The sun., 1900-10-09
HAT BRYAN'S ELECTION
MEANS To LABOR.
|nIy Question Is Whether Wage
Earners Want Hard Times.
emocratic Policies Drove Thousands to
| the Streets Before and Will Do So
Again If Bryan Is Successful.


Il the fallen guns of Imperialism and
flilitarism, there is danger the people of
lis country may lose sight of the fact
nat the election Of Mr.. Bryan means the
overthrow of the protective tariff system
ind the introduction of a free-trade pro-
Tram into the policy of the government.
dur people have short memories and they
ometimes forget and need to be remind
Lid.
Mr.. Bryan was member Of the Fifty
IBecond and Fifty-third Congresses and
'Ikook a very active part at once upon tax
\ ing his seat. In the Fifty-third Congress,
l,0f which l was q member, the Wilson bill |
Twas under consideration. 1t was the pas |
sage of that bill which plunged this coun |
try into ruin. 1t does not make any differ
Eence what people say about the origin of
hard times, the intelligent laboring man
of this country knows very well that he
n ceased to earn a living for himself and
y family because of the decentralization of
* business caused by the repeal of the Nc
Kinley law and the passage of the Wilson
Tact. 1t was that which precipitated
Hswages to the lowest ebb that they have
II been for many a year. 1t was that which
VI sent marching columns of hungry men
y over the country demanding food. 1t was
4 the passage of that bill that made it pos
4 sible for any intelligent man to listen for
N 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
80. I.l.-
the country can find them and read them.
He especially announced himself as in IA
vor of absolute free-trade upon many of
y the leading products of the farm notably
wool, which he insisted should be put
upon the free list of the Wilson bill
4 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, representative
from the State of Texas, who in their
ecstasy seized the champion, who was the
putative father of the law, the Hon. w.
J.. Wilson, of West Virginia, and carried
him on their shoulders in triumphal pro-
cession through the House of Representa-
tives into the cloak-room and a saturnalia
of joy resounded from those premises. 1t
was Bryan who favored the introduction
of foreign material into this country free
of charge. 1t was Bryan who demanded
that all raw material such as wool, coal
4 iron, and everything which entered into
the manufacture of goods, should be i'm
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 tha
put wool on the free list, and in that de
< bate he declared that he did not car,
whether it benefited or hurt the woo
grower. 1t was Bryan who drove th
tariff on coal down to such an extent a
Il to flood the Eastern markets with Goa
and stimulate the growth of the develop
ment of coal in the British possessions il
the northeast, and practically drove u
out of the seaboard markets with the soft
coal of Central States. 1t was Bryal
who advocated the low tariff on agricu
tural products and utterly refused to dis
criminate or allow discrimination in favo
of the products of the West and Middl
West. The laboring men of the countr
and the farmers of the country, befor
they plunge themselves into the vorte
that is being held out, should get Bryan
record and read it. 1t is very interes
ing chapter in the personal politics of tha
gentleman. The platform made at KaI
sas City is very adroit in laying the -four
dation for an enactment in Congress
should Bryan be elected satisfactory I
his history and record. Not daring to al
sail protection directly he came at it
the platform which he personally col
Quoted as follows:
Tariff laws should be amended by pu
ting the products of trusts upon the fire
list. We condemn the Dinglc
tariff law as trust breeding measur
skillfully devised, etc"
That is the platform of the party d
nominated the Democratic party al
whose nomination Mr.. Bryan accepte
The original Populist party, whose canG
date Mr.. Bryan now is, | refer to Il
Sioux Falls nomination, also places itse
on record in a similar attitude So NJ
Bryan, without any apology for the pas
stands upon a series of platforms {
sauinting in the direction of free trad
and in the event of his election, with
Congress subservient to his dictation,
was the convention at Kansas City, '
may look for just such legislation as pI
ciptated this country into the conditi
with which we are all familiar 1t
therefore very unwise for the people
the country to be led away from the tN
great propositions of Mr. Bryans Iii
the two propositions for which he stant
the two propositions which make up BI
anism, to wit, free and unlimited COMA
of silver, and free trade, and follow
after the illusion and delusion of i
perialism.
If the intelligent agricuturist will ia
the prices of his products in 1896 a
compare them with the present prices
the commodities, and then take the Dill
ley tariff law, he will at once discover
what he is indebted for the advance
prices. If the laboring man will take Fl
) the price of his labor in 1896 and then
! price of his labor in 1900 and then ia
the table of imports of foreign manuf
tured goods in 1896 and back of that til
and then take the iraports of forei
goods now. as shown by the statistics