The Philipsburg mail. [volume] (Philipsburg, Mont.) 1887-current, 1900-10-12
BRYAN'S BETRAYAL OF SILVER.
speech OF Hon. William NJ Stewart at
Salt Lake City.


Senator Stewart, of Nevada. COM
menced his address at Salt Lake City,
on the evening of the 5th inst, as fol
lows:
Ladies' and gentlemen:- We have ser
lods questions before US III this cam
paign Those of us who supported Mr.
Bryan four years ago have Il grievance
Our leader has departed: he has gone
over to the enemy; he is not with as. he
is not of us, ana / fear be never was
There can be but one issue in a pres
ldentlal campaign. There are always
side ISSUES in political platforms, but the
members of the party are at liberty,
after election, to divide ON all issues
named i'll the platform except the one
issue upon which the campaign was
fought Silver was subordinate issue
in the platforms Of both parties for near
ly twenty years, each party contendng
that it was more favorable to silver than
the other, but silver was not advanced
on the contrary, was set back at every
car.paign. The populists and silver re-
publicans organized and agtated the
question until they forced it upon the
democratic party. In 1895 the demo
cratic convention at Chicago made sill
Yer the paramount issne, and nominated
Mr.. Bryan on that issue. He made a
campaign of unparalleled vigor and
came very near succeeding. If the dem
ocra lc party had been successful on sll-
Yer as a paramount issue, it Is reason
able 70 suppose that silver would have
been restored. [ supported Mr. Bryan
on the silver question with Ill the energy
| could command. [ had ibosol to put
silver to the front for twenty years. and
/ realized that the opportunity for silver
had come but we were defeated. Times
have changed since 1896, and Mr.. Bryan
has changed A Thousand million of
new gold from the mines, and the pros
pect Of four hundred million during the
current year, together with large ad-
dition TO the national bank circulation,
vast balance Of trade secured by the
Dingley bill and expenditures of war
have created good times. These have
furnished more money which might
have been accomplished by the remone-
tiZation Of silver. | regarded, and still
regard, the demonetiZation Of silver as
the greatest crime OF the nineteenth cen
tury, 1t doubled the obligations of con
tracts, increased the value of bonds and
other futures 100 per cent, while it re-
duced the Interchangeable value Of other
commodities fully 80 per cent. These
new conditions named have created
greater prosperity than | have ever seen
during my lTe-wages have been ad
vanced from 10 to 30 per cent, farm pro-
ducts have advanced from % to 125 per
cent, there is employment for all who
are willing to work, whereas in 1896 AZ
per cent of the people were idle.
whether these new conditions in
fluenced Mr.. Bryan or whether it was
the work Of the evil spirit, is immaterial.
He forced the democratic convention to
subordinate silver to Aguinaldo's rebel
lion and make it side Issue, which is
no issue at all. The convention ex-
cluded Mr. Towne and all other silver
republicans and populists from recog
milton. The influence of Tammany and
the east predominated. 1t is true the
same old tactics of throwing bone to
the silver men was pursued. On the
22nd Of September, 1900, at Syracuse,
Neb., Mr. Bryan's organ, the Chicago
American, reports HIM as saying that
the democrats are as much in favor of
tariff reform now as they were in 1892
and as much in favor Of the free coin
age of silver as they were in 1896, but
that neither of these issues is paramount
now. Does this satisfy silver men who
supported Mr.. Bryan four years ago on
that issue? 1t certainly does not satisfy
me-"