The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1897-02-04
HIS LECTURE

Last night at S:15 o'clock was the time
| for the lecture at the opera house. As
early as O'Clock some of the more en-
thusiastic of his admirers began heading
toward the opera house and securing
their seats patiently waited for the open
ing hour. The opera house quickly filled
, up, and many new and unfamiliar faces
were seen. In some instances it was the
face of the countryman, in others it was
the face of the stranger from the sur
rounding towns. They all came to hear
Bryan, and they were determined to hear
him. There was a big crowd out. The
opera house was crowded, and while some
of the boxes and logcs were not occu-
pied, all the pit as well as the balcony
was crowded and even the gallery was
well filled. The stage. also, had some
thing like 200 persons sitting on it, max
ing the total attendance possibly 1900, so
that Mr.. Bryan had every cause to feel
complimented at his crowd. There was
no effort at display. Mr.. Bryans per-
soRal friends. in the parsonage of Gov
ernor lIogg, Governor Culberson and Mr..
| Ed. House, all occupied seats in the par
Quct, and there was no one on the stage
in n formal way with the orator of the
evening save Speaker Dashicll of the
| house of representatives, who had the dis
| tinguishcd honor of introducing Mr.. Bry-
| an. As Mr.. Bryan appeared on the ros-
| trum he was greeted with perfect round
of cheers, and smilingly bowed his ac-
acknowledgement. The orchestra in the pit
| kept the crowd entertained until his
coming with several selections, and as
! soon as they had ceased playing Mr..
Dashicll arose and addressed the crowd,
| saying:
1T is my pleasure to introduce to you
| tonight the most distinguished private
citizen of America; a man who, knowing
no section, hears in Yankee Doodle and
| Dixie the sweetest strains that ever
| stirred the souls of men; Il man who pro-
! claims the principle that all men are
| cuual-whethcr standing in the busy
J marts OF the north or in the cotton fields
of the south; man who knows that there
| is Pacific ocean as well as an Atlantic
and who remembers that though the suns
| first rays Gid the shores of the east, its
| last ones fall upon the plains of the west
both parts of Il common country.
Il introduce him to you rs Il 'dcma-
goguc' without guile or deceit; IA
| matte who is conservative and just: n
'rcpudiationst' who protests against the
reputation of the dollar of the 'dad1ics'
and of the constitution; 'rcvolutionist'
who seeksN to preserve institutions tried
for century, and an 'archist' who finds
in the wise restraints Of government
justly administered the best assurance of
social order maintained and of human
liberty pcrpetuated-the Hon. William
Jennings Bryan of Nebraska"
Upon being introduced, Mr.. Bryan
arose and stated that in speaking in favor
of bmctalsm he did not desire to have
it understood that his views were infalli-
bic nor that his theories were beyond
criticism; that he had his views and OK
pressed them while he gave an opponent
an equal right TO do likewise; that he
dciicd any one to cite in any of his public
uttcranccs where he had said anything
about his views being infalliblc, but that
he was here for the purpose of arguing
for bimctaism and that which he be-
licNcl was right. and he was going to do
il in the hopes of getting Others to agree
with him. Touching on this subject. he
said:
Il am going 10 discuss some questions
here tonight, and | am going to express
myself with more or less emphasis. but
| do not intend TO press my views upon
any person who may differ with me, and
| wish it understood at the outset that
do not mean TO assert the infallibility
of my own Judgment. ! am just as liable
to be- wrong as any of you, but | am just
rs anxious to he right AZ anybody. | be-
licve | can bring myself to rejoice in the
defeat of my own ideas if / am satisfied
that the principles represented by my OPP
poncnts may be best for the country"
After few further Introductory re-
marks, the speaker branched out into his
theme of bimctalism, during which he
drew the parallel between the gold dollar
and the silver dollar, citing the fact that
the gold dollar was a balloon dollar that
iloated above the people; that which he
wanted and which the people wanted was
Il dollar that would circulate not above
but among the people. Mr.. Bryan said
that u great deal had been said about
this honest dollar of the gold standard
man; that it had been said that it was
an honest dollar because if melted il lost
none of its value while Il silver dollar
lost half
On this subject Mr.. Bryan said:
Now we must have n right definition
of an honest dollar to start with. When
ever l speak of an honest dollar, l think
of what II congressman told once. The
story was about n certain man in his
town who wanted to run for office. This
man drew up a petition and took it
around for his friends to sign. Finally
he came to one friend who said: L will
sign the peititno if you will let me change
one word Well said the other, you
can change it if you like-what words is
it, You say here that you are strictly
honest said his friend. Il want to strike
out strictly an insert tolerably.' laugh
ter and applause) | am not going to
insist upon Il dollar that is strictly hon
est will be satisfied with one that will
be tolerably honest"
Mr.. Bryan here said that such II thing
rs an honest dollar was an impossbility,
as it was not in the scope of human be-
ing to reach perfection. either in honest
dollars or otherwise, and that the dollar
was entirely dependent upon law for its
rcdccmable qualities
On this subject the speaker said:
AN honest dollar would be dollar
unchanging in its purchasing power. How
could you get that! You could get it by
having n system that gave You a money
which varied in exact proportion To the
demand for money, and no human wis
dom has yet made. and ! believe no hui
man will devise, n dollar which will ahso-
| lutcly vary i'll its quantity and purchasing
power with the demand for money. But
because you can't get perfection is no rea-
son why you should not approach perfec-
| ton, and between the two systems we
must choose that system, not which is
perfect but which comes nearest to per-
lection and TO justice. Now. | don't
claim that bimctalism gives you an alb
solutely honest dollar, but it gives You
a dollar more nearly honest than the gold
standard and that is argument enough
to Justify the adoption of himetallism
in the place of the gold standard.
Now, my friends, let me give You two
reasons. theoretical one and a practical
ono why himntollisn il hettar than MON