Hutchinson gazette. [volume] (Hutchinson, Kan.) 1895-1902, 1896-08-20
COCHRAN ON RRYANs SPEECH.
The Noted New Yorker Answers the Dem.
CRITIC Nomlnee,a Notification Address.

The Noted New Yorker Answers the DEM
cratic Nominees Notification Address.
New YORK, Aug 19.-The second
notable demonstration in the political
campaign in New York city was held
last night under the auspices of the
Democratic Honest Money League of
America in Madison Square garden,
where w. Bourke Cochran addressed
an immense audience with speech
entitled '"In Opposition to Repudia-
ton" Mr.. Cochran had been selected
to answer Candidate Bryan's speech,
because of his opposition to the Chi
cago platform, and because of the rep
utation as an orator which he had
earned by his participation in the tariff
debates of two congresses, and by his
famous protest against the nomination
of Mr.. Cleveland, delivered at day break
in the convention of four years ago.
Mr.. Cochran said that the issue of the
campaign, stripped of all verbal dis
guise, was an issue between the hon
est discharge and the dishonest re-
pudiation of public and private obliga-
tions. He then went on:
lam little puzzled when read this speech
to decide just what Mr. Bryan himself imagines
will be the fruit Of q change In the standard Of
value throughout this country. / do not be-
lieve that any man can follow wholly with the
speech, because II he dissents from one set Of
conclusions he has got to read but few para
graphs and he will find another II Mr.. Bryan
could show me that by any means known to
0rn On aarth UNI amid ha innraagad
will be ready to support him, because know
Of no test Of prosperity absolutely infalllble
except the rate Of wages paid to laborers
When we come to find how Mr. Bryan eX-
poets TO increase the wages OF labor we find
ourselves lost In a maze OF contradiction No
man can tell how or where or when the wages
Of the workingmen are TO be increased; but
anyone who examines the scheme can see that
the inevitable tendency, the inevitable cOnse-
quences OF debasement IN the standard OF
value must be q reduction In the rate OF wages
and that is the conspiracy In which the pop
ulist Is engaged
Now, Mr. Bryan tells us that he wants to
cheaper the dollar; that he wants to increase
the volume OF money. l do not believe that
any man who ever lived could quite understand
o popullst's notion OF what money Is; further
than that he believes II Is desirable thing to
get and he is not very particular about the
means by which he can get his hands on IL.
Nothing is more common than the mistake
that money and property ore identical. They
are not There may be q very large volume Of
circulating medium and very great poverty.
The issue OF paper money would show no more
an increase OF wealth than the issue by an In
dividusl Of his promissory note would show an
increase OF his property As matter OF fact.
an increase In the coinage Is no proof OF
an increase in the property. but may be q
strong proof OF decrease In wealth, II Is not
the volume Of money, but the activity OF mon
ey, that counts.
Mr.. Cochran then spoke in praise Of
the gold standard and against
cheap" dollar and said:
II the price OF commodities be increased and
the price Of labor be left stationary, why that
means q cutting down Of the rate OF wages. II,
instead OF q dollar which consists OF a given
quantity OF gold equal to 100 cents anywhere
in the world. with the purchasing power Of 100
cents, the laborer Is to be paid In dollars worth
80 cents each, why he can only buy half as
much with a days wages as he buys now.
When. after the panic Of 1873, the price Of
labor fell TO 20 cents day. Il was harder to OBJ
tain labor than when the rate Of labor was e. !
and the difference between the populist who |
seeks TO cut down the rate OF wages and the |
democrat who seeks to protect, Is that the
democrat believes that higher wages and pros
perity are synonymous. and the populist wants |
TO cut the rate Of wages In order that he may |
tempt the farmer to make war upon his own |
Now the popullst loves TO say that the cred |
itor Is q person who Expresses the western |
farmer. The creditors Of this country are not /
the bankers; they are not the so-called caDi-
talists; they are the laborers, and It is at the !
expense Of labor that this change Is made The