The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-08-11

great principles of right and wrong are easily
observed, and that is why the people are com
petent to settle every question that can arise
in government like ours
When find people who say that this is a
great question, a complicated question as they
say the money question is, l find that they
conclude by saying that they have made
study OF complicated questions. Oaughter.)
Wnen L see a person who says 1t is too deep
for the people, find some one who says
1t is just deep enough for him. applause and
laughter) No question is too deep for the
American people great applause), and seventy
million people acting a great jury must
nnally decide, and they alone can decide
every public question. (Applause)
read the other day little pamphlet sent
by some of the advocates of the gold standard,
who Call themselves advocates of sound money,
and 1t contained this paragraph: That all of
the nnanciers and capitalists the only people
who are competent TO express an opinion on
the subject are in favor of the gold stand
ard. Great applause and laughter) It first
appeared as an article in the Forum written
by distinguished Frenchman and was then
reproduced and scattered over this country as
aiteraeure 1e 6y the advocates Of the gold stand
ara, and therefore we must suppose that it
expresses their ideas, that only capitalists and
nnanclers are competent to express an opin-
ion upon this subject and thew are not slow
TO express and condemn the intelligence and
patriotism of all the rest Of the people whom
they would exclude from participation in the
setslement OF this question. Great applause
and laughter)
A Voice-But they can't do it.
Mr.. Bryan-My friends, believe that each
man, whether he be high or low rich or
poor, is the best judge of the effect of any
proposition upon himself great applausel
and he alone has the right to say how his
vote shall be cast and on which side his
influence shall be thrown. MY friends It is
the principle of the broadest Democracy that
these questions must be settled by the COM
mon people and that this government has
never created particular class to legislate
for others. tremendous applause.) No man
can accuse me of attempting to deny the
capitalist or the fnancier the right to have
Z his gOwn5 views and opinion and to express
that opinion. simply deny to him the excIu-i
sive right to think upon these subjects L
deny to him the right to act for anybody
but himself. Great applause.) We stand
upon the declaration contained in that i'm
mortal document penned by the greatest
constructive statesman the world has ever
seen, the declaration of independence. (Ap-
plaus.) We stand upon the proposition there
in laid down, and would apply those propo-
sitions to every act Of the legislature as
proposed. The declaration says tAll men are
created equal Now, my friends, we are
not preaching a new doctrine; we are not
preaching new idea. We simply as
serting that the principles that underlie this
government should apply to new conditions
as they arise, and that you can find out
what ought to be done by measuring every
tained in the declaration Of independence and
by the provisions of the constitution which are
based upon that declaration. That Is all we
ask. We simply mean this. that when we
go to legisate government shall know no
distinctions, that there shall be known by
government no difference between men be-
cause Of BIRTH because of position in society
or because of the manner in which they
ship God. Qong and continued applause)
That is the substance of that declaration.
That is the substance of the constitution,
and those principles must underlie our gov
ernment while it continues in its present
form. You, as citizens, have a right to
speak upon this subject. l care not what
your past party connections may have been.
You tell me asyou owe something to your
party; I tell you that your party owes
higher duty to you than you can owe to 1t.
Great applause.) / would not say one word
that would lesen the esteem which any one
Of you may have for the achievements of the
party to which you have belonged, but l say
that such parties cannot live upon the past.
Parties must face the present. Parties must
be prepared to met and solve every issue as
is arises. and the party that does not care
to govern the United States. Great ap-
plause.) Parties do not make issues Issues
make and unmake parties. Great applause
and cries of Right you are.')
An issue has arisen. 1t was forced upon
this people. For twenty years it has been
blowing, and during the last three years its
growth has been more rapid than in any
three years before This issue was presented
to the American people. The Republican
party met in convention. 1t had it's oppor-
tunity. When Abraham Lincoln was the idol
of the Republican party, the Republican party
was willing to meet the isues of the day
Great applause.)
The people were suffering from gold stand
ard The leaders of that party knew it, In
the platform they declared the gold standard
a bad thing because they said they wanted
to get rid of 1t as soon as possible. (Ap-
plause.) If any Republican tells you that the
gold standard is good thing, tell him to look
at his platform. Applause and laughter.)
His pltform says that the Republican party
will substitute bimetallism for gold mono
metallism whenever some other nation will
help US to do it. applause and laughter0
| have said and l expect to keep on saying,
that there are two questions which will drive
the Republican party from the field. The first
Is, If the gold standard is a good thing why
try to get all other nations to help us to
deny to our people the benefits of 1T? (Ap-
plause) If 1t is a bad thing, who dares to
say that the American people will suffer for
bad thing? Great applause)