The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1900-09-27

COeAA
the British possessions in the north
east, and practically drove us out of
the seaboard markets with the soft
coal of central states. 1t was Bryan
who advocated the low tariff on
agricultural products and utterly re-
fused to discriminate or allow dis
elimination in favor of the products
of the west and middle west. The
laboring men of the country and the
farmers of the country, before they
plunge themselves into the vortex
that is being held out, should get
Bryan's record and read it. 1t is a
very interesting chapter in the per-
sonal politics of that gentleman.
The platform made at Kansas City is
very adroit in laying the foundation
for an enactment in Congress, should
Bryan be elected, satisfactory to his
history and record. Not daring to
assail protection directly he came at
it in the platform which he PERSONAL
ly conducted as follows
Tariff laws should be amended by
putting the products of trusts upon
the free list. We condemn
the Dingley tariff law as a trust
breeding measure, skilfully devised,
ETC."
That is the platform of the party
denominated the Democratic party
and whose nomination Mr.. Bryan &C.
cepted. The original Populist party,
whose candidate Mr.. Bryan now is,
refer to the Sioux Falls nomination,
also places itself on record in a sim
liar attitude. So Mr.. Bryan, without
any apology for the past stands
upon series of platforms all squint-
ing in the direction of free-trade, and
in the event of his election, with a
Congress subservient to his dictation,
as was the convention at Kansas
City, we may look for just such legis-
lation as precipitated this country
into the condition with which we are
all familiar. 1t is therefore very I'M
wise for the people of the country to
be led away from the two great pro-
positions of Mr.. Bryan's life, the two
propositions for which he stands, the
two propositions which make up
Organism, towit, free and unlimited
coinage of silver, and free-trade, and
follow off after the illusion and de-
fusion of imperialism.
If the intelligent agriculturalist
will take the prices of his products
in 1896 and compare them with the
present prices of the commodities,
and then take the Dingley tariff law,
he will at once discover to what he is
indebted for the advance in prices.
If the laboring man will take first the
price of his labor in 1896 and then
the price of his labor in 1900 and then
take the table of imports of foreign
manufactured goods in 1896 and back
of that time and then take the i'm
ports of foreign goods now, as shown
by the statistics of the Treasury De-
partment, he will at once discover
that the present advantage which is
accruing to him comes absolutely
directly from the tariff law now on
the statute books of the United
States. And then, if he desires old
times, with old prices and old short
days of employment, he had better
vote for William Jennings Bryan.
But if the laboring man wants a
continuation of the present prospect
ty of the United States, he certainly
cannot, without inconsistency, vote
for Bryan. Another view of it. Let
the laboriug man take the present
price of his labor and take the pre-
sent prices of all the things he buys
upon which his family is subsisted
and supported and educated, and
then take the price of his labor of
1896 and the prices existing then, he
will discover, without any hesitation
of intellect, that present conditions
are far better than old conditions,
that, waving the little increase of
cost of living, the balance sheet
shows favorably to him. No man can
deny that and there is no man in the
United States who has done more to
break down the interests of labor by
promoting and cultivating unfair
and unjust competition than has
William j. Bryan, of Nebraska.