The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1897-10-17
Mr.. Bryan'8 8p00oh
al Nashville, T0nn

with any feeling of sadness or disappoint-
ment, because l have no right to ex-
pect any inside information under this
administration. But, as | cannot expect
to get in on the ground floor when these
| famines are going to be scattered over
the worlds surface for the benefit OF
| the poor people, l have made up my
mind to do what every man must do
when he has to take his chances. |
am going to put part of my hye acres
in wheat, part in corn, part In oats,
and a part in potatoes, and then Hanna
can't have a famine anywhere but what
i will be on top.
"But let me pass to another subject.
We said last year that the gold stand
ard was bad and we denounced the gold
standard, said it was anti-American, said
it was un-American, declared war against
it, and announced to the world that it
was war which could not end until
that gold standard was driven from the
United States back to England. You
heard Republican speakers say that the
gold standard was the standard of civ
ilization. You heard them praise
it, and yet, my friends, the first act
of the Republican present admnistra-
ton was to ask for an appointment of
a commission to go to Europe and try to
get rid of the gold standard, which the
Republicans promised last fall.
Republicans, you think a high tariff
is good thing. Don't you know that
whenever you have a high tariff you al
ways have some party denouncing it?
Democrats, you think low tariff a good
thing. Don't you know that whenever
you have low tariff you generally find
some party denouncing it? And yet we
had bi-metallism for eighty-one years,
and no party ever denounced it. That is
record which any party can be proud
of. Ask your Republican friends what
they have to say against so unanimous
an Endorsement of bimetallism.
But there is a harder proposition
than that. We have abandoned bimetal-
lism and adopted the gold standard with
out any party in the United States ask
ing for it. What do you think of that
Change the financial policy of nation
and go from system universally com.
mended for eighty-one years to an ex
pertinent, and no party asking that it be
done. l affirm that the American people
never adopted the gold standard. 1t
! was adopted for them by Congress. /
affirm next that Congress did not know
that it was adopting the gold standard
when it did it. Why, the Speaker, as
Mr.. Gaines has suggested, did not know
it when he signed the bill. Senators
and members stated that after it was
found out that they did not know that
the bill changed the monetary system OF
the nation.
We'll, now, for twenty years We have
had people. say that it was impossible
! to get bill through Congress contain
! ing an important provision without the
knowledge Of Congress. Republicans,
| did you know that events had robbed
you of this argument that you have
4 been making for twenty years? If any
Republican tells you that it is impossible
/ to get bill through Congress containing
q provision of which Congress is ignor-
ant, you ask him who put section % into
the Dfngley bill.
Let me lay down another proposition,
and, Republicans, this is the hardest OF
the three. We had the gold standard
| for twentythree years and in all that
1 time no political party in national con
4 vention praised it. What do You think
of that? Do you know of any other
policy that was ever bad that the people
endured it for twenty-three years when
i it had no party defending it? 1t is
true Of the gold standard. Will any ad-
/ yocate of the gold standard explain why
the blessings of the gold standard were
so concealed that no party discovered
those blessings for twenty-three years
! My friends, this is not fiction; this is
history. | want to ask your gold stand
!. ard friends why it was that for twenty
three years every party held out the
promise of abandoning the gold standard
/, ''If you doubt that we were ON thu
| Democratic side last fall read wha
!, some of the leading Democrats said ar
!, ter we had instructed n majority. They
; went to Chicago boasting that when tn,
| delegates found out how the de'eyatei
from New York felt about it that the,
would disobey their instructions-act
!, ly boosted that in spite of instruction.
, to the contrary they would still carr,
!, the convention; but they did not do it
[ My friends, it is bad to have those leav,
us who have worked with US, but of al
the Democratic conventions to leave,
/ would rather have any pretended Demo
crat leave that convention than any 9th
er convention the party ever held, be
cause he cannot go out and say he wal
!; a Democrat.
t According to the returns, seven mil
!; lions and little more favored the Re
publican platform. But did you evel
read the Republican platform? Tha
e was not gold standard platform, be
lieve it is the same as gold standard
t platform. That platform declared fol
t the double standard. 1t pledged tn.
5 Republican party to do what it could tt
;, secure international bimetallism, ant
/, Mr.. Mckinley, in his letter of accept
+ ance, renewed the pledge, and when h,
was elected he started to carry out tn,
!. pledge and recommend the appointment
of commission. Do you mean to sa,
: that it is a victory for the gold stand
I ard to elect party pledged to get rid o
? it? And yet, my friends, that is jus
/ what the American people did. Six ant
J.. half millions of people voted for indie
e pendent bimetallism; seven. millions 70