The record-union., 1896-07-21

while thus differing in opinion, they
unite in asserting that the gold stand
ard must be maintained until foreign
countries shall signify their willingness
that the American people shall exercise
the right of freemen and create finan-
cial system of their own. If we overlook
the humiliation and degradation we
must feel on account of such a declara-
ton of financial dependency, we may
well inquire when the consent of the
leading commercial nations viii be OBJ
tanned.
mo one who has read the proceedings
of the three international money confer
ences that have already been held, or
who has examined the impracticable
propositions presented at those confer
ences, can for a moment believe that
any international bimetallic agreement
can ever be made with the consent of
all the leading commercial nations of
the world When will Great Britain,
controlled as she is and ever will be by
the creditor classes, who collect vast
sums of money for interest due her and
her citizens, who buys of us annually
many more millions than she sells to
us, and whose interest it is to make the
pound sterling purchase as much of our
products as possible, consent that we
shall be financially Independent as we
are supposed to be politically indie
pendent? When did the creditor classes
of Great Britain ever give up or in any
way yield an advantage such as they
now possess through the maintenance
of the gold standard? There is no hope
for international bimetallism until the
United States shall establish bimetal
lism for ITSELF and when that is done
international bimetallism may be Sc
cured without the consent of Great
Britain. The United States on all other
subjects of legislation acts independent
ly Of any other nation on earth By what
process of reasoning is it's right, author
ity or ability to legislate upon this the
most important subject with which it
has to deal questioned or denied?
With a nation equal in wealth and
power to one-fourth of the world, it is
cowardly to say that we must ask the
permission of Great Britain to establish
a financial policy of our own. Believ-
| ing as we do that a return to the none
tary system especially recognized in
the Constitution and Ompletely provided
for by the law from 1892 until 1873 af-
fords the only ground of hope for the
betterment of the distressed condition
of all the classes except those who live
by the increment that money loaned
gives to those who loan it, we appeal to
all classes to rally to the support of the
only candidates whose success holds
forth any hope of relief
Let the merchant and business man,
| whose dwindling and lessened profits
which, despite his care and economy
| brought him face to face to face with
| prospective bankruptcy and ruin; the
| professional man, whose best efforts
scarcely afford him compensation for
| his labor alone; the farmer the contin-
| ually falling prices of whose products
| have left him no returns for capital in
vested and work performed; and last,
but not least, let the grand army of Ia
| boring men, SO called, the artisan, the
mechanic and the miner, and everyone
who depends upon his daily toll for his
daiyl bread, look about him and observe
| the great number of those who vainly
seek for a chance to work-upon the
great army of enforced idlers-and one
and all resolve to try, not an expert
|
men) but rather a return to policy that
| throughout the vicissitudes of our ma
TONS infancy, through the internecine
struggle of its manhood, kept us a
| great, free and prosperous nation, in
which labor was not only respected and
employed. but was so compensated that
want and distress such as has now
weighed upon us was unknown. Let
the lesson Of history, too recent and too
plain to be gainsaid or denied, be
| needed, and let there be no fear that a
system that so wonderfully protected
| labor, developed business enterprise and
secured to the nation a contented and
prosperous people in the past will do
| aught but bring to US a return of like
prosperity, the predictions of disaster of
| our opponents to the contrary notWith-
| standing.
I'm Mr.. Bryan the Chicago Conven-
tion placed at the head of its ticket a
gentleman of exceptional ability and OF
high character No man of his age was
! better known throughout the United
States than he A member of Congress
! for four years, he commanded the ad-
miration and respect of all his associ-
tes in that body, and is a scholarly
| statesman and profound thinker Nc
man has ever assailed his character OF
| IN any way questioned his integrity OF
| morl worth. His character is a fit ex-
| ample for the young men of this coun-
| try. He has shown in all his public
| utterances that he loves his country
and his countrymen, and that he sym
| pathizes with them in their distress
He has also shown that he believed the
financial system which makes gold the
i standard of value was in a great de-
gree the cause of the depression an6
financial distress prevalent Throughout
the land; that the condition now eX-
listing will continue while the present
monetary system lasts, and that he was
favorable to the return of the United
States to the use Of gold and silver
as they were used prior to 1873, and
he proposed such a change of the finan-
cial system by the usual constitutional
methods.
Such was the character and such the
political opinions of the candidate
known to his countrymen who by thei.
delegates in convention assembled from
every State in the Union put him II
nomination for the highest office within
the gift of the American people.
"This is a critical period in our ma
tional history. Our industrial ant
financial independence of other nation!
and peoples is involved in this cam
paign, and we firmly believe that there
will be no return of prosperity until W.
shall have changed our financial sys
tenn so as to restore the bimetallic sys
tenn established by the fathers of th
Republic; and so believing, we urge al