The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1900-09-28

tue hcino qudrtetle WHICH pledseu Tue
audience with a comic campaign selec-
ton entitled, billie b." and was
obliged to respond to an encore. The
committee as announced later by the
chairman was made up as follows:
First ward, F. w. Smith, t. M. Wiley.
E. p. Gilbert; I'd, Jas. Bartrem, Fred
Edwards, j. Sutton; 3D., Jno. Brown,
Jr., Ohas. Beebe, l. G. Curry; 4th, Jas.
Jordan, Chas. Paris, John l.. Curtis;
9th, G. b. Sickmon. j. H. Robbins,
Ores. Parker.
VIM. A. Norton, of st. Johns, who
spoke in part as follows:
WA. NORTON.
will not lose sight of the fact that l
am sort of John the Baptist and that
there are others to follow me. This
campaign means that there is differ
ence between the two great parties
which ask for your votes. This must
be seen first in the two platforms which
must be taken at their word. II both are
honest and both are alike then there is
| no issue.
We are before the people with some
new issues, some old issues, and para
mount issue as usual. The first great,
the old paramount issue, is the tariff,
which has been tried out. The first
time the democrats got in it was on the
tariff and with only the record made by
democrat house and president-the
introduction of the Mills bill-they
were rcpudiated in 1888. Again they
made another plea to get in because
they didn't have chance when they
were in before, and succeeded after
making the voters believe that perhaps
free trade would increase mans be-
longings ten times over.
Four years ago-but then there is no
need of telling you what the conditions
were then This time it was crime
committed nearly thirty years ago.
This has not been proved in the same
way that the free trade fallacy was
proved, thank God, but it has been
proved on the one hand by the way the
prophecies of Bryan. and, on the other
hand, those of the republicans have
been fulfilled. The prophecies of Bry-
an-you know how they have been
filled. The claims of the republicans
but you know how they have been
proved true.
But what is being done about silver9
1t was put in not because the good of
the country demanded it, but because
Bryan would seem inconsistent, and he
told them that it must go in or they
must get another candidate. But it
was put in at the tail end of the plat
form. Then when Bryan was in the
east never a word did he say about
silver. Even when he got to Milwau-
kee he complained because the republi-
cans were talking money, but when he
got further west, instead of saying that
the clause was put in 10 hold the voters
of the west, he told them that it was
put down at the tail end so that they
would hold the gold bugs in the east.
But now we've got new paramount
issue-No, an old one. as old as the
country. Why, when Washington was
| alive he was accused of wishing to be
come an emperor. Lincoln was &C
cused of wishing to make himself
| dictator. Grant was called q butcher
and it was said that he was trying to
make himself dictator But we've
always been expanding and we've never
been in any especial danger. We are
even now expanding and it is still along
the lines along which God Almighty
intended the country to expand.
Expansion has been fact ever since
the victory of Manila Bay when
Dewey annihilated the Spanish fleet.
1t has been fact since that day and
Bryan himself helped aflix the seal to
| the fact when he, as he has boasted,
secured the assent of seven democratic
votes in the senate to the ratification of
the treaty. Mr.. Bryan we'll knows.
however, that it is only as vote
catcher that he is making the howl
about imperialism and knows too that
1t is probably matter of even shorter
time when the paramount issue,will be
relegated to the past with the others.
The attitude of Bryan on this and on
the real paramount issue, the money
question, was discussed in most
thorough way by Mr. Norton and in
the usual keenly logical but humorous
style. He had the audience with him
from the first and was warmly cheered.
MIR. W. S. HUMPHREY.
/ This campaign IS peculiar in that it
seemed necessary To declare the para.
mount issue. We supposed that we
knew what this paramount issue was.
The democratic national convention
committee took two days to decide aud
finally put in the free silver clause as
the paramount issue but it didn't take,
and therefore Bryan ha to take up
different ISSUE but he seems to have
buried that, and at st Louis he never