were voters-The Son of the
Great War Governor Delivers Speech
of Over Twenty Thousand Words and
Counted-Mr. Stanley Opened the Meet
Ing With an Enthusiastic Curtain Riser.
Hon. Dick Yates, Jr, who spoke at
the auditorium last night is a crowd
drawer of the first magnitude.
The auditorium has never been so
closely packed with people as it was
last night. The ground floor was jam
med fun, clear back against the walls
and the galleries were simply congested-
Fully $500 people must have been pres
ent and nine-tenths Of them were vot-
Frs including a great many Democrats
and Populists who know they are hon
estly making an effort to find light TO
guide their footsteps into the great
broad cheerful highway that leads on
to national and individual prosperity.
The stage was crowded with veter-
an Republicans; men whose hairs have
grown white and whose cheeks have
been deeply furroW7ed IN the service of
their party and hence the service Of
their country. 1t Is always a good thing
to see the reverend fathers and leaders
Of the party on the stage; they inspire
the men IN front 10 more active and en-
thusiastic work. The custom is con-
sisoent with Republicanism which mas
always been guided by wisdom.
Hon. w r Stanley zz1aS Th.a <Irr-t in
riser Of the evening and as chairman he
electrified the vast audience with a ten
minute speech that had as much meat
and genuine enthusiasm IN il as in any
two hours speech made here this year.
OF course he was applauded, for w. L.
Stanley has never spoken a minute for
the past ten years that he did not set
the hands or feet Of somebody going
He introduced Mr.. Yates in very pretty
and touching words which all the
friends Of the great war governor and
orator of Illinois appiauded with great
vim and spirit
Mr.. Yates, who is a cultured, stylish
and dignified young man of probably
thirty-fiVe, commenced his speech by
referring TO his former visits to WITCH
ita- He first came here twenty years
ago with his sister who was the bride
of Mr.. Woodman and the next time he
came was ten years ago TO take her re-
mains home to Illinois for burial He
was made to feel the generous SYM
pathy of the people OF Wichita at that
time and he realized it now, he said,
upon hooking into the faces of such an
immense and intelligent audience. He
paid "a glowing tribute to Kansas, its
achievements and its people and he pre-
ii fe-1 not 6-O-f ba or
well as the state of his birth would be
great factors this year in carrying the
Republican colorS to a glorious nation
al victory.
He then INDUCED IN some old war his
tory and told "a pathetic story about a
one-armed veteran whom he met one
day recently on the suburbs OF the great
metropolis of Illinois.
While Mr.. Yates is a young gentle
man OF considerable eloquence the
great oveirshadowing features of his
speeches is con1mendable honesty and
comprehensive intelligence. He is, it is
said, eloquent but unlike the Boy Ora
tor of the Platte he does not sacrifice
candor and frankness on the altar OF
burning eloQuence. His desire is to in
struct and not to charm. He throws
not his logic with a brilliant flash on
the comprehension of his audience but
rather he burns it in deeply.
He first took up the SILVER question.
He quoted an article from the Illinois
College Rambler of Jacksonville, Of
the issue published May 4, 1895, a state
ment made by William j. Bryan which
said: by the ratio of 16 to l is meant
that sixteen ounces of silver shall be
the legal equivelant of one ounce of gold
I'm debt paying power; in other words
that $3.50 grains of standard gold con-
stftute a dollar and 1880 grains of
standard silver constitute a dollar.
By free coinage is meant the legal
right TO convert gold bullion into gold
coin and silver bullion into silver coin
without charge for mintage"
Mr.. Yates took this for his text and
discussed it very ably, starting out by
saying that the Republican party
claimed that this kind of coinage would
work great INJURY to the business in
tereSJS OF the country as 1t would give
us a debased currency, that is to say a
dollar with half the purchasing power
OF the present dollar. He said that the
mint could not take gold today and by
stamping it add anything to its value
in paying the soldier, sailor, clerk, PEN
sjoner or creditor.
But according to the Bryan view the
mint could take fifty cents worth OF
silver and add, or pretend to add, to its
value 100 per cent in payment 10 the
classes of people above mentioned.
On this subject he contrasted the
Pop. Demo-Pop and Republican plat
forms with equal and honest justice 10
each OF the three but with great ad-
vantage to the latter.
He said that national and individual
honor were alike at stake when IL is
proposed TO pay 100 cents of indebted
ness, public or private, with fifty cents
of value. With national credit and in
dividual honor wanting" he said, sure
ruin and disaster viii abide With both
nation and Individual"
He then wen into statistics, showing
the silver and gold produced in the
world since 1850 and the producing ca
surdity Of the proposition 10 keep both
OF them at a parity under free coinage
without International agreement among
the leading countries OF the world.
In reply to the claim OF the Popo-
Gratis that his country is large enough
TO take care of itself alone he said that
their argument was not good. He said
that China was big enough with its
Chinese walls 10 take care OF itself but
that it was not large enough 10 make
other nations accept so cents for a dol
lar wroth OF Indebtedness. He said
that the bank could pay the merchant
a dollar worth of debts II the law said
so and the merchant could pay the