The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1900-10-10

phesied. He prophesied that unless you
had free silver, the wage worker would
stand idle in the market place, that was
the age-Worker has had very nearly
double as much work as before. And he
prophesied again. He said that if we
elected Mckinley, the farmer would find
the products of his farm diminishing in
value; but they have increased from Is
to so per cent in different products. You
do not have to take ny word for any
thing Of this Simply look at the Stats
tics, or find out what has happened
among your friends.
And Mr.. Bryan prophesied again.
The savings banks attracted his atten-
ton, and he said if we had not free sill
Yer, the deposits of the savings banks
would diminish; and they have increased
Is per cent. He said that the amount of
money in circulation per capita would
diminish, and it has increased from $40
to $25- So far Mr.. Bryan had been say
ing that everything would go down. He
said mortgages would go up; and they
were the only things that went down.
Mortgages have diminished in amount
by nearly 40 per cent. When these
things were pointed out to Mr.. Bryan
the other day, and it was shown to him
that we were prosperous, he answered
that it was not the Republican party but
Providence that made us So Now
am perfectly willing to admit that there
has been a fusion between Providence
and the Republican party. The Democ-
else but somehow or other it has never
managed to connect with Providence.
Now, gentlemen, I do not wonder
that in the hard times when things were
looking pretty black, men turned to
strange gods. It has always been SO
since the day when Moses broke the
decalOgue. ! do not wonder when a
man feels sick ard does not know what
is the matter with him, and he can not
find out, that he should try a quack
medicine once; but if he tries it again, I
must question his intelligence.
I was struck in walking up here by
one of the inscriptions upon a trans
parency carried in the German-Ameri-
can association as it marched along in
the parade. That motto read: Labor.
More than IAegisla ton, Brings Success
The best of legislation can not bring
success save to those who labor; and
had legislation can make it absolutely
impossible for those who labor to pro-
duce any result.
1T is a safe rule to distrust any man
with a Pc tent remedy for bringing the
millennium. We have been great many
thousand years in struggling up to
where we are, and we are not going to
get over the remainder of the distance
in our march toward the millennium by
one jump. There win be d good deal of
walking before We get there We can
take long strides in advance, but we can
do so only by facing the conditions as
they actually are.
The last paramount issue that seems
TO nave Deeu developed on the OIHer SlOe
is the issue of trusts. I am only going
to ask your attention for just one mo-
ment to that. BY trusts of course is
now meant the great aggregations of
corporate wealth which, although not
technically trusts, are such as we COM
monty understand the word in speaking
one to another. 1t is idle to say that all
these great corporations do evil. If you
know well and understand the circum-
stances under which they exist you
would never in the world go back to
some of the conditions that preceded the
present system of consolidation. Take,
for instance, the great railway lines in
my own state of New York AT one time
in order to get from New York to Buff
faIo you had to change cars five times
and get on five different lines. It was
four times as uncomfortable and three
times as costly to travel and ship
freight then as now A measure of great
positive benefit came from the CONSOLE
dation. The whole development of our
highly specialized and highly complex
modern Industrial civilization has tend
ed to produce these great aggregations
OF corporte wealth. In their develop
ment there has been good and there has
/ also been evil The man who denies
the evil is just as foolish as he who
thinks that it is all evil. There have
been evils, and there are now evils.
They have got to be cut out; and they
are going to be cut out, not by orat0ry
but by common sense and resolution.
Incidentally one of the first things to do
is TO make up your minds that while get
ting rid of the cancer you wish to avoid
killing the patient
THE very fact that the problem is COM
pick means that there can be no imme-
date solution There will probably have
ent it has to be left largely to the differ