Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1900-09-27

TCStSOBdDIc.
Well, Mr.. Bryan is a very pleas
ant speaker and can make plaus-
ible showing when he has very
weak case. He is a clever, respec-
table gentleman who "earns his
bread by the sweat of his jaw"
and he has learned his trade very
well. But let me call your atten-
tion to a few solid facts for you to
consider before you feel inclined to
yield your mind to his brilliant
generalities about Imperialism.
l. Mr.. Bryan's record proves
him to be an unsafe leader. He is
a theorist rather than practical
man of affairs. In every campaign
in the past and upon every issue
heretofore presented to the people
for settlement, Mr.. Bryan has been
mistaken. The results have PROV
ed that he was mistaken. The
natural presumption is that he is
mistaken now. When Demo
cratic Congressman and also when
a Populist leader in 1899, Mr.. Bry-
an was very sure that Free Trade
was the thing needed to insure
prosperity in the United States.
He was sure that the "robber tar
iff" was making it hard for the
farmer and the wage Garner to live.
He and those who believed as he
did succeeded in convincing the
people, and the Wilson bill, a free
trade measure, was adopted and
became law. Three years of bit
ter experience proved that Mr..
Bryan and his friends were mis-
taken. Factories were closed; la
boring men were without employ
ment; capital found no productive
investment, and the produce of the
farm brought no adequate return
to the farmer from 1898 to 1897
while this Free Trade bill was the
law.
In 1896 Mr.. Bryan and his Dem
ocrat-Populist following dropped
the tariff issue like a hot potato
and took up that of free silver.
During that campaign he declared
that if the free coinage of silver at
the ratio of 16 to l was not adopted,
if a gold standard continued to be
the law and become a fixed policy
of the country, "that prices will
go down is as certain as the law
of gravitation;" that "the rich will
grow richer and the poor poorer
that 'there will be decrease in
the amount of money in circula-
tion;" that ''the army of the unem-
ployed will continue to increase. 4
Results have proven that Mr..
Bryan was again mistaken. Every
one of hispredictions turned out to
be false. We have now a protec-
tive tariff and the gold standard |
law. Prices have gone up instead
of down, while the rich have grown
richer the poor have shared in the
general prosperity, the amount of
money in circulation has largely
increased, and labor was never
more generally employed nor more
adequately rewarded than now.
Is it not fair to presume that the
gentleman who has always been
mistaken upon every other leading
issue is mistaken aboutimperialism,
which he declares to be the "para-
mount issue of this campaign"
2. Your father remembers two
campaigns before this when impe-
rialism and militarism were the
key note of the Democratic war
cry. The first was in 1864, when
the mighty Lincoln, whose name
you bear, was candidate for re-
election. l was not quite old
enough to vote for him, although
l was carrying an Enfield rifle in
the Union army, and / remember
how unjust itseemed to me because
l was old enough to fight and not
old enough to vote. ] remember
that our Democratic friends said
that the reelection of Lincoln
meant the downfall of the republic
and the establishment of an empire
by force of arms.
The same cry came to the front
in 1872 when General Grant was a
candidate for reelection. "Caes-
arism, "nepotism," and military
tyranny were the sum and sub
stance of every Democratic speech,
and the downfall of the republic
was predicted if Grant should be
elected
Well, the logic of events proved
that our Democratic friends were
Lincoln and Grant
were elected, but the republic lived
on. No empire was established.