The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1896-11-02

people is not that I will refuse to en-
force the law; their fear is that Will
terrain old fashioned ideas upon the
subject. and that according to my
ideas. a big criminal should wear strip
cd clothes as wen as a little one"
Again and again the crowd cheered.
A man stuck his head down through
the roof and whooped like a maniac
II want to say TO you that we who
believe in enforcing the laws against
all classes of society are better friends
of government than those who would
make scapegOats of little criminals and
then let big ones run at large to run
the government itself The very men
who would suffer most from the en-
fOrcement of law are the ones who
seem to be most terribly alarmed that
there viii be lax administration Of the
And now came the supreme moment
MIR. Bryan seemed to draw himself to-
gether- He stretched himself to his full
height, threw his head back, lifted his
hands and raised his voice to a shout.
They are not afraid that L viii en-
courage lawlessness, but they know that
if am elected the trusts will not select
the attorney general who viii admin
That thrust ait President Cleveland
struck home. The whole audience rose
to its feet, leaped. shrieked, tossed its
hands in the air and moved forward
with a rush toward the platform 1t
was like the scene AT the close of Mr..
Bryan's speech in the convention that
nominated him His face shone with
a fierce enthusiasm
'-If you want that kind of a presi-
dent" he cried, you can have him.
If you do not want him you do not
have to have him. "
SPEECH no. 516-TO THE WOdEN'S
FREE SILVER LEAGUE
An hour later there was another au-
dience in the same building, an audi
ence Of women. members Of the Wo-
mems Free Silver league.
Every woman had a flag and pillows
of color rippled from all the walls.
There were tan girls in white and sill
yer who sang the iniquities of Mark
Hanna, and beaded choristers who
chanted the downfall of Mckinley
Senator Tillman lowered UP among
the women on the stage. "a few feet
from him was the burly POpulist who
seized freight trains for COXey's army
Mr. Bryan meanwhile had taken a
nap at his hotel. When he appeared
on the stage with his wife all the flags
were waved together until the hall
looked like a phantasmagoria Of dancing
butterflies.
Flowers were heaped in the lap of
Mrs. Bryan. Women on the stage
pressed around him and stretched out
their hands to touch his coat. Then
he stood on a chair and made another
long speech, begging the women of Chi
caEo TO see to III that the curse OF bad
laws should not descend to their chill
dren.
The crowd vase great that many
women tainted.
Mr. Bryan made his way from the
hall to a carriage surrounded by police
men and was taken miles away to the
great stock yards. Here SO. 900 men
swarmed between a monster horse mar
ket and the Transit House. They We're
the toilers of that brute district. The
sun was low and half the sky was hid
den by inky clouds of smoke pouring
from the factory chimneys.
Through the riffs in the black clouds
came the dying lights. The streets in
the neighborhood We're fmpassab BILE. Mr..
Bryan had TO fight his way to the gor-
geOus stage erected at the Transit
House He dashed the crowd to the
highest pitch of passion and told the
men that they had as much right to
cOerce their employers votes as the en-
ployers had to coerce their votes.
Precipitation streamed down his face.
His collar was wilted and his damp hair
stuck out in curly wisps. The men
lifted their caps and shook them in the
air They leaped up and down and
shrie1ed his name. was in the crowd