The herald., 1896-08-11

The people were suffering from gold
standard. The leaders of that party
knew it. In the platform they declard
that the gold standard is a bad thing
because they isaid they wanted to get
rid of it as soon as they could. Gap
plause) If any Republican tells you
that the gold standard is a good thing,
tell him to look at his platform. CAP
plause and laughter) His platform says
that the Republican party Will substi-
tute bimetallism for gold monometal-
lism whenever some other nation will
help us do it. Applause and laughter)
l have said and l expect to keep on say
ing that there are two questions that will
drive the Republican party from the
field. The first is that II the gold stand
ard is good thing why not keep it. If
it is bad thing why should we keep
it? Great applause) If it is a good
thing why try to get other nations to
deny to our people the benefits of 1t?
(Applause) II is bad thing; who dares
to say that the people of this country
shall suffer from bad thing? Gap
plause.)
NOW, Hly llleHuS, L Olu ilOl litSio W
make a speech. (Cries of Go on, go
on 1 must stop now.
A voce-"Tell us about 16 to l."
Mr.. Bryan-There are several defini
tions of 16 to l. will give you some of
them. Some think that 16 to l means
that the government will coin sixteen
silver dollars every time it coins one
gold dollar. Uaughter) Some think
that it means thaSt the government will
give sixteen silver dollars for every gold
dollar Gaughter) 1t does not mean
that. Some think that it means under
free coinage it would be as easy to get
under the gold standerd. Naughter)
That may approach the truth. Naugh-
ter and applause.)
Sixteen to one simply means that ac-
cordng to law the debt-paying power
of one ounce of gold when coined shall
be equal to the debt-paying power of
sixteen ounces of silver when coined.
1t simply means that the silver dollar
is sixteen times as large as the gold
dollar. That is what 16 to l menas.
When we say that we are in favor of the
present ratio of 16 to l we simply say
that we are in favor of having the silver
dollar remain the size it is now and hav-
ing the gold dollar remain the size it is
now. That is what we mean. CAP
plause) We mean that is the ratio.
That has been theratio since the days
of Andrew jackson and that shall be the
ratio at which the mints shall be opened
to the free and unlimited coinage of sill
ver (Applause) 1t means this, that
if you have a debt you can go into the
market and buy silver and have it coin
ed and use the silver to pay your debts.
Already you can go out into the market
and buy gold and pay your debts after
ii is coined, and when you have the right
to use either one of them, if the attempt
to corner one metal you can use the
other. Uong continued applause)
whereas, if you have but one metal
which you convert into money and that
money is cornered you are at the mercy
of those who are managing the corner.
(Applause) Now just one word more.
l heard people talk about the great ad-
vantage it would be If we had the free
coinage laws so that men could go out
and buy silver for fifty cents and have it
coined into one hundred cents, and
make the difference. ! have known men
to spend time speculating upon how
much could be made through such q
system.
a voice-Wouldn't the silver mine
owners have monopoly?
Mr.. Bryan-The mine owners are the
only people who produce silver, just as
the gold miners are the only people who
produce gold. tremendous applause
and great cheering.
The silver when produced is of no use
to the man who produces until he either
exchanges 1t for money or converts it
into money for his own use, and the
moment he brings that silver from the
| mine and converts it into money that
money is in use to buy the commodities
! produced by the toilers of this country
| (Applause.)
And until that money is brought into
existence there is no money to buy the
| things which people produce. Therefore
when we legislate to prevent money com
ing into existence, we legislate against
the interests of those who have muscle
! to sell or products to sell and cannot
| sell them until there is money to buy
| them with. Permit me to thank you
for the kindly greetings you have eX-
tended, and to thank you for the inter-
est which you manifest.