The Yale expositor., 1900-10-12
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.

In the eddying fight, amid din and roar
Of the fallen guns of Imperialism and
militarism, there is danger the people of
this country may lose sight of the fact
that the election of Mr.. Bryan means the
overthrow of the protective tariff system
and the introduction of a 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 Fifty-third Congress,
of which was member, the Wilson bill
was under consideration. II 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 well that he
ceased TO earn a 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
sent marching columns of hungry men
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 laboring 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 10y the con-
currence Of the House in the six hundred
amendments Of the Senate it was Bryan
and Hon. Jos. Bailey, n representative
from the State of Texas, who in their
ecstasy seized the champion, who was the
putatve 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 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, coa.,
iron, and everything which entered into
the manufacture OF goods, should be inn
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 Bryans earnest demand that
put wool on the free lisr, and in that de-
bate he declared that he did not care
whether it benefited or hurt the wool
grower 1t 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
ment of coal in the British possessions in
the northeast, and practically drove us
out Of the seaboard markets with the soft
coal of Central States. 1t was Bryan
who advocated the low tariff on agricul-
tural products and utterly refused to dis
criminate or allow discrimination in favor
of 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
record and read it. 1t is a 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
his history and record. Not daring to as
sail protection directly he came at it in
the platform which he personally CON
Quoted as follows:
Tariff laws should be amended by put
ting the products of trusts upon the free
list. We condemn the Dingley
tariff law as a 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, refer to the
Sioux Falls nomination, also places itself
on record in a 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
Congress subservient to his dictation, as
was the convention at Kansas City, we
may look for just such legislation as pre-
with which we are all familiar. Ii Is
therefore very unwise for the people of
the country to be led away from the two
great propositions OF Mr.. Bryan's life,
the two propositions for which he stands,
the two propositions which make up Bry-
anism, TO wit, free and unlimited coinage
OF silver, and free trade, and follow off
after the illusion and deluson of inn
perialism.
III the intelligent agriculturist will take
the prices OF his products in 1896 aud
compare them with the present prices Of
the commodities, and then take the Ding
ley tariff law, he will at once discover to
what he is Indebted FOR the advance in
prices. III the laboring man will take first
the price OF his labor in 1896 and then the
price OF his labor in 1900 and then take
the table OF imports OF foreign manufac-
tured goods in 1895 and back OF that time
and then take the imports Of foreign
goods now, as shown by the statistics OF