The Forrest City times., 1899-04-21
THE DOLLAR DINNER.
William ]. Bryan at the New York
Jefferson Banquet.
Declares for the Chicago Platform
without Chnnge-Monopoly and
NiIitarism Republican
Evils.

| The widely heralded dollar dinner"
| given by New York democrats in honor
| of Thomas Jefferson's birthday. Satur-
| day evening, April IS. was the scene
of an enthusiastic reception TO the
champion of free silver, William Jen-
nings Bryan, who was the leading guest
| of the occasion. Mr.. Bryan spoke upon
| democratic differences and divisions
over the Chicago platform as follows:
| 81 am glad TO have this opportunity TO
| join with Chicago platform democrats IN
i celebrating the birthday of Thomas Jel-
| ferson / need offer no apology Tor COM
/ ing to New York. Indeed would be I'M
/ grateful If did not appreciate the loyalty
| of 50. coo voters who in this state supported
| the ticket nominated in Chicago. While my
/ opponent carried the state, our ticket re-
/ ceived more votes in the state OF New fork
| than ii did in any other state, and you VINO
| supported the ticket walked through the
/ furnace when the fires of criticism were
/ seven times hotter than they have beeh
before during the present generation.
On the Price Per Plate.
"The discussion of the price per plate
/ has obseured, TO some extent, the more I'M
/ portant differences between this banquet
! and the one given last Tuesday night at
! the Metropolitan opera house. A demo-
crat has the right to pay as much as ne
/ pleases for a dinner. The amount paid
| merely determines whether the rank ano
! file of the party, or only the leaders. shall
| meet around the board. The political char
! acter of banquet. however. is determined
not by it's cost, but by the sentiments
! which are woven into it's post-prandial or
| atory.
! Those who accepted the party creed as
/ set forth in the last national platform
! have right to meet and renew their vows
| to jefferson and encourage each other in
the effort to apply the principles of Jeffer-
| son to present conditions to the end that
! justice in government and equality before
| the law may be restored to the people.
| Your presence here does not indicate hos
! tility toward those who left the party in
| 1896. A party is an association formed for
| the purpose of giving force and effect TO
| the political principles held in common
When vital differences in principles arise
! separation is not only necessary, but de-
| sira BILE.
The members of the republican party
! cannot complain because certain republic
| ans left the party rather than accept the
/ st. Louis platform. Neither can members
| of the democratic party complain because
| gold democrats left the democratic party
/ rather than accept the Chicago platform
/ The silver republicans organized a party
/ and gave II a name which distinguished it
| from the regular republican party anu
| silver republicans, true 10 their organiza- :
ton. are not attempting to control the pol
/ icy or write the platform of the republic
| an party.
They openly Joined with the democrats
! in 1896. and their sympathy for the believ
| ers in the Chicago platform is as open to-
| day as it was then. The gold democrats
| organized a separate and distinct party, but
| instead of calling themselves gold demo-
| Gratis they described themselves as ma
| tional democrats, and in Nebraska and
| some other states had their electors placed
| upon the ticket as democrats with nothing
| to distinguish them from the electors who
| represented the regular democratic party.
| Political Bignmists.
Either Chicago platform democrats
| must abandon their convictions or the DEM
ocrats who deserted the party must aban-
! don the views they entertained in 1896. A
| man cannot be political bigamist. He
| cannot be welded TO the name of one party
| and the principles of another party. All
| that we contend for is that those who de-
! serted us in 1856 shall divorce themselves
either from our party name or from the po-
| litical principles of opposing parties. Dem
| ocrats are not dismayed when they hear
! the Chicago platform denounced this year
by those who denounced it in 1896.
1T was satisfactory then TO those who
supported it, and it is equally satisfactory
those who believed in equality of the law
and a menace to those only who used the
| instrumentalities of government for pri-
! vate gain. 1t was written by the voters
| and II cannot be unwritten until the voters
speak again TO their chosen representatives.
| In fact, events have vin6icated that plat
form. rather than condemned it,
THE Chicago platform denounced the
| gold standard as un-American and anti
| American. 1t pledged the party 10 do
| what II could do to secure a restoration of
| the double standard. The president ad-
mitted our contention as being just when
| he sent commission to Europe to secure
international aid in abandoning the gold
| standard. We did not believe in 1896 that
| international bime tallism was possible.
Events have shown that it is a delusion.
The republican platform pledged the
party to maintain the gold standard until
relief could be secured from abroad What
! could be more absurd than TO expect aid
from foreign financiers when we remember
| that the purpose and effect of the gold
| standard has been to increase the purchas-
ing power of the dollar and TO enable Lon
don hnanciers to control the standard mon
ey of the world. The democratic par
! ty cannot abandon its demand for in
dependent bimetalism unless ii is will
ing TO turn the control of the finances
. of the United States over to foreign finan-
! ciers. A nation strong enough to help
the people or Cuba TO secure independence
! is strong enough to demand secure and
maintain financial policy of its own
| sixteen to One Ratio
THE Chicago platform named a ratio
! of sixteen to one as the only ratio by which
| bimetalllsm could be restored. What party
has arisen since TO suggest another rem
| edy? Those who objected to sixteen 10
| one are making no efforts to secure bimet-
| allism at any other ratio. They are de-
| structive, not constructive, in their efforts.
they oppose without proposing Rimetal-
| ism cannot be restored until a ratio IS
hXed, and those who oppose bimetallism un-
Ger any conditions will not be permitted 10
emasculate the platform and render the
| party an adjunct to the republican party
| in its effort to make the gold standa "a
permanent through deceptive promises.
| The Chicago platform denounced the
scheme then being developed to retire the
| greenbacks and substitute national bank
| currency. That scheme is now fully devel-
oped The proposition to give to the ma
uonal banks monopoly of the paper
money of the country is supported by many
| who complain against the Industrial trusts