The herald., 1897-12-28
The highly respectable" element was


bankers, the merchants, the manufac-
turers, the money lenders-were against
extreme measures. They knew that in
the south there were four million blacks
enslaved, but what was that to them,
SO long as they could keep on making
money? But the great body of citizens
took up the cause, and the blacks were
freed, and this nation was bound to-
gether more strongly than ever before.
(Applause.)
In the struggle that lies before the
American people the cause Of financial
reform will be inscribed on the topmost
banners, for that is the cause of the
common people as well. While the con-
dition of the masses has been growing
worse and worse money has been piling
up In our financial institutions. The
blood of the nation has been rushing to
the heart and congesting. You know II
you let half of the blood out of a mans
body, the other half does not continue
to circulate and maintain the system,
but 1t rushes to the heart and produces
| the most serious trouble.
l am amused sometimes when I hear
advocates Of the gold standard say that
you cannot make money by legislation.
IT that Is true, why did they not leave
the matter Of circulating medium to
be regulated by natural causes? Why
did they procure legislation to demon
etize silver? Why did they by that leg
islative action contract the volume Of
money and enhance the value Of gold :?
For with all the gold and all the silver
before that time we never had too much
money. I do not mean to say that the
price of gold was actually raised by
legislative enactment, but mean to say
that when all the requirement-all the
duties-of redemption money was
placed upon one-half Of the volume, then
the other half must necessarily appre-
ciate from excessive demand. Statisti-
clans have figured 1t out that 95 per cent
of the business of the country is trans
acted on credit basis-that is. by
checks and drafts and bills Of exchange
and other demands for money. Now,
when you take away one-half Of the re-
demption coin which must sustain this
load of credit-when you pile the work Of
twenty dollars on top of one dollar-do
you see what must happen? The whole
structure is bound to fall.
At the beginning of this century there
was French scientist who wanted to
demonetize gold, land he advanced just the
same line Of argument-and wrote vol
umes and volumes to prove-just what
these people assert in sustaining the de-
monetization of silver. He said you can
not make money by legislation.
Coming back to the subject Of the next
campaign, the speaker said there is no
probability of a repetition Of the result
Of the last. To begin with, the cause of
bimetallism is growing in Europe. It is
rapidly being espoused as the cause Of
the industrial classes. 1t is opposed by
the wealthy classes just as it is here. The
leading political question before the peo-
pie of Great Britain during the next few
years will be this question of remone-
tizing silver. OF one thing we may feel
certain, that there will be no large fund
to send over to this country to help turn
an election. In the second place, the
bulldozing and intimidation practiced
during the last campaign cannot be re-
peated. Many people have had their
eyes opened since that time. Then he
proceeded to tell of manufacturing es-
Establishment in Chicago, owned by emf
nently respectable patriots and employ
Ahe AoVV 4AdA0Ss WIZ CdlACO oil t1lClI lIlcll
in just before election and showed them
a great stack of orders, all conditioned
upon the election Of Mckinley. If Nc
Kinley was not elected, the orders were
to be Cancelled, and the works were to be
shut down. Then, to make the lesson
more impressive, on the day preceding
election the firm procured large guam
tity of muslin and had machines all care
fully covered. If the election went wrong
the covers were not to come of. Well,
the election did not go wrong, according
to their way Of thinking; Mckinley was
elected, but within three weeks Of that
day the factory closed. II wonder what
those 1900 employees out Of work thought
Of the matter them" said the speaker.
''The chances are that those 1900 could
not be fooled in that way again."
daughter and applause)
Thirdly, the next campaign, with all
Mark Hanna's shrewdness, cannot draw
from the country such another cam
paign fund as was secured the last time.
Many of those who were drawn upon
for that fund-the merchants and man.
ufacturers-have had their eyes opened
to the false promise of prosperity to
come. You may fool the people once or
twice or even three times, but you can
not fool them always.
Fourthly, the element of fraud can
not enter into the election to the same
extent as it did last time. The speaker
mentioned the case of Kentucky, where
Cleveland received a handsome major
ity In 1892. Bryan received in 1896 fully
$4,000 more votes than had been polled
for Cleveland, and yet the state or a ma
jority Of it's electoral vote, was turned
over to Mckinley. In Ohio the vote
polled at the last presidential election
was 10000 in excess of the male popula-
tion over 81 years Of age. No, such
gigantic frauds cannot be perpetrated
again.
In addition to these facts, which are
sure to make in our favor, it should
be borne in mind that a change of barely
$4,000 votes, properly distributed, IN the
last election would have thrown the re-
suit the other way. This in spite Of all
the intimidation and coercion, in spite
Of all the corruption fund and all the
fraud.
Hold your ground" said the speaker,
'and men will come to you-they are
coming now from all quarters. 1 do not
know whence they come or who they
are Then. suddenly checking him
self and looking up at a large picture of
Bryan hanging on the opposite wall, he
resumed: II see who one is."
This sudden turn brought out a pro.
longed round of applause and this cii-
max was capped by the guests jumping
to their feet and giving three rousing