The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1896-08-19


hands would be the very first to tear
down the platform on which he stands
We all must remember that lurid rhet-
oric which glowed as hercely as the
western skies. as the sunlight which
through the past week fOretOld the tor
rid heat of ensuing day, and here upon
this platform we find that same Thel-
Oric, as mild, as insipid as the waters
of a stagnant pool. He is a candluate
who was swept into the nomination py
a wave of popular enthusiasm aWak-
ened by appeals to prejudice ana greed.
He is q candidate who, declaring LnSI
this was a revolutionary movement, no
sooner found himself face to race with
the American feeling than ne feallzeo
that this soil is not prOp1tlous TO feVo-
luton: that the people OF THIS country
win not change the institutions which
have stood the tests and experiences
of a century for Institutions based upon
the fantastic dreams OF POpullSt aElta-
tors. that the American nation VIII
never consent to substitute for the re-
public Of Washington, of Jefferson and
of Jackson the republic Of an Altgeld,
a TiIlTnan or Bryan.
Whatever change may have come
over the manner Of the candidate, how
ever much the vehemence of his elO-
ouence may have abated, that for which
he stands remains unallOyed. On this
platform he defended the most revolu-
tionary planks of the Chicago conVen-
ton in less vehement but not less ear
nest language than that in which ne
supported their adoption On this
platform he defended the Populistic
programme of overthrowing the SUI
preme court. If there be any fruit
which has grown for the benefit of all
mankind out of the adjustment OF
our republic it has been the demonStra-
ton that it is possible by the ofganiza-
ton Of an Independent tribunal to safe
guard the rights of every citizen and
protect those natural privileges against
any invasion from whatever source or
however powerful might be the antag-
onizing elements.
The very existence of that power
presupposes the existence of an indie
pendent tribunal, yet we have this Pop
uHst convention because a Populist
measure was condemned as uncOnSt1tu-
tiOna1, proposing, not to mend the con-
sttutiOn in the ordinary way prescribed
by that instrument itself, but proposing
to pack the court, that it will prog
nounce those laws to be constitutions
which the constitution itself condemns;
a proposal to make the courts of law
instruments of lawlessness; to violate
that sacred pact between the states on
which the security OF this nation rests;
to prOfane the temple erected for its
protection by the hands of false priests
who, though sworn to defend it, will be
appointed to destroy it.
In the time TO which must confne
myself tonight I can discuss nothing
but the money question which Mr.. Bry-
an himself declares to be the overshad-
owing one of this campaign. I'm a little
puzzled when I read his speech to de-
eide what Mr. Bryan himself imagines
will be the fruit of a change in the
standard of value throughout this coun-
try, because if he dissents from one set
OF conclusions he has got to read but a
few paragraphs and he will find anoth-
er. If Mr.. Bryan could show that by
any means known to heaven or earth
wages could be increased, will be
ready to support him, because know
no test of prosperity is absolutely infal-
nble except the rate of wages paid to
laborers.
When we come to find how Mr.. Bry-
an expects TO raise the wages, we find
Ourself lost in a maze Of contradiction.
No man can tell how or where or when
the wages of working men are to be
increased, but any one who examines
can see the Inevitable consequence OF
a debasement in the standard of value
must be a reduction in the rate of
Wages-and that is the conspiracy in
which the Populist is engaged. Now
Mr. Bryan tells US that he wants to
cheaper the dollar; that he wants to
increase the volume of money. 1 do
not believe any man who ever lived
could quite understand what a Popu-
lists notion of money is, further than
that he believes that it is a, desirable
thing to get, and he is not very par
ticuIar about the means by which he
can get his hands on it.
Nothing is more common than
the mistake that money and property
are identical They are not. There
may be a very large volume of circula-
ton and regular poverty. The issue
of paper money simply is no more an
increase of wealth than the issue by an
individual of his promissory note
would show an increase Of his property.
AS a matter of fact an increase in coin
age is no proof of an increase in prop
erty, but may be a strong proof of a
decrease in wealth. 1t is not the vol
ume of money, but the activity of
money that counts.
I can take a ten dollar gold piece
and I can defy all the power of all the
governments of the earth to take one
cents worth of value from it. Having
earned it by the sweat of my brow or
having earned it by the exercise of my
brain, can go to the uttermost ends
Of the. earth: and wherever I present it
it's value will be unQueStioned and I'M
challenged. The gold dollar is the hon
est dollar which the people of this
country without distinction of party
division demands shall be paid to the
labOrer when he earns it and that no
power on earth shall cheat him of the
sweat Of his brow.
TT is perfectly clear that the purpose
of the POpulists is to put up the prices
of certain commodities Mr.. Bryan's
language is that he is going to improve
the conditions of the country. I do
not suppose he claims that he can null
tiply the number of chairs upon this
platform, or upon this floor, although
he has shown his capacity to empty.
If he is going to work any change in
the conditions of men he must increase
the material possession of some part
of community. If he secured possession
of the government tomorrow he would
not create one single thing of value by
any exercise of governmental power in
the world. No power ever yet exercised
by tyrant or by constitutional monarch
can cause q barren field to become use
full, can cause the two blades of grass
to grow where one grew before, can
bring together the stones that compose
this building and raise them into
stately temple dedicated to political
discussion. No, it requires the labor
of man, and the labor of man alone to
create wealth. If Mr.. Bryan is going to
enrich somebody. the thing he means
to bestOW upon him, he must take from
IL Ii