The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1897-10-02

ject; so large, indeed, that could talk
to you for days and you could think for
weeks and still there would be new
thoughts. 1 told You this afternoon that
bimetaIlism had been more unanimously
endorsed than any other policy ever up
for discussion. 1 viii modify that state
ment tonight to agree with my Okla
homa friends. It has received. more
unanimous endorsement from the citi-
zens Of this country than any other pol
icy except that Of free homes.
81 said that there were always new
things to say about binetallism, but the
principle is simple and easily under
stood. However, you may De interested
in knowing something Of the difficulties
we encounter in spreading the light Of
the gospel OF oimetalHsm. There is
vast amount of will not say ignor-
ance, but lack of knowledge on this SUD-
ject a man said to me, I am in favor
of bimetallism. Let every man buy what
ever metal he pleases.'
Now, that man thought Il was buy
metallism. A prominent politician in
this country said bimetallism would
come but it would be With the free and
unlimited coinage of gold, with silver
subordinate rcdeemable in gold. That
was mis- idea Of bimetallism. Thousands
Of people do not know the difference be-
tween Dimetallism and mono-me tallisrs
Mono means one; bi means two. The
difference between one and two is the
difference between bimetallism an(
mOnO-metallism
WHAT BIMETALLISM MEANS.
Bimetallism does not mean that silver
should ride the back of gold. 1t does
not mean the subordination Of either
metal. Some people have an sdea that
We are asking something new. but we're
not. It's Old. We've had It in this
country. We had it up till '73, at which
time congress struck down one Of the
metals. We are simply asking for what
we had for years and years in this coun-
try-the free coinage of both gold and
silver at the ratio of 16 10 l. That's
what bimetallism means. The ratio is
what we've always had in this country
and what We have now. All we want
IS for them to put silver back to the
place it belongs and 10 which 1t is en-
titled Give US the dollar that the great
Washington sanctioned. (Applause)
We are not advocating something new.
It's the gold standard that's new. It's
the gold bugs that want something new.
L want to prove to you that ours is the
old policy. Now, my friends. have
told you that for eighty years we had
a gold standard without a party oppos-
ing il. Now 1 want 10 give you more
startling proof than that-ot bimetal-
ism, 1 mean, that not any party op-
poses it. 1 want TO give you even bet
ter proof of the merits Of bimetallism.
The Americans lost bimetallism with
out their own action or consent. We
are trying to restore bimetallisn with
out the aid or consent of any other ma
ton. Our opponents give the gold stand
ard without the aid or consent OF our
own nation, and, my friends. we had
the gold standard for twenty-three years
before any party in the United States
ever commended il in the national plat
form. Do you know Of any policy ever
so bad that it was twenty-three years
in existence before a party rose up TO
say It was a good thing? In the first
place, bimetallism existed for eighty
years and no party condemned il: then
the gold standard was secured by
stealth and existed for twenty-three
years and no party commended it. Now,
can you find any parallel in all the polit-
ical history of this nation where a pol
Icy has been SO universally commend
ed as bimetallisln. and a policy so uni
versaly condemned as the gold stand
ard?
DEMOCRATIC HARMONY.
''They say that this free silver move
ment is disturbing the harmony of the
Democratic party. That's the worst
charge they have ever made against me.
When We were making the fight in the
Chicago convention, trying to get the
TRY GRAlN-0! TRY GRAlN-O!
Ask your Grocer today to show you
package of GRAIN-O, the new food drink
that takes the place of coffee The chill