Richmond daily palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1876-1904, 1900-10-06
OPEN LETTER.
In Which Some Plain Questions are
Asked William I. BRYAN.

Der of my fellow citizens, | ts
listened to your address delivere
our city. and was sorry to note
owing to the delay in your arr
you were compelled To so
tail your remarks as TO omit
tirely the giving OF your views u
several important questions on wi
1t Is possible You Intended to
spoken.
1t is but fair to believe that a la
number OF the voters present
sired to know your mol
should they by their ballots aid
placing you in the responsible of
which you seek. They recogn
that your competitor for this b
position has the advantage of ma
years of public life during which
actions speak louder than words
that which may be expected OF hi
while their confidene in what z
may do must be base, wholly up
your statements and promises,
that which you haze done, ev
when occupying high POSITION, is u
recorded.
Your statement tat upon +;
questions which you discussed
1896 you stood today pom the sar
ground which you mintained the
was upon your part ianly and /
the point, giving no uncerp
sound, though it doesseem a lie
strange in view of he historyof
the past four years tht you sbald
still maintain tat if we
continued the gold sta1ard, eXorts
would decline and imEts incease,
that the balance of tde void be
against Us; that labor you'd pc I'M
employed; that the pee OF farm
products would decEl; that the
price of wheat would f4w tie price
of silver; that mortgae would be
fOreclosed and all our pRle De cruel
fed upon a cross of bld; that we
would become a natioF borrowers
and a borrowing nam. DO you
really believe now asIou asserted
then that all these thin&ill happen
if we do not take Is eds worth OF
silver from every man no carts II
20 our mints and retu1 1t TO hun
STAMPED One Dollar and In God We
Trust it's only rodeder? The. e
re 81 me of us who hat heretofore
,l0 that we would pr8r to have
My so much of such .colEas the gov
rnment would, and alhys would,
edeem for us In that hich was OF
II Ia .,,Il
But, passing from theEld issues of
1876, there were some bf US who
luch desired to hear ya state just
hat, if we give you oG votes and
nus contribute to your eection, you
tend to do in disposing of the re-
Its of the Spanish war n the mill
ny operations of which you took SO
stinguished a part, and for the Sc
ring of the ratification ofthe treaty
hich brought it to a Close you SO
labored
Upon this point you made a clear
ain statement as it would seem
'On the surface, when you declared
at you would give the islands a
able government and then turn
EN- over to the Filipino people.
1t unfortunately you failed to state
lich of the Filipino peoples you
,uld select to whom to turn them
err We would like to be informed
!, 10 s WnodsSiIa also ike to know what
Il mean by stable government,
d how you would establish it. Web
er defines stable government
one firmly established fixed =
rable. This would seem TO imply
ntinuity, in other words, that
me time must elapse before
e government you speak of should
We that stability you promise
wv do you propose to maintain it?
e believe it is a cardinal principle
tn you that all such governments
lst be founded on the consent of
: governed. VIII you establish
ch a government without the con
1t of the Filipino people? OF
lat evidence are you possessed that
, Filipino people will consent to
: stable government which you
)pose for them? Have you already
de an agreement with Aguinaldo,
: Tagal leader, that if he will CON
ne his resistance and kill few
re of the American boys whose
es we all hold so dear and thus
ID up his warfare until yon can
ure place and power, you will at
,e establish a stable government
h as he and his associates will
lsent to, and has he agreed with
/ to give his CONSENT These, Mr..
van, are exceedingly important
and we must insist on a
in, frank answer, such as you can
lily make. Have you or have you
such an agreement? If you have
!, what do you propose to do if
y decline to consent? If YOU
e, kindly explain the difference
ween such an agreement with
ties in arms against the flag of
country and common, ordinary
aSon.
here remains one other matter.
Bryan, upon which you can give
information that might help US to
ermine whether it is safe to give
/ our votes. There has lately been
,lished the full text of the instruc-
is given by President Mckinley
the Philippine commission to
de them in forming a government |
the islands. 1t has seemed to |
lie of us that these instructions. ii |
ried out, would result in estab- |
ing a satisfactory government |
one to which all order loving.
| disposed Filipinos would con
t. We presume in order to estab- |
the stable government,which you
mise you would not 90 to the |
uds in person, but that YOU would |
ct one or more citizens eminent |
ability and having the confidence
Ill your countryInen, regardless OF
ty, and that you would give them
starting out upon such mission |
lie instructions as to what kind /
character of government they /
uld establish Viii YOU kindly |
: US, Mr. Bryan, as full an out
of such instructions as the inter
OF the government viii in your
MON permit, and We promise to