The record-union., 1896-08-26

hands we should never have gone so far
or suffered so much.
When the Sherman Act was strug-
Cling to be repealed the Democratic
press, and even some Republican, told
us that repeal would be the final rem
edy and business would revive. l never
shared that belief; on the contrary, just
three years ago to-day, lacking two
days, while l was conSorting with good
DemocratS-and L hope to consort with
the like in this campaign-I took occa-
sion, in the presence of 5000 men,
women and children, to declare that the
repeal of the Sherman law was only
one step on the onward march. Since
then many bad things have happened,
plunging US deeper and deeper in the
mire. In that very discourse / told the
Democrats that l did not expect the
Democratic party to be utterly bad,'
idea what the Chicago convention
would do or say in 1896.
Since that speech in '93 we have had
q severe lesson. When the Tariff Act
proposed by Mr.. Bryan and his asso-
ciates was presented in the House it
was certainly a great shock to the bust
ness interests of the country The
change was radical, and men like Mr..
Bryan were carried away with the pos
sibilitieS of their own eloquence. There
seemed no possibility to the limit of
the evil. Now, / do not propose to
charge Democrats with that bill The
one they finally passed was a vastly
different one. But the mischief had
been done. The shock had stopped
business. Then came the income tax:
unconstitutional and destructive; de-
clared so by the Supreme Court, and
then the attendant deficiency. That
deficiency has been breeding sore ever
since, in the way il has scared and
frightened our people beyond all rea-
son. What are $400,00 1000, increase
OF debt to a nation SO rich that one of
its big railroads, on half it's lines, can
lose twice as much as paid the whole
revenue of good Queen Bess in the days
of her highest glory and never pass a
coupon or refuse a dividend? Why has
this $4OO 000, 900 frightened us so? Be
cause the Government has refused to
either raise revenue or to separate the
deficit from the redemption of green
backs. Had the House revenue bill of
come a law of the country. with full
hope in a Republican administration in
the near future, we would then have
started upward and onward.
But the condition has been peculiar
We have a three-cornered triangular
Government Everybody has been in
the minority, and hence nobody has had
any responsibility, and we have drifted
sailless and rudderless, but, thank God,
with a stout ship, stouter than all the
winds that blow. When next you put
that ship in commission had you not
better have harmonious Captain and
crew, all of them men who have been
to sea? l know that the four gentle
men, Messrs. Bryan and Watson and
Bryan and Sewall, have been at sea for
many years, but that is a different
thing.
I'VE must restore confidence How
can we restore confidence? First, by
putting anarchy down and all manner
of disturbance. Peace and a stable
Government are the first necessity This
is the borrowing and lending world
No amount of denunciation of money
lenders, no wild talk about Wall street,
which, by the way, is the greatest
money borrower in the world, will ever
put down that fact. Enterprises are
carried on by the united confidence and
money of men of brains. Bring this
thing home to yourselves and then you
will understand it. If you had money
or any other capital you had earned
yourself or that your father had left
to you, or even if you had won in the
luck Of lottery, would you let it out
to anybody on earth who was liable to
give you back only half of it and want
to call it square? If you were a busi-
ness man would you make things on a
gold basis and sell them on credit to
PEOPLE who were trying to see if they
could pay you on some other than a
gold basis? With the defeat of the
Bryan -Watson-Sewall combination will
come certainly the repayment of capi-
ial borrowed at home and abroad: GER
tainly business enterprise will have a
firm foundation, and 1897, with its at
tcndant years of success, will lift us
to another hight of success, where. per-
haps, another set of misguided citizens.
forgetful of the past, will waylay us.
and we shall have to beat them back
again.
Remember that this contest to-day
is not between bimetallism and mono
metallism. That subject would bear
discussion. This contest is between sill
Yer monometallism, which we have not
and gold monometallism, which we
have. That subject will not bear can
did discussion. This contest also is not
between the East and the West There
can be no such contest. Our interests
are identical. With their growth comes
our growth. We cannot go on alone We
nave sent our children there our money
is there. No misfortune can happen to
them that does not happen to u.s.
we here have full esteem for the
pioneers of the West and rejoice in their
prosperity Every wise man agrees
that beyond the Mississippi lies the
great wealth of the days to come. In
the development of this wealth we are
ali interested, and we in the East are
not the unwise men to believe that we
are not concerned in the progress and
future of the West Unfounded sec
tional differences are without excuse.
and 1T viii be woe to those who try to
foment them. The West is too vigorous
not to find out the truth, and it is too
valiant not to follow it when found. All
the West needs is loanabIe capital.
winch will develop its own resources
No part of this Union is so concerned
in restoring confidence as the undevel-
oped territory. The South, too, has
similar interest. But they are busy
down there just now asserting their
rights and keeping down the negro If
they could be persuaded to look after
their interests what happy country
this might be-"
In conclusion, Mr.. Reed said:
These financial matters are governed
by natural laws and take their