Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1896-08-23

here. | have met enough Republicans
who said that they were going TO vote
our ticket 10 make up for every Demo-
crat that ever deserted us, and we well
come the coming guests as we speed
those who are parting. Applause)
MONEY QUESTION PRACTICAL.
"Now, my friends this is a practical
question. IL is a question which you must
consider for yourselves. The gentleman
who has preceded me has very properly
told YOU that YOU were competent to set
tie these questions for yourselves. The
founders of our government never con-
ceded that the time would come when
there would DO only a few people In this
country who were competent TO settle
great public questions. (Applause). IL
they had, they would have written in the
Constitution that on most questions
everybody could vote. but on the money
question. only the financiers could vote.
daughter and applause).
1T Is hollow mOckery 10 grant to the
people a right In your Constitution, and
then deny them the privileges of eXercis-
ing it, / assert that the people of the
United States those who produce wealth,
as well as those who exchange IL, have
sufficient patriotism and sufficient intel
ligence TO sit in judgment upon every
no matter how long our government may
endure applause.
Great as local questions are. economic
questions in their final analysis are great
moral questions. and it requires no eX-
tended experience in handling money TO
enable a man TO tell right from wrong;
and more than that, this money question
will not be settled until the great COM
mon people act upon 1t. No question IS
settled until the masses settle II. Abra-
ham Lincoln said that the Lord must
have loved the common people, because
he made so many Of them. He was night
about IT, There is another evidence that
the Lord made the common people. ana
made a great many Of them. II Is be-
cause the common people are the only
people who have ever supported reform
that had for its object the benefit of the
human race. / do not mean to say that
there have not been exceptions 10 the
rule. I do not mean to say that you
have not found among the masses ar
all times those who were ready TO betray
those who toiied for them, If they could
see some chance Of personal elevatloni
nor do j mean to say that those VINO
have gone beyond the ranks OF the com
mon people are entirely unmindiul OF
the claims Of brotherhood upon them but
what / say is that, as general RUE. the
common people here and everywhere
have been the support, and the only sup
port. Of every measure OF reform. Now
YOU have a right to take this question,
examine it. and form your own opinion
and the ballot is given TO you In order
that you may express your own opinion
when you come 10 vote, and not be re-
ouired to accept some one elses opinion
And I am going to call your attention 10
a few things for you TO consider when
YOU are trying to make up your mind
what you ought to do
OPINIONS DIVIDED.
"Now. our opinions are all divided as
TO the policy which should be pursued.
You take the god-standard Democrats.
Some of them say they ought TO come out
openly and endorse the Republican can
didate so as to be sure to elect him, and
other say. no, that would be dangerous.
because unless we have a candidate OF
our own. why, there would be a great
many Democrats who would be foolish
enough to vote the Democratic ticket
Of the common people. (Laughter2
And there they are, divided. They all
want the same object; they all want to
elect Republican candidate because De-
mocracy can be better exemplifed through
Repub licanism. daughter.
"But. as / say. they are divided as 70
the means Of getting IT, and think they
can elect q Republican candidate better
by having a candidate OF their own TO fool
Democrats with. than they can by openly
supporting the Republican ticket.
mot only are they divided there, but
they are also divided all the way through
when they come 10 argument Why.
some Of them will start out TO show that
the gold standard is a good thing, ana
after one Of their speakers has gone on
awhile. showing what a great thing the
gold standard is. then another speaker
comes along and he says II is a mistake
to say that the gold standard Is good:
the gold standard really is not good.
What we want is bimetallism, but we
cannot have It until somebody helps US.
Oaughter)
Now. those two arguments are not
consistent If the gold standard is
good thing, why should they want b.
metallism? And yet If they ever have
two men making speeches the same night
the chances are 16 to l Uaughter) that
one Of them will praise the gold standard
as a good thing. while the other Will tell
you how anxious they are to get rid Of it.
THE FIFTY-CENT DOLLAR.
"Wen, then they come to the details OF
the argument. one man says the reason
why he does not want Tree coinage II
that he does not think that the govern
ment should pass a law that will enable
tho silver miner TO take 20 cents worth OF
silver bullion and convert il into 100 cents
and make the difference, and he viii get
red in the face and become indignant at
the idea that the government should try
to rob some individual in this way. OF
course, he may have been in favor of
system OF taxation that would give two
or three hundred per cent protection, but
that does not count IT is terrible thing
TO allow the silver miner to make that
profit
"Then the next man who comes up VIII
say that as a matter Of fact the stamp OF
the government adds nothing 10 the value
Of the metal, and that the free coinage OF
silver simply means that you convert %
cents worth of bullion into a 50-cent dol
lar, and nobody makes any profit out OF
it. (Applause) Now, 1 say that the
chances are that II you have two men
making speeches on the same platform in
favor Of our not taking any action until
some foreign nation helps US. you will
find that one Of them viii. in all ,roba-
billy. make one argument and the otner
will make the other argument, and very
often the same man makes both arsu-
mcnts
Now, you can see the absurdity OF IT,
IL the silver miner under the law Of free
coinage finds that his silver bullion IS
raised so that what IS now worth 80 cents
will be worth 100 cents, then there are no
5O-cent dollars, and IL the other man is
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