The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1896-09-04

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thousand dollars and he has the thou
sand dollars within his reach, and the /
he gets his farm back.
l ask if there is any difference be-
tween the holder of the capital and the
owner of property in the appreciation
of the dollar. The man with the money
is twice as we'll off as he was before and
the man who tried to own property
loses all he has and has to begin again.
! You find the man who holds the notes
meeting in convention and declaring
that the gold standard is the best sys-
tenn of money that was ever invented.
But will those people who have lost
their hOme-will they meet together
and endorse the system that is destroy
ing them? My friends, this is a practi-
cal question that confronts the farmers
of the United States and not of the Uni
ted States alone, but the farmers of Ire
land, the farmers of England and the
farmers of every nation in the world
that has the gold standard to-day.
assert that the gold standard could not
live for one day in any nation under
the sun without the aid of the money
owners and the money changers to keep
1t in existence. | assert that the gold
standard has never received the en-
dorsement of the classes of people eX-
cept those who prosper as society is de-
stroyed by rising dollar.
| Now, want to say to you that my
denunciation of the gold standard is
sustained by events which you can see.
Let me give you a proof. II a man tells
you the gold standard is good thing
you ask him why it is that no party in
the history of the United States has
ever declared for gold standard in its
platform. Isn't it strange if the gold
cfn Il aud fe 4 III
has ever seen fit to say so in platform?
And that is true? 1t Is true that no ma
tional party has ever Endorsed gold
standard and yet there are people who
favor it. Why don't they have the
courage to write platform and risk an
issue before the people? But no, they
cannot do that They go to st. Louis
and adopt platform which says that
the Republican party pledges itself to
secure eimetallism, which, of course, is
a denunciation of the gold standard,
(Applause.) If the gold standard is
good why should we try to get rid of it?
(Applaqse,l 1t the gold standard is
good why did not the Republican party
pledge itself to help keep it? But the
Republican party pledged itself to get
rid of the gold standard just as soon as
other nations will help. applause
That is not my language, my friends;
that is the language of the Republican
platform, and that is the construction
placed upon it by the candidate who
runs upon it in his letter of acceptance.
The conclusion is that we must MAIN
tain it forever if other nations say we
must. (Applause.)
1t is not question of politics, my
friends. Whole properties are depend
ent upon this issue. 1t is above the
question of politics. They have de-
clared against the right of the people of
the United States to govern themselves.
They declared that while we wanted to
get rid of the gold standard, we must
keep the thing which we do not want
until aliens shall bring us the relief
which we should achieve for ourselves.
! (Applause.) l know not what view you
may take IF it, my friends, but in my
humble Judgment, the American people
are the only people who have any right
to say what the American people have
for legislation. applause They have
driven down the price of your products.
They have increased the burden of your
debts; they have foreclosed your mort
cages; they are degrading and lowering
the standard of civilization by driving
people who want to work out upon the
streets, and then idleness breeds crime
and crime menaces the safety of every
citizen of the land. (ApplauseD
A voice-How about free trade?
Mr.. Bryan-My friends, it is not more
taxes the people want, but more money
to pay taxes with. Great applause.) If
there is any farmer here who has not
taxes enough beg him to go to his
County Treasurer and get enough more
to satisfy his conscience, and not try to
tax all the rest of the public. CAP
plause.) But | care not how men may
differ upon the subject of taxation. The
subject of taxation is ever present with
us. We can change our tariff system
any time, but we have reached our
crisis in our monetary affairs, and we
have got to decide whether the Ameri-
can people will run our finances or turn
our Government over to syndicates to
take care of us. Upon the action of the
United States may depend the action of
other nations. If the influences which
are at work here succeed, they will be
turned against other nations that use
silver, and if they succeed in the Unit
ed States, they will succeed in other
nations, and every nation that goes to
the gold standard increases the demand
for gold, and every increase in the de-
mand for gold raises the purchasing
price for an ounce of gold and lowers
the purchasing power of wheat and
corn and other products of the farm,
You enshrine gold as the one thing to
be desired, and all mankind pays trib-
ute to the golden calf and has the privi-
lege of working little harder in order
to enjoy the worship. (Applause.) 1t is
no laughing question, my friends. This
question is of much Importance to those
who are seeking to raise the value OF
gold by legislation, and should it not be
important to those who for twenty
years have suffered from this financial
legislation?
l met farmer over in Illinois. He
was schoOlmate of mine in college, a
graduate of college. He is a man of eX-
emplary habits, honest, frugal and in
dustrious. He had his three children
with him in the room, and tears rolled
down his cheeks as he told me that il
conditions remained as they were, il
was the saddest he had to contemplate
that he could not give to those children
the education and advantages he want.
ed to. That hcme is multiplied by
thousands and tens of thousands in this
land, and you tell me that it is just to
have system of legislation that takes
away from the parent the possibility OF
educating his children as he would, and
is compensated for it by giving money
undeserved into the hands of those who
by machination, corner the money
market and spend the money by buying
foreign titles for their daughters! (Long
and continued applause,)
My friends, civilization is wrapped
up in the solution of the money ques.
ton. 1t is the main question involved
in this issue. The right of self-govern.