The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1900-09-07


let us fix our attention on the fact that
the policy followed for the last three
years has resulted in bringing the man
and the dollar together. That is what
man really wants with a dollar. He
is not interested in any flight of fancy IS
to whether he is behind or in front of the
dollar. He wants ID get hold Of it; and
when he has got hold OF 1T, he wants to
| lind it worth one hundred cents, and not
| forty eight cents. When man can get
| hold OF a dollar, he is its master; and
when he cannot get hold OF 1T, then he
cannot master 1t. At present we give
the WageWorker work and we provide
that he is paid full value for his work.
Ihat Is the only practical way to bring
the man and the dollar together on terms
which will give the man the advantage;
and the fact of having actually carried
out the policy which secured this, of haV-
Ing done the deeds which produced these
/ conditions, is worth to the labOring man
| ten thousand times more than all the fine
phrases that can be uttered as to some
| wholly imaginary precedence of position
| between the man and the dollar he earns.
In his speeches Mr.. Bryan kept in
sisting upon the alleged fact that money
was growing dearer; that under gold
standard 1t was bound to continue to
grow scarcer Well, as a matter of fact,
and thanks to our prosperity, there is
more money In circulation per capita in
In the history OF the country. On July
1st, RIast. the circulation per capita was
S26 90, an increase in circulation of s. 40
for every man, woman and child In the
country, as compared with what 1t was
| on July lst, s91S96. So Mr.. Bryan's
prOhecy has been as wide of the mark in
this instance as In every other, The
present year is the first in which the two
billion dollar mark in circulation has
ever been passed. In other words, the
Increase of money In circulation has kept
pace with the expanding Industries and
commerce of the country, and this in
crease has been predominatelV due to
the condition of prosperity produced by
the gold standard; yet Mr.. Bryan in his
Minneapolis speech Of four years ago pre-
dicted that commerce would be at a
standst1ll because gold would go out OF
the country, and that the Issuing of
bonds would be necessary to bring it
back. Every single prediction he has
made has been falsitied by the event
Mr.. Bryan seems at the moment IN
easily conscious that there is something
very wrong with his proposed financial
policy, and talks very little about 1t; but
he has definitely committed himself TO
It, and this various conventions that
) nominated him have reiterated their be-
lief In all the absurd and exploded
theories which he championed four years
ago. Unless our opponents are guilty Of
the grossest hypocrisy, q hypocrisy so
great as to deprive them of the right to
appeal to any straightfOr ward and sincere
m5n, they must If they carry the election
Immediately start in to revolutiontze our
} whole financial system, and begin series
OF experiments with our industrial we'll
being. which could only result IN the
most widespread disaster. No body of
men who have made such prophecies as
@ our opponents made In 1896, and who
have seen them falsified so sicnaIIv bv
40 how Mo To Of - ~
public to be put In any position OF re-
spOns1b1l1ty. Even If they recant their
foolish heresies they ought to serve an
apprenticeship before they expect people
: to trust them; and, until they do recant
1 outright, and not merely By attem pts
l at evasion-nO single promise they make,
no single plan they propose for the sOlu-
, tion OF any problem which confronts us,
is entitled to che consideration of patriot
ic and far-sighted men.
Mr.. Bryan did not always cOnfine his
prophecies to economical and financial
matters. Once or twice he took excur-
sions into patriotism. He said on one
| occasion: "ShOW me these people who
call US anarchists, and i will show you a
; class OF people who if we had a war would
never go to the front and at IndianapO-
lis: The men who insist upon doing
our legislation in times OF peace never
fight any battles in times of war. They
are the people who call you anarchists
when you Insist on having q hand in
, legislation; but in time OF trouble they
! would come to you and say: on, anaTch
lists, save our prU perty, because you know
we cannot affOI. to fight - Well, a good
many men in this audience must have
had friends, or neighbOrs, or perhaps
kinsfOlk who were only too anxious to go
> to the front in the Spanish war, and ]
Will leave it to those men to say whether
all good Americans rich or poor, what
: ever their means or their social standing,
did not eagerly leap forward when the
call to the flag was made, anxious to
! stand shoulder to shoulder with one an
l other, forgetting all trivial differences In
: their love for their splendid common
1 country. Such utteranceS as those l have
. quoted cannot possibly reflect credit OF
1 both head and heart One or the Other
Z must be gravely at fault. The untrutt
= of such utterances was shown within
Y twenty four hours after the declaration Ol
war with Spain. / doubt if any man,
r in view OF what has been done during
E the last few years, would now venture tt
i repeat such a ieer as to the men who
s volunteer in our armies Now our op.
= DOnents assume a different tone. 1t is
e terrible and most lamentable truth thai
5 our soldiers who are now facing death in
4 the Philippines are force to recognize il
5 the Bryanistic Democracy their most dan
: gerOus foe. / need not repeat the oft
o quoted words of General LaWtOD. Th
3 bullets that Stay our men In LuzOn are
inspired by the denOuncers Of America
!. here. No Tagal general, not Aguinald
4 himself, can do as much to prolOng tn
lighting. can do as much to increase the
blOOdshed OF American and Filipino alik
as has been done by the Kansas Cit.
u Convention.
, There Is not the least little danger o
J Imperialism, and theresis not dividing
q line of any kind to be drawn between
5 our methods of expansion in 1898 ant
1889 and the methods Of expansion unde
! ! which we acquired Michigon, Illinois
Florida Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri
Oregon, California, Hawaii and Alaska
Mr.. Bryan has recently spoken of us q
T. having purchased the Philippines a
= 81 30 a head treating 1t as analogous t.
! buying slaves at 81, 900 a head. 1t seem
. impossible that such a statement cOul
Q be made unless as a jest. Mr.. Brya,
{ must know that the philippines wer
r,nf Ia Forsr, 7coIrr Iro7.4r