The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1902-10-23

ChN C'Nl anu OllC There anu one
hereafter batting his eye once OF
twice, nod his head and say, Il guess
that's So
Now, then, | want to address nv
self to this proposition; that the main
aim and end of our political oppon-
ents is to win campaigns and not to
formulate principles for wise govern
ment. In 1892 you won on the tariff
issue, didn't you? Yes, sir. You won
fairly, 1t was fair and square stand
up and Touchdown, and you won. l
don blame you fori it; it was a square
issue, you believed in it. We didn't.
We fought for protection. We lost.
But 1896 came around and you need
ed something else to win a campaign
on, did you not? Did you have any
thing in your platform in 1892 that
you could use in 1896 to maintain
yourselves in office? If you did have,
l wish you would speak about it. No
That old platform had been used for
the last time. (Laughter.) You said
that If we would give you control you
would give us good times, better than
we then had. Mark you, 1899 was the
best time we had ever had up to that
date. Measured from any standpoint
the amount of wages was what wages
would buy. 1892 was highwater mark
up to that date, but the people voted
against us, Notwithstanding.
1896 came around very soon-did |
say very soon? l beg pardon. laugh
ter | heard of a very mean man
who propounded this question to his
wife; why is it that a married man
lives longer than a single one?n And
when she gave it up he says: He
does not; it only seems longer" zap
plause and laughter.) And l only de-
sire to suggest that Mr.. Cleveland's
last administration was the same
length that Mr.. Harrison's was.
Nevertheless, 1896 came, and a new
issue was necessary if you continued
in power. You didn't have thing
to go to the people with. But there
was a party that had an issue. In
1992-you get the thought now-in
1892 the Populist party, the peoples
party, composed of as good men as
ever lived, sincere and honest and
anxious to do wise things for the peo-
ple-honest, but misled-nominated
a man from my State, James b. Wea-
yer, for President of the United States.
They put him upon a platform de-
claring for the free and unlimited
coinage of gold and silver on the basis
of 16 to 1, without the interference of
any foreign nation, &c.-I have prac-
t1ced that, you see-and they tried to
elect Mr.. Weaver on that issue, which
was original with the Populist party:
but they didn't succeed. But during
Mr.. Cleveland's administration cir
cumstances favored the propagation
of that doctrine-there were a great
many people in the United States
who formed the opinion that they
wanted more money, and that, per-
haps, free coinage of silver would sup
ply it; there were others who recog-
nized that they needed cheaper dol
lar with which to pay up, and they
thought free coinage of silver made
out of fifty cents worth of material
would, perhaps, aid them. So that
doctrine spread. 1t looked as though
it would win in 1896, and my Demo
cratic friends didn't have any issue.
Do you know what man does when
he is out of bread and has to have
bread or starve, and his neighbor has
some bread that is inside? Well, he
doesn't starve. Do you know what a
party does that hasn't any issue-con-
sumed all they had-and there is an
other party that has an issue that is
inside? Well, | will tell you what you
did-yes, you did. They held their
convention first, seized upon free sill
yer coinage at the ratio of 16 to |.
without the aid or consent or inter
ference of any other nation, put the
Democratic label on it, and said it was
Jacksonian. 1t was not: Jackson was
a single gold standard man. They
said it was Jeffersonian; it was not.
Jefferson was single gold standard
man. They said it was old time Dem
Ocratic doctrine; it was not. 1t was
the new time Populist doctrine; but
they took it up, put their label on it,
put it in their playhouse and called it
theirs. 1t was not; it was the others.
A SLAP AT BRYAN.
Continuing his talk to Democrats,
Mr. Shaw said:
remember your leader who made
speeches in my State, in my town,
and remember his saying that the
demonstration of silver in 1878, the
crime of 1878, had debased silver and
had advanced the gold dollar until
the gold dollar had become a 200 cent
dollar. He said it was a wicked old
200 cent dollar, it would buy more
than it ought to buy of wheat and of
everything else, and that the free
coinage of silver would bring this dol
lar down where it belonged, with sill
yer; our people said, he is sincere and
and honest, but l happened to read
his speech made down in the enemys
country, down in Madison Square
Garden, New York, and there | re-
member he said that the free coinage
of silver would put the silver dollar
up with the gold dollar. Laughter. J
ISSUES IN COLD STORAGE.
When 1900 came-let us see how far
they were looking for an issue to go
into the campaign on. In 1892 the
tariff for revenue only could not be
used, nor in 1896 it could not be used.
In 1900 you could not use free silyerl
no, the weather was against you;
times were good. So you put it in
cold storage along with tariff for rev.
enue only Qaughter), thinking that
you might want to use it at some
other time. What for? To win cam
paign on. And you looked about for
something else to win on in 1900. Do
you remember what you tried, | re-
member one of the important things.
You tried trusts. Have you ever
heard about trusts in Baltimore;