Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1896-09-16
BRYAN,s RECEPTION AT ST. LOUIS.

ST. LOUIS, Sept. Nv. J. Bryan
was enthusiastically welcomed to st.
Louis this evening by fully 100, 900 PEG
three speeches in various parts of the
city between and II o'clock, and at
each he talked to an audience which
completely filed every available spot.
Thirty thousand people greeted Mr..
BRYAN at Concordia Park to night and
cheered the candidate, when he mount
ed the platform erected there, until it
seemed as if they would never give
him an opportunity to speak.
The crowd looked we'll and acted
we'll. It was well dressed, sober and
orderly, albeit. wildly enthusiastic.
1t was made up in the main of work
men, and they had exhausted their
Sunday wardrobes to do honor to the
event.
At s o'clock Mr.. Bryan was escorted
by the committee to the grounds The
introduction speech OF Hugh Brady,
chairman of the Democratic Commit
tee, was short and business like. Mr..
Bryan's first appearance had been the
signal for a heaven-splitting cheer,
and the shout that went up when he
stood before the multitude was louder
and more prolonged than the first.
Mr.. Bryan began at once to speak.
nor did he waste any time. He began
at the actual issue ana ended with it
the silver question. From the begin
ming to the close of his short address
he was constantly brought to bay and
silenced by yolleys of cheers. 1t
would seem that the audience had
been studying the subject on which Re
talked. The men listening, appre-
hended every point, and shouted APP
proval as the orator drove home some
nail, and appropriately replied to
every question which he saw fit to put.
THE ONE GREAT ISSUE.
Mr.. Bryan's speech was as follows:
Mr.. Chairman, Ladies and Gentle
men-I will try to divide my time be-
tween the various portions of the audi
ence, SO that you can all hear
We are entering upon a memorable
campaign, a campaign which means a
great deal of sod or Iii 10 S..-o people
of this country, and in that campaign
there is one great overshadowing issue,
and upon that issue the people are
divided.
There are some who believe that the
maintenance of the gold standard. I'M
til foreign nations come to our relief,
is an absolute necessity for the welfare
of this country. There are those, on
the other hand, who believe with US
that the immediate restoration of the
free and unlimited coinage of the gold
and silver bullion at the present legal
ratio of 16 to /, without waiting for the
aid or consent of any other nation, is
absolutely essential to national pros
parity.
This is the great question which
II ust be submitted to the ballot, and,
IN order that you may understand this
question, 1 desire to submit an argu-
ment in behalf of restoration of free
coinage.
1 assume, in the first place. that
every American citizen is competent
to form an opinion upon this issue.
Our opponents tell us that the money
question is complicated question,
and that only few are able to master
it. There is no question which can
come before the American people
which is too deep for the American
people themselves. There is no issue
which must be submitted for a settle
ment to a particular class of people.
The Creator did not make any class of
people to think for the rest of the peo-
pie. If He had He would have given
extra brains to them who are to do the
thinking. and simply given backs to
the rest that they might bear all the
burdens.
ALL CAN THINK FOR THEMSELVES.
The Constitution did not suggest
that any class of people was to act for
any other class. If the founders of
the Constitution had ever supposed
that a question would rise like the
money question, and had thought
that it could only be settled by finan
ciers, our forefathers would have
written in the Constitution that while
on bottle subjects all the people might
vote. on the money question only f.
nanciers could vote.
When the ballot was given to you to
use it was given upon the assumption
that you had the intelligence and
patriotism necessary to use it right,
and believe, my friends. you have.
Now / want to submit for your con-
sideration two Or three propositions
and believe that they are so clear
and so plain that every one OF you
here can recognize the force of them.
In the first place, the Republican
party, in its platform and through its
public men, is making an effort to
supply the people of the United States
with sufficient amount of money to
do business. IT were to tell you that
q grown person could wear the clothes
of a child you would think me foolish.
If l told you that grown person
could live on food necessary to sustain
life in a child you would call me fool
ish, and yet they call these men finan
eiers, who assume that people grow.
ing in population can survive on a
money decrease in its mint.