The herald., 1896-10-30
Near the Scene of His Maiden
Effort
THE COUNTRY HAS GROWN
And Will Grow Still Faster Under Free
Silver
The Czar Grows Facetious, But Keeps
His Weather Eye Open for the
Hole He Will Need.
Associated Press Special Wire

B. Reed tonight. In fact, the auditorium
theater and a big hall where an over
flow meeting was held could by no
means accommodate those who sought
to hear the gentleman. He was met at
Niles by committee and escorted to
the city. On his arrival here he was TAX
en- to the Vendome hotel, where lunch
was served During the afternoon he
and his daughter were the recipients of
marked attention. He was escorted
from the hotel to the speaking place by
a flambeau club and the crowds on the
streets gave him hearty greeting. 1t
was several seconds after Mr.. Reed
faced the great audience before he could
commence to speak. Cheers We're con-
tinuous and enthusiastic. He began
his remarks by saying that he was
thankful for such cordial greeting. He
said that he made his first political
speech thirty-two years ago in Santa
Clara county to an audience of about
fifty people. THE county has grown
some since then" he dryly remarked
valley in the world have never seen
it."
Turning then to more serious
thoughts, he said that all the world was
seeking an increase of wealth. Happi-
ness depends on the increase of wealth
and increase of wealth fairly and hon.
estly distributed. Wealth is that which
adds to human comfort and happiness
whether a coat, a pair of shoes of a
home. There has been a vast increase
in wealth in recent years. In crossing the
continent one sees adobe huts which
were once used for homes. In fact at
one time men used cave and holes in
the ground for homes, but they have be-
come too rich for these now and holes
are not needed except by those fellows
who will want them after the third Of
November.
In the time of the crusade there was
not wealth sufficient in Europe the sup
port our railroads for one decade.
Wealth did not exist, and what there
was was in the hands of the castle owner
and the gentry. Our great railroads Of
today are due to wealth and great dis
tribution of wealth. They are not the
result of the wealth of any one man,
but of the distribution of wealth among
all the people. The Bell telephone would
have been as impossible 100 years ago
as it would have been ten thousand years
ago, for there was no general wealth
among the people. You hear lots Of
fellows deelaiming about money and per
capita, and the good that will result
from this policy or that, which they
noisily advocate on street corners, but
it does not follow that all who claim to
be prophets are such. Because man
may believe a thing does not make 1t
so. Belief does not make thing true.
You don't have to call for cheers for
Bryan when you see those fellows stand
ing on the corner, because you know
who they will cheer for by their looks
and general appearance. We are told
that the tariff question is settled. Well,
this is probably true, for the people set
tied It in 1894.
In regard to silver, Mr. Reed said there
was lot of loose notions floating around
that free silver was a panacea for all
things. That was that same street-cor-
ner talk. Years ago the same sort of
idea infested the country and the fell
lows then constantly referred to France
as a beautiful example of what could
be done. Yet France never had a green
back, or anything akin to it. Some of
these fellows go clean back to the mid
die ages for their object lessons. Well,
that is where they belong. Naughter)
The gentleman spoke of the "howP' in
1878 and Of the greenback craze. He
declared it was not more cents were
needed, but more sense. Why, they cry
of the great crime of 1873; actually they
cry because we decided to pay 100 cents
on the dollar instead of 103. They shout
about the greatness of America, and
oppose financial policy from England.
AS a matter of fact we were all i'm
ported 250 years ago, and many of those
who were talking about finance which
is imported are of very recent importa-
tions. They forced upon usa system of
free trade which was imported from
England, for there is not another free
trade country on earth. They talk about
per CAPITA" when, as matter of fact,
the most prosperous fourteen years in
our history was when we had less money
than now. These fellows are ignorant;
that is the cause of their troubles.
Just about this time in his speech some
one in the audience called out to Mr..
Reed: Tell us something about the
funding BILL"
The gentleman's face flashed and the
merry twinkle in his eye gave place to
one of fire as he shouted back: II could
not enlighten ignorance SO dense as
that. You are one of those 25-cent fell
lows who have no more sense than to
accept the 25 cents to cause the dis
turbance." There were no more ques-
tions asked Mr.. Reed.
He spoke of the purchase of 4,500,000
ounces of silver a month by the govern
ment and said that there was demand
but the supply was so greatly increased
that the price fell. He said 1t would be
so with free coinage, that the supply
would become SO great the government
could not maintain the price. He said
the ideas advocated by Bryan were
reprobated by all thoughtful men. Once
during his speech the mention of Bry-
ans name was cheered,
Previous to the speaking handbills
purporting to be an article in favor of
silver by Mr.. Reed from the Fortnight
ly Review of June 1894, were circulated
in the crowd. While it is undoubtedly
true that there were many advocates
of free coinage in the audience, 1t was
largely made up of Republicans and the