The daily morning journal and courier., 1896-09-08
BRYAN'S EUL0GY ON LABOR
ADDRESSES 15.O0O PEOPLE AT SHARPSHOOTERS' PARK, CHICAGO

Speech Non-Partisan in Character-"Wel-
 fare of Mankind Depends Upon Those
 Who Convert the Natural Resources of
 the World Into Material Wealth''-Toil-
 ing Masses Were and Ever Must be the
 Mainstay of the Republic-Pays High
 Tribute to the Common PeOple-Bul-
 warIS of Society, the Great Middle Classes generally observed as holiday in Chi cago The celebration was the biggest thing of the kind ever seen here, Will liam J. Bryan, democratic nominee for president, being the star attraction. More than forty thousand men partici- pated in the parade. This procession formed on the lake front and marched through the principal streets, after which the laborites betook themselves to the various picnic grounds on the outskirts of the city. The crowd which went to Sharpshooters' park, where Bryan was to speak, was enormous.
 A few minutese after ? o'clock half dozen carriages bearing the Bryan party, arrived at the park and were fol- lowed into the grounds by a cheering, running, enthusiastic crowd. Without sufficient police protection MT. Bryan was forced to push his way through the crowd at the speaking platform, and after shaking half a hundred out lc ho tn with his party following amid the same obstacles to their passage.
 In MT. Bryan's carriage were Edward T, Carroll, president of the building trades, J. T. Mckinley, of the carpen- local labor leader.
 The crowd of fifteen thousand was so disorderly that it was fifteen min utes before Chairman Carroll could be heard. Nobody, however, wanted to listen to him, and he quickly intro duced the man for whom the thousands kept up an intermittent fire of "Hur- rah for Bryan!'
 The crush around the platform was so great that several women fainted and narrowly escaped being trampled upon. MT. Bryan appealed for quiet and finally 1t was accorded him, bro ken occasionally by cries of Good boy, Willie!''
 The speaker began with an eulogy on American labor.
 Mir Bryan said: "I desire to thank the building and trades council for this opportunity which they have extended to me of speaking to the people assem- bled on Labor day Labor day has be- come a fixed event among our institu- tions, and it is well that it is so, be- cause on this day, all over this nation, those who are engaged in the produc- ton of wealth meet in order that they may commune with each other, discuss those questions in which they are es- pecially interested and emphasize be- fore the world that there is nothing dishonorable in the fact that one earns his bread in the sweat of his face. I am glad to stand on this day in the presence of those to whom this nation is so largely indebted for all that it has had for all that it has now, and for all that 1t can hope to have.
 stI am not indulging in fiattery when I say to you that no part of the people are so important to the welfare of man. kind as those whose labor and brains convert the IeSOuICeS Ol Ille world into material wealth.
 T might quote to you what MT. Car lis1e said to these people in 1878 when he described them as the struggling masses who produced the wealth and who paid the taxes of the country. He did not praise them too highly. The struggling masses not only produce the wealth and pay the taxes in time Of peace, but they have ever been and must ever be the nations surest pro- tection in time of peril"
 The speaker then produced copy of an address by Abraham Lincoln, from which he quoted certain paragraphs. one of which called attention to an ef- fort made to place capital on ai equal ity with if not above labor in the struc- ture of government, and followed with the assertion that capital was only the fruit of labor and could never have ex- isted without it.
 Labor" said Lincoln, lis superior to capital and deserves much higher con- sideration."
 MT. Bryan then quoted from Solomon and continued: Solomon favored neither poverty nor riches. He regard ed that condition best which is not at either extreme, but lies between the ex- tremes. Neither great riches nor ab- feet poverty furnish us the soil in which grows the best civilization. Those who are pressed by poverty lose the ambi- tion the inspiration, the lofty purpose that are necessary to lead one on to the greatest achievements, and those who possess too great wealth lose the necessity for that labor which is abso- Iutely essential to the development of that which is best in human nature. The great middle classes are the bull wark of society and from the middle classes have come almost all the good that has come to bless the human race.
 Let me call your attention to the fact that when the meek and loWly Nazarene came among men and preach ed peace on earth and good will to- wards men he was not welcomed by those who are described as people who devour widows houses and under pre- tences made long prayers, but when he gave that great commandment, love thy neighbor as thyself,' who listened to him? The scripture tells us it was the common people who listened to his commandments and who welcomed him. It is the greatest compliment ever paid to the Master. The scriptures .1, l.,