The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1900-10-17
A CAP THAT FITS.
DANIEL WEBSTER FORESAW BRYAN
AND BRYANlSM.

Denounced Them Sixty-six Years
Ago as the "Poor Mans Curse"-No
| Natural Hatred Between the Poor
and the Rich.
Sixty-six years ago, on Jan. 81, 1884,
Daniel Webster stood up In the United
States senate and denounced the dem
agogism of his day in words which fit
the present crisis precisely. He said:
"Sir. l see, In those vehicles which
carry to the people sentiments from
high places, plain declarations that the
present controversy Is but strife be-
tween one part OF the community and
another. l hear 1t boosted as the I'M
failing security, the solid ground never
TO be shaken, on which recent meas
ures rest, that the poor naturally hate
the rich. | know that, under the cover
of the roofs of the capitol, within the
last "A hours. among men sent here to
devise means for the public safety'and
public good, 1t has been Wanted forth,
as matter of boast and triumph, that
one cause existed powerful enough to
support everything and to defend
everything; and that was the natural
hatred of the poor to the rich.
'Sir, | pronounce the author OF such
sentiments to be guilty of attempting
Il detestable fraud on the community;
double fraud; fraud which is 10
cheat men out of their property and
out of the earnings of their labor by
first cheating them out of their under
standings.
The natural hatred of the poor to
the rich" Sir, 1t shall not be till the
last moment of my existence, 1t shall
be only when | nm drawn to the verge
of oblivion, when 1 shall cease to have
respect or affection for anything on
earth, that | will believe the people OF
the United States capable of being eff
feetually deluded, eajoled and driven
about III herds by such abominable
frauds as this. II they shall sink to
that point If they so far cease to be
men-thinking men, intelligent men
as TO yield to such pretenses and such
clamor, they Will be slaves already
slaves to their own passions, slaves TO
the fraud and knavery of pretended
friends. They will deserve to be blot
They ought not to dishonor the cause
of self government by attempting any
longer to exercise 1t; they ought to
keep their unworthy hands entirely off
from the cause of Republican liberty IL
they are capable Of being the victims
of articles so shallow, Of tricks so
stale, SO threadbare, so often practieed,
SO much worn out on serfs and slaves.
A Monstrous Delusion.
1.-The natural hatred Of the poor
against the richr The danger of
moneyed arlstocracy. "A power as
great and dangerous as that resisted
by the Revolution a call to a new
Declaration of Independence" Sir, l
admonish the people against the OBJ
ject OF outcries like these. l admon-
ish every Industrious laborer In the
country to be on his guard against such
delusion. / tell him the attempt IS to
play off his passions against his inter
ests and to prevail on him In the name
of liberty to destroy all the fruits Of
liberty in the name of patriotism, to
injure and afflict his country and In
the name of his own independence to
destroy that very Independence and
make him II beggar and slave. Has
he dollar? He is advised to do that
which Will destroy half its value. Has
he hands to labor? Let him rather
fold them and sit still than be pushed
ON by fraud and artitice to support
measures which will render his labor
useless and hopeless.
Labor's Great Safeguard.
'Sir, the very man of all others who
has the deepest interest In sound cur
rency and who suffers most by mis-
chievous legislation In money matters
is the man who earns his daily bread
by his daily toll. Preying on nobody,
he becomes the prey of all. His prop
erty is in his hands. His reliance, his
fund, his productive freehold, his ALL Is
his labor Whether he works on his own
small capital or another's his living is
still earned by his industry, and when
the money of the country becomes de-
preciated and debased. whether 1t be
adulterated coin or paper without cred
1t, that industry is robbed Of its re-
ward. He then labors for n country
whose laws cheat him out of his bread.
l would say to every owner of every
quarter section of land In the west, l
would say to every man In the east
who follows his own plow and TO every
mechanic, artisan aud laborer In every
city In the country; would say to ey
cry man everywhere who wishes by
honest means to gain an honest living:
Beware of wolves In sleeps clothing.
Whoever attempts, under whatever
popular cry, to shake the stability Of
the public currency, bring on distress
In money matters and drive the coun-
try into the use of paper money, stabs
your interest and your happiness to
the heart
Sir, the great interest of this great
country, the producing cause of all its
prosperity, Is labor, labor labor. We
are laboring community vast ma
jority of us all live by industry and
actual employment In some of their
forms. The constitution was made to
protect this industry, to give 1t both en-
enlargement and security; but, above
all. security. To that very end, with
that precise object In view, power was
given to congress over the currency
and over the money system OF the
country. And whoever has the wick
edness to conceive and the hardihood
10 ayow purpose to break down what !
has been found In 40 years experience |
essential to the protection of all inter-
ests, by arraying one class against an
other and by acting on such principle
as that the poor always hate the rich,
shows himself the reckless enemy OF |
all An enemy TO his whole country. to
all classes and to every man In 1t, he
deserves to be marked especially as the |
DOOR mans curSar,