Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1900-06-13

| Mr. Bryan has said that at preSen
three questions-money, trusts and i'm
Iperialism-are dividing public attention
That is fact of which every observing
man must take cognizance. Men ma,
differ as to the relative Importance o
these questions, but the man who ha
become bimetallist through intelli
| gent investigation cannot be made t,
believe that the money question hold
a subordinate place so far as concerns
the material welfare of this govern
ment, even though it be true that tn,
more attractive subjects of the immedi
ate present are being more general!
dis cussed by the people.
BIMETALLISTS MEN OF PRINCIPLE
| 1t is not intolerance that bimetalIist.
adhere to the principle Of bimetallism
They regard it as great and practica
truth. No candid man would say an
other is insincere because he advocate.
certain line of political policy. II
spite of the fact some gold STANDARD
democrats have been ungenerous il
their designation of the men who advo.
| cate bimetallism, the latter must know
| and cannot fail to admit that the great
body of men who favor the gold stand.
| ard are actuated by the purest Of mo-
| tives. Many of these will support Mr.
Bryan in 1900, not because they indorse
his position on the money question, but
in spite of that position. They must
know that the motive that prompts him
! to reject their advice on this question
is the dominating motive Of his life
and that the same fidelity and determi-
nation that characterizes his adherence
to a principle in which they believe him
to be right.
1t is fair to say that among those
who urge Mr.. Bryan to abandon the
cause OF bimetallism, there are various
men with various motives.
Some insist that the question has
been settled for at least four years to
come; hence if elected Mr.. Bryan could
have no power toward enacting this
principle into law. Those who regard IL
in this light, then, need not fear the
results of Mr.. Bryan's election. Reply
ing to a similar suggestion, a New
York paper recently said:
A LESSON FROM 1860.
What will rational voters think Of a
party which offers as a poison for pros
perity in 1900 the discredited quack
medicine which it prescribed for ca
lamity in 1896? Though no actual harm
might result from the election of a
president upon such a plank, the re-
publicans would gain great advantage
in being able to appeal to the fears OF
the conservative, property-owning, and
wage-earning and wage-saving classes
1t is these voters, and not the hide
bound partisans. who decide elections
And such voters would resent even q
threat to disturb, in a time of general
prosperity, and within one year after
it's settlement, the question which has
vexed politics and unsettled business
for the last thirty years. Why take
the risk when there is nothing to
gain?"
What did the rational voters of 1866
think Of the party that offered "the
discredietd quack medicine of 1856?
OF the 296 electoral votes cast in 1856,
the republican candidate received 114,
and Of the popular vote his opponent
had more than 100000 plurality. The
fundamental principles that thus met
ignominious defeat in 1856 were tri-
umphant four years later, the republic
an candidate receiving $50 Of the 303
electoral votes and plurality exceed
ing 400, 900 of the popular vote. In 1888,
of the 4O1 electoral votes the repub-
lican candidate received 233. Four
years later, on the same issue as in
1888, the democratic candidate received
277 Of the 444 electoral votes and 480 900
plurality Of the popular vote.
PEOPLE WILL NOT BE DECEIVED.
90 not make a mistake by thinking
that the conservative, property-own-
ing, age-earning and wage saving
classes can be deceived in 1900 as they
were deceived In 1896. What has hap
pened to sustain their fears? What
has happened to vindicate the good re-
suits of a permanent and general char
acter so freely predicted in 1896? Has
the real estate of the property owner
advanced In price, or is it not yet the
victim Of the single gold standard, a
policy that transforms money from lis
legitimate function and makes 1t prop
erty itself? Have the wage-earners OBJ
tanned the benefits promised? Are they
to be consoled with the assurance that
the noise and hustle created by the
organization of trusts. the activity in
cidental to war, or the profits made by
spectators provide fulfillment to the
promise, IAN honest dollar and chance
to earn it, Are they to be thus con-
soled when they know that wages have
not materially nor generally advanced,
while everything the wage-earner must
buy has increased, and is increasing IN
price every day?
The newspaper quoted above, and
others insisting that bimetallism be
abandoned, have repeatedly claimed
that not all of the $500, 600 votes cast
for Mr.. Bryan were so cast because OF
his position ou the money question.
many of these votes going to Mr.. Bry-
an in spite of his position on that ques-
ton. And then these same authorities
proceed cheerfully to take 1t for grant
ed that all Of the 100000 votes cast
for Mckinley were given as an in
dorsement Of the single gold standard.
Bryan received $500. 900 votes on a plat
form explicitly pledging bimetallism at