New-York tribune., 1896-10-03
BRYAN AND THE WORKINGMEN.

BRYAN AND THE WORhINtHEN.
There have been demagogries before Mr.. Bryan
who have undertaken to impose upon the In
tcllcence of the workingmon of the country.
They have been sometimes, in some small meas
ure and for brice periods. successful. But III
those rare cases they have not assumed that the
preot mass of workers. who constitute the ma
iority of the voters were in such besottcd gno-
rance that they could be caught by appeals to
| prejudice alone by foolish fallacies. by the mere
| emptiness of sounding phrases. or the allure
| ments of windy oratOry. The dcmagogues VINO
| have achieved brief and transitory successes
| have mt least had something plausible to oher III
| the way of argument-something that hattered
| the victim of their wiles with the notion that he
| did have something resembling mental processes
| and that the demagogue rested his cause upon
| their operation. They did not start of with the
| bald assertion that til" wOrkingman was fooi
| a hypocrite, a liar and coward. ana. alter
| thrusting such an insult in his face ana eyes.
| proceed to tell him his political duty THIS mas
| not been the method of the few deinaGogu"s
| in this country who have achieved moinen'ary
| successes.
But Mr.. Bryan and his newspaper supporters
| have adopted an altogether new method. III Is
| not a persuasive method, by any means. 1t does
not pretend 10 deal with workingmen as though
they were intelligent persons. For that mat
ter. It may almost he said that they attempt no
| imposition upon the workingman's intelligence.
| On the contrary, they go at him with cowboy
| brute force and hardly the pretence of conceal
| ment Of their contempt for the ignorance. I'M
truthfulness. trcachery and cowardce Of this
great mass Of citizens-the vast majority of
voters-who are dependent upon their own labor
Ifo,. fn. hA
men who do days work for employers from the
men who also labor in a different field as en-
ployers to find markets and keep the machinery
| Of enterprise in operation designating the for
mer as ..masscs" and the latter as "classes"-
Mr. Bryan has not hestated to say by hint. In
tlmation and lnnuendo. II he has not openly As
! serted IT, that the Masses though really in
sympathy with him and what he calls his
.causc" are too cowardly 10 say so: that under
the intimidation Of their employers they are only
pretending TO be in favor Of Mckinley. In plain
English. he has been saying 10 the workingmen
| OF the country that the only reason why they do
not come out openly and unrcservedly in his
support is that they are afraid OF giving offence
| IN their EMPLOYERS That means that they are all
| towards AT the same time he and his support
| crs are saving that those workngmen who are
wearing Mckinley buttons and pretending to be
| I'm favor Of Mex Kinleys election will. when Flee
ton Day comes vote the Bryan ticket. That
means that they are 1rcachcrous, false and hypo-
| critical.
These cheerful and hattcring view Of the in
telllgencc vcracity and courage Of the working
| men of the country he and his supporters have
been thrustng in the face and eyes Of the men
whose sympathy and support they seek with the
| most monumental assurance and mpudence 10
gain. What must the intelligent and sef-re-
specting workingman think OF such arguments
and such appeals? See what succession OF
mpositions and insults these Bryan people are
practising Not content with the imposition upon
the workingman's Intelligence OF the shallow
argument that he will be helped by il change in
the currency standard which will double the cost
of all he buys and diminish by Onehalf the pay
for all he has to scll-which Is his labOr-thcy
openly charge him with cOwardice in being gov
crned by his employers in his political action,
and with untruthfulness. hypocrisy and trcach-
cry in wearing the badge of party he opposes
and pretending To favor the candidate whom
Intends to vote against at the polls. And this,
as the canvass draws to its close, Is the only lire
of argument addressed TO workingmcn, As well
as the only basis the Bryan people have for their
claim to n majority Of their votes.
The wOrkingmen of the country can make no
answer to this gross insult to their intelligence
their manhood and their sense Of self-respcct
until one day next month they say, by an over
whemng rcbuke to the whole dcmagogue ont
fit. "Shoo" Which they will.