Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1900-10-26

farewell address. The speech was
delivered in Washington September
18th, but there are some doubts
whether lne effort will live as long
as the one that preceded it by a hun
dred years.
Among other things Bryan said:
Talk about ~monopolies! Talk about
trusts! My friends, they propose to
establish the most gigantic of all
trusts-a money trust-and let the
few men who hold the gold dole it out
at such price as they will to all the
other seventy millions of American
people. denounce the policy as
more cruel anu heartless than politi-
cal domination of a foreign power.
l would rather, as some one has said,
put our army in the hands of a foreign
general, or u navy in command Of
a foreign admiral, than to put the
treasury department in the hands Of
a secretary who would run it upon the
European plan. l would resist such
a financial policy with as much earn
estness as l would resist the progress
of an invading army coming to attack
our homes"
Let me ask you a question. Did
the administration, when recommend
ing the unconditional repeal of the
Sherman law, believe that the repeal
would cure our troubles? If it did,
then it has been so badly mistaken
that you have a right to mistrust me
judgment of the administration. If,
on the other hand, the administration
knew hat the repeal of the Sherman
law would not bring relief and con-
cealed that knowledge from the Am
erican people, then you have a right
to distrust the honesty of the admin
istration."
did the administration know, when
it recommended the retirement Of
greenbacks and treasury notes as a
means of stopping the drain upon the
gold in the treasury, that it would pro-
pose the policy that the secretary of
the treasury has outlined in his let
ter? If it did know and did not tell
the people, it was dishonest in not
taking the people into it's confidence,
and if it did not know, then let it con-
TESS it's ignorance Of military laws and
the finances of the country. Does the
administration know now that when
it commences to redeem silver dollars
in gold, it will start another endless
chain which may drain the treasury
indefinitely and increase the bonded
debt without limit, unless all the sill
yer dollars are retired and bonds sub
stituted for them? If it does not
know, then it must confess itself ig-
norant on the subject, and if it does
know and will not tell the people, then
we have a right to question the can
dor and frankness Of the administra-
tion."
do not think that my language is
harsh. 1t is not harsh. These men
are the public servants of the Ameri-
can people and they have no more
right to betray the people into the
Benedict Arnold had to betray the
American colonists into the hands of
the British"
Out of his own mouth Bryan is con-
demned as a false prophet in 1896.
When, four years ago. he declared the
supposed gold trust the worst of all
and said it would bring speedy ruin to
the country, he was, as events have
proved, either ignorant of the truth or
dishonest in asserting something
which he knew to be unfounded.
The gold standard has been MAIN
tanned and, instead Of cruel suffering
and misery, we have had unexampl7d
prosperity. We never had as much
money in the country as now. Eu-
rope is coming to us to borrow. While
Bryan must have been either ignorant
or dishonest when he predicted ruin
from the supposed gold trust, he
stands impeached and discredited ac-
cording to the rule he then laid down
for others.