The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1898-03-16

| u oAopOIIdClOus anu law also a1OS the
great corporations to Cypress labor.
Manifestly these laws need thorough al
iteration and revision, and beyond doubt,
a large majority of the people favor
radical changes.
| Monetary laws are universal in their
! operation; every man. woman and child,
In the whole country is directly and
continuously affected by them, and so
utterly unjust are they that it is hard
to conceive how they could be made
worse. No one is satisfied with our sys-
tenn as it is, therefore it must and will
be changed.
cants as a beverage, established, pro-
tected and encouraged by law. and
pushed to the utmost limit by the awful
demon greed, is an evil of such mag
! nitude that language is powerless to ex-
press it's horrors. That a majority of
our people do not desire it's destruction
can scarcely be believed. Many minor
evils imperatively demand attention,
Gated gives us gigantic work to be
accomplished, and if the work be thor
Oughly done, it will make our condition
more tolerable, and strengthen the
forces that make for righteousness" in
government, in the further struggle.
That these reforms are really desired
by majority of our people is clear, il
observation counts for anything, yet the
efforts made during the last twenty
years, have simply resulted in a contln-
uous and rapid growth of the evils that
afflict us. The campaign of 1896, the
first that gave any promise of success,
was practically battle on the financial
question, and even that limited to free
silver and government issue of paper
money, as against bank ISSUE AS Mr..
Bryan truthfully says, "more than
n1nety-nine per cent of the vote was
for free silver" Six and one-half mil
lions of these votes asserted the right
and purpose of Americans to rule Amer
lea; seven millions of those votes ad-
America, and expressed the purpose of
those voters to submit to that rule. Only
the 1nfnitismal number of less than one
per cent of the voters, headed by Cleve-
land and Carlisle. were guilty Of the
folly and wickedness of declaring for the
gold standard, and these men called
themselves Democrats, yet, strange in
consistency, we find our Republican
free-silver- by-international agreement
administration, openly exerting all it's
power for the establishment of the gold
standard.
But the important question is-why
centration of the votes of reformers for
the accomplishment of our purposes?
These questions have been discussed in
every reform newspaper in the land, and
thousand suggestions offered. I be-
lieve these qustions can be answered in
three words-devotion to party.
Owing to the persistent and continu-
GUS agitation Of financial questions by
the Peoples party, the subject was
brought into prominence, and the trend
Of events clearly indicated that the peo-
pie were about to demand their con-
sideration and settlement
To save the Democratic party from
disintegration and sure defeat, the lead
ers were compelled to take action and
embody in their platform the Populist
principles of free coinage of silver and
government Of paper money, and this
was the only part of the platform that
cut any figure in the campaign. The
agency of the Peoples party in making
the financial issue, was frankly &C
knowledged by Mr.. Bryan and other
Democratic leaders, the necessity of the
aid of the Populists and free silver Re-
publicans was also admitted, yet the
nominees were Democrats, and when the
Populist convention periodically deter
mined to go to the rescue of free silver
by nominating Mr. Bryan, assocating
with him Mr.. Watson, to the end that
their party indemnity and the organiza-
ton which they had laboriously builded
and which had confessedly been pro-
ductive of SO much good through it's edu-
cative work, might be preserved, they
were utterly ignored, Mr.. Bryan refused
to consider Mr.. Sewall's offer to with
draw, refused to indorse Mr.. Watson.
and the Democratic national committee
Endorsed his action, refusing all solicit
tations for amicable arrangement,
thereby proving that they sought pro-
motion of the interests Of the Demo-
cratic party, rather than the welfare
of the people or the furtherance of
righteous legislation.
That such stupid, laundering selfish
ness would end in defeat, was to be ex-
pected, and I believe it was the cause
Of defeat. The campaign of 1896, Of
fered a glorious opportunity to secure
the free coinage Of silver; it is past, and
it Is more than doubtful if equally
favorable conditions will ever again
occur, and to the Democratic party is
the failure justly chargeable, and to
William Jennings Bryan more than to
any other one person on earth. The
actions and utterances of the Demo-