New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-02-27
."TOLERABLY HONEST"

Mr. William Jennings Bryan's deliverances on
the money question are not especially illuminat-
ing or profound. They throw no light upon the
subject. and only skim the surface. In his
speech at New-Haven the other night he dwelt
at much length upon what he called the "prin-
ciple" that mo man has a right to injure his
neighbor," and the application "of that principle
TO Government as well as to individuals This
platltude he tossed up. and twlrled round passed
under his elbow and round his neck. balancing
il on his nose and catching 1t on his chin, ull
the performance had become tedious. when he
shot into the air another to the effect that If one
man who ought to pay tax Of $40 pays only So
while another who ought to pay but So actu-
ally paws So 1t is a case Of larceny After
keeping these two platitudes In the air Win
what appeared to be considerable verbal dex-
terlty until he had bewdered his hearers with
n meaningless flow of words. he started in at
his old familiar campaign gait on the tyranny
of the classes and the hardships OF the masses,
rcha shing the whole series of tranend speeches
which he spun out all over the country last fall
The nearest he came to the money question
proper was when he said that the gold bugs,
when asked what they meant by ian honest
dollar" said Sound money and when fur
Their asked what they meant by sound money
answered An honest dollar" and thus kept
.whirlng round the circle Then he began
whirling round in a circle himself and forgot
to tell-if. indeed, he ever knew-what he con
siders IAN honest dollar or why commodity
which sells for fifty cents in the markets of the
world should be called n dollar in this country
But he did convey TO his hearers a very dis
tinct and luminous impression as to ms own
views of honesty in the abstract by story winch
he told of man running for office in MISSISSIPPI
who was circulating a petition which set forth
that he was thoroughly honest friend to
whom he offered the petition for signature sug-
gested that thoroughly" was a trife too strong,
but that if he would change it to ''toerably hon
est" he would sign. with me- said this orator
and oracle of the new dispensation Of political
economy and finance 1.-THE matter Of money is
something like that. / want tolerably honest
'dollar thoroughly honest dollar is not pos
''sible: but silver dollar is as nearly Thoroughly
honest as can expect any dollar to get in
1.-THE world That on the whole. is worth more
than all the rest of his speech or all his speeches
from the time he began exuding oratory. 1t Is
a burst of candor 1t dispels all the fog with
which the ree-silver orators have been envelop-
ing the question. Not only that: 1t upscts and
turns To nonsense all that Mr. Bryan himself
had been saying about the inability of the gold
bugs" to define what they mean by IAN honest
dollar and sound money He draws the line
between himself and them when he says "a thor
oughly honest dollar is not possible. and that
what he wants is "a tolcrably honest dollar.
This is by no means revelation, though his
froplnocc &c Uuitp now The American DpODlp
were "onto his curves to speak, before he
made the confession They saw through all the
thin DISCUSSES Of the last campaign. and fully
colsprchcndcd the fact that Mr.. Bryan and his
followers did not believe in, and did not want,
"A thoroughly honest dollar but were aiming
10 unsettle values and revolutonize the finan-
cal system Of the Nation 10y abolishing it from
circulation and putting a "tolcrably honest dol
lar in its place And the people made answer
10 this propositon-then only half-concealed.
now openly discloSed-n the vote which put Mr..
Bryan into the lecture field instead Of the White
House They do not want "t0lerably honest
dollars" any more than they do tolerably fresh
eggs They believe thoroughly honest dollars
are as possible and desirable as thoroughly
fresh eggs, and no amount of cackling by boy
orators or setting hens can make them believe
otherwise Mr. Bryan has at last said some
thing worth while. He has defined the prin-
cipeS and the purpose of his party. and AT the
same time made a revelation Of himself. his
standard of morals and his Idea Of common hon
cSty. He has been held up by his admirers as
q thoroughly honest man. and until now the
claim has not been seriously disputed. But
thoroughly honest man must believe in thor
oughy honest dollar. 1t is only olerably hon
est man who desires, or is satisfied with. toll
erably honest dollar. He has classified himself.
He is not thoroughly, but only tolerably, honest.
And he hopes to be President in 1900.