The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1896-08-21
The BIC SILVER RALLY.
A Large Audience Greets Mr..
Temple.
ONE OF HIS BEST EFFORTS
The Money Question Handled in
a Thorough and Compre-
hensive Manner.

The headquarters of the Bryan
Silver Club presented gay appear
ance during last nights rally, hav-
ing been decorated in an appropriate
manner and a platform erected for
speakers. A large banner with the
words, '*No Cross Of Gold, No Grown
Of Thorns. 16 TO l. The Money Of
the Constitution extends clear
across the rear and of the hall.
The crowd at last evenings rally
comfortably filled the hall and there
was a fair sprinkling Of goldbug
republicans present This was
something that had not occurred
heretofore.
After disposing of the regular
club business, President c. L.
Lewis introduced the speaker of the
evening, Mr.. W. O. Temple. The
speaker began by complimenting the
defense Of the gold standard as made
by Edwin VanCise last Monday
night, stating that it was as good
could be expected on that side of the
financial question. Mr.. Temple ad
mitted that there were two sides to
the money question and favored the
free and open discussion of all issues
affecting the welfare of the Ameri
can people. In his talk, the speaker
appeared not as a partisan in any
sense of the term, but as silver
man an advocate of the money of
the masses and the constitution. He
stated that his views had at one
time been antagonistlc to silver and
that he was a radical gold-bug, but
rigid and fair investigation of the
entire question at issue showed him
the rank injustice of the single gold
standard and he could not conscien-
tiously remain as supporter of
that policy. He exposed the phra-
ses of :'sound money and "honest
dollar" and stated that they were
misleading, deceptive and intended
only to catch votes. The speaker
believes in the honesty of the rank
and file of the goldites, but he ques-
toned the sincerity Of the leaders
in the movement. He dispelled the
fallacy that we now have bimetalism
and stated that since 1873 we had
been on practically gold basis;
that there can be no bimetalism in
the true meaning Of the term with
out both gold and silver are treated
alike and given free and unlimited
coinage. Citing history, Mr.. Tenn
pie showed how France attained the
height OF her prosperity under the
free coinage of both metals, and the
same was true of the United States.
Since the decentralization of silver in
1873 prices have gone downward,
gold has appreciated until now the
nation rests on the verge of fnan-
cial dependence. The speaker cited
the fact that our people are rapidly
dividing into two classes-the mil
lionaire and the tramp. He took
up the time worn statement still re-
hashed bv some republicans to the
effect that silver had never been de-
monetized, and from speeches de-
livered by Carlisle in 1873 and 1896
proved the falsity of such a claim
The over production" and the
"cheapened production" chestnuts
were exploded and it was proved
that falling prices were not the re-
suits of the these two things, but
through the appreciation of gold
when that metal was almost forced
to do the work which prior to 1873
had been done by both gold and sill