The Bemidji pioneer., 1900-10-11
s
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.


imilitarism, 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 free-trade pro-
gram into the policy Of the government.
Our people have short memories and they
ed.
Mr.. Bryan was member Of the Fifty
second and Fifty-third Congresses and
took very active part at once upon tax
ing his seat. In the Fifsy-tnird Congress,
of which / was member, the Wilson bill
was under consideration. 1t was the pas
sage Of that bill which plunged this coun-
try into ruin. 1t does not make any differ
lence what people say about the origin Of
hard times, the intelligent laboring man
|of this country knows very well that he
ceased to earn living for himself and
family because Of the Generalization Of
business caused by the repeal of the Nc
Kinley law and the passage OF the Wilson
act. It was that which precipitated
wages to the lowest ebb that they have,
been for many a 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
Isible for any intelligent man to listen for
ID 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
1.-THE country can find them and read them.
He especially announced himself as in IA.
fYor 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-
icurrence 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
fputatiye father Of the law, the Hon. W.
sL. Wilson, Of West Virginia, and carried
him on their shoulders in u IriumphaI pro-
icession through the House Of Representa-
Itives into the cloak-room und a saturnalia
tof joy resounded from those premises. 1t
was Bryan who favored the introduction
u Of foreign material into this country free
Iof charge. 1t was Bryan who demanded
that all raw material such as wool, coal,
iron, and everything which entered into
1.-THE manufacture Of goods, should be i'm
Iported free, and it was his influence,
more than any other mans, that brought
about the terrible result with which we
are so familiar.
It was Bryan's earnest demand that
3put wool on the free list, and in that de-
4 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 flood the Eastern markets with coal
and stimulate the growth Of the develop
Iment 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-
Itural products and utterly refused to dis
lcriminate or allow discrimination in favor
4of 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
Ging 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 protectionsdirectly he came at it in
the platform which he personally con-
Quoted as follows:
s.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, 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 series of platforms oil
squirting in the direction of free trade,
and in the event of his election, with
congress subservient to his dctation, as
was the convention at Kansas City, we
may look for just such legislation as pre-,
cipitated this country into the condition
with which we are all familiar. 1t 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 de1usion Of i'm
tperialism.
! If the intelligent agriculturist will take
the prices of his products in 1896 and
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. If 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 manufact
tured goods in 1896 aud back of that time
and then take the imports Of foreign
goods now. as shown by the statistics OF