Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1896-07-17

waves aS tuSy bSdt upon the lonely shores of St. Helena.
 Why this change? An, my friends. is not the change evident to any one who will look at the matter? It is no private character, however pure, no personal popularity, however great that can pro- tect from the averaging wrath of an in- dignant people the man who will either declare that he is in favor of fastenino the gold standard upon this people or who is willing to surrender the right of self government and place the legisla- tive control in the hands of foreign DO. tentates and powers.
 We go forth confident that we shall win. Why? Because upon the para mount issue in this campaign there is not 8 spot of ground upon which the enemy will dare to challenge battle. Why, if they tell us that the gold stand ard is a good thing, we point to their platform and tell them that their plat form pledges the party to get rid of gold standard and substitute bimetal- lism.
 If the gold standard is good thing, why try to get rid of it? knight call at- tentica to the fact that some of the peo- pie who are ir4 this convention today and who tell you that we ought to declare in favor of international bimetallism and thereby declare that gold standard is wrong and that the principle of bi- metallism is better-these very people four months ago were open and avowed advocates of the gold standard and tell ing us that we could not legislate two metals together even with all the world.
 l want to suggest this truth-that if the gold standard is a good thing we ought to declare in favor of its retention and not ill favor of abandoning it; and if the gold standard is bad thing, why should we wait until some other nations are willing to help us let go? Here IS the line of battle. We care not upon which issue they force the fight. We are prepared to meet them on either is- sue or on both. If they tell us that the gold standard is the standard of civih- zation, we reply to them that this, the most enlightened of all the nations of the earth, has never declared for gold standard and both the parties this year are declaring against it. If the gold standard is the standard of civilization, why, my friends, should we not have it? So. If they come to meet us on that, we can present the history of our nation.
 More than that, We can tell them this-that they will search the pages of history in vain to find q single instance in which the common people of any land have ever declared themselves ill favor of a gold standard They can find where the holders of fixed investments have. MT. Carlisle said ill 1878 that this was d struggle between the idle holders of idle capital and the struggling masses who produce the wealth and pay the taxes of the country; and, my friends, it is simply question that we shall de- eide upon which side shall the Demo cratic party fght-upon the side of the idle holders of idle capital or upon the side of the struggling masses? That IS the question that the party must answer first, and then it must be answered by each individual hereafter.
 The sympathies of the Democratic party, as described by the platform, are on the side of the struggling masses, who have ever been the foundation of the Democratic party. There are two ideas of government. There are those who believe that if you just legislate to make the we'll to do prosperous their prosperity will leak through on those below. The Democratic idea has been that if you legislate to make the masses prosperous their prosperity will find its way up and through every class and rest upon it.
 You come to us and tell us that the great cities are in favor of the gold standard. I tell you that the great cities rest upon these broad and fertile prai- ries. Burn down your cities and leave our farms, and your cities will spring up again as if by magic; but destroy our farms, and the grass will grow Ill the streets of every city in this country. My friends, we shall declare that this nation is able to legislate for its own
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