The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1900-10-10
WHAT BRYAN'S ELECTION
means TO LABOR,
Only Question Is Whether Wage.
Farmers Want Hard Times.
Democratic Policies Drove Thousands to
the Streets Before and Will Do So
Again If Bryan Is Successful.

militarism, there is danger the people Of
this country may lose sight Of the fact
7, that the el.ction Of Mr.. Bryan means the
overthrow Of the protective tariff system
\and the introduction Of free-trade pro-
gram into the policy Of the government.
Our people have short memories and they
sometimes forget and need to be remind
ed.
Mr.. Bryan was a member of the Fifty
second and Fifty-third Congresses and
: took very active part at once upon TAX
Ing his seat. In the Fifry-rnird Congress,
OF which l was member, the Wilson bill
was under consideration. It was the pas
sage of that bill which plunged this coun-,
try into ruin. 1t does not make any differ
ence what people say about the origin Of
hard times, the intelligent laboring man
of this country knows very we'll that he
ceased to earn living for himself and
family because Of the decentralization of
business caused by the repeal Of the Nc
Kinley law and the passage Of the Wilson
act. 1t was that which precipitated
wages to the lowest ebb that they have
been for many year. 1t was that which
over the country demanding food. 1t was
the passage of that bill that made it pos
sible for any intelligent man to listen for
a moment to the speeches of such men as
Bryan in 1896.
On the floor of the House in the de-
bates on the Wilson bill Bryan took the
extreme free-trade ground. His speeches
are on record and the laborng men Of
the country can find them and read them.
He especially announced himself as in IA
vor Of absolute free-trade upon many Of
the leading products of the farm, notably
wool, which he insisted should be put
upon the free list of the Wilson bill.
When that bill was passed by the con-
currence of the House in the six hundred
amendments of the Senate it was Bryan
and Hon. Jos. Bailey, Il representative
from the State of Texas, who in theic
ecstasy seized the champion, who was the
putative father Of the law, the Hon. W.
L. Wilson, of West Virginia, and carried
him on their shoulders in Il rrlumphal pro-
cession through the House of Representa-
tives into the cloak-roOm una saturnalia
"A Of JOY resounded from those promises. 1t
\ was Bryan who favored the Introduction
Of foreign material into this country free
Of charge. 1t was Bryan who demande0
that all raw material such as wool, coal,
Iron, and everything which entered into
the manufacture of goods, shouiu be 80
ported free, and it was his influence,
more than any other mans, that brought
about the terrible result with which we
are so familiar.
1t was Bryan's earnest demand that
put wool on the free list, and in that de-
bate he declared that be I'D not care
y whether it benefited or hurt the wool
grower. It was Bryan who drove the
tariff on coal down to such an extent as
to food the Eastern markets with coal
and stimulate the growth of the develop
7 ent Of coal in the British possessions in
northeast, and practically drove us
Agehc1he seaboard markets with the soft
'9 pf Central States. It was Bryan
\ Des,l Advocated the low tariff on agricul-
VI o"ie products and utterly refused to dis
mate or allow discrimination in favor
a. 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 very interest,"
ing chapter in the personal politics of that
gentleman. The platform made at Kan
sas City is very adroit in laying the foun-
dation for an enactment in Congress-,
should Bryan be elected, satisfactory to
I his history and record. Not daring to as
I sail protection directly he came at it in
, the platform which he personally con-
; Quoted as follows:
I Tariff laws should be amended by put
{ ting the products of trusts upon the free
: list. We condemn the Dingley
tariff law as trust breeding measure,
& skillfully devised, ETC."
That is the platform of the party de-
nominated the Democratic party and
whose nomination Mr.. Bryan accepted.
The original Populist party, whose candi-
date Mr.. Bryan now is, l refer to the
Sioux Falls nomination, also places itself
on record in similar attitude. So Mr..
Bryan. without any apology for the past,
stands upon a series Of platforms all
squirting 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
II may look for just such legislation as pre-
cipitated this country into the condition
with which we are all familiar. It is
therefore very unwise for the people OF
the country to be led away from the two
sreaT propositions Of Mr.. Bryan's life
the g-yo propositions for which he stands
The two propositions which make up Bry'
xnisn, to wit, free and unlimited coinage
N OF silver, and free trade, and follow of
after the illusion and delusion Of i'm
I'm perialism.
II the intelligent agriculturist will take
the prices Of his products in 1896 anG
Vi compare them with the present prices Of
the commodities, and then take the Ding
ley tariff law, he will at once discover t.
what he is indebted for the advance II
prices II the laboring man will take frs
the price of his labor in 1896 and then thu
price Of his labor in 1900 and then taxi
the table of imports Of foreign manufac
tured goods in 1896 and back Of that tim,
and then take the imports Of foreign
goods now. as shown BIZ the statistics O