The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1904-01-29
SPEAKS
ON MORAL ISSUES
the Democratic Party
OF tho Necessity Of q Strictly
Honest Platform.
MODEL or %cLEARNEss
Mr.. Bryan Asks About Getting To.
qether and Wants 10 Know Whsth-
or Democrats Seek to Defend
or Enter Course Of Piiiaos.

Madison Square concert hall was taken
when William J. Bryan began his
speech on Moral Issues"
In the audience there e mann
women. while the body Of the hall was
mnre than half allied with clergymen.
There was no presiding officer. MI.
Bryan being escorted to the platform,
where he was greeted with prolonged
applause.
I the course OF his remarks Mr..
Bryan said, on the question OF all dem
ocrats getting together" that he
wants to know what they are getting
together for@whether to defend rights
or to enter upon a. course Of pillage.
THE trouble with our government to-
day is that 1T is too much influenced in,
its operations by men whose only loyal,
;ty is loyalty to the money bags" he
said, and continued:
Zone evidence that our party was
honestly seeking to secure justice to
the masses in 1896 and 1900 is to be.
found in the fact that our campaign
funds We're insignificant in both cam
apaigns. In 1892 tbs democratic party.
collected a large campaign fund from
the corporations. 1t spent more than
3, 1000 600 in the two states of New York
and Indiana alone, and what was the
result? The most plutocratic admins
.Itration this country had ever known,
We witnessed a surrender to organized
and predatory wealth SO abJeot and so
complete h a seven years Of exile from
power have not entirely removed the
stain from the party. You asasl why I
Am opposed to the reorganization of the
democratic party? Because / want my
party to define the rights of the people,
{ want 1t to be the fearless champion;
Of their interests; / want It to present
the moral issue involved in public,
questions, and to appeal to the public,
conscience.
In dealing with the labor problem,
moral principles only are applicable,
Capital and labor can not be recon
geiled by high sounding platitudes about
aw and order and vested rights.
For Honest Platform.
"How car we restore respect for the
Of self government, how can we,
hight the trusts. how can we obtain a just
financial system, how can we oppose a,
high tariff, how can we safeguard the,
tight of the labor. or secure the election
OF senators by popular votes7 The first
step forward for any party is to write an
honest platform.
"When the next democratic convention,
Undertakes to write q new platform It,
Wall lA0 t4lSgA aSt Ollt u I1OU6lEOI tClGdE-l
ness and conciseness. n of square deal
lttsg. and I hope that-the delegates to the
convention will be instructed by the vari-
Que states to indorse 1t.
"sAnd how about candidates? 1t does
not matter much what the name of the,
presidential candidate is, hut 1t does mat
Ter what he stands for, and in what di-
he is going to lead the party. Let
the republican party be challenged to
meet the moral issue piesented-this is
democratic, this is patriotic. If we lose It
will be q temporary defeat and will bring
no disgrace with it; II we win the victory
will mean much for our country and for
the world"
Mr.. Bryan departed frequently from the
text of the address as previously given,
gut. Speaking OF the comforting Of gov
|ernment favors on great corporations, he
sad:
IT want to call the attention of the
clergy to this, n I want to ask them
what they are doing toward their congre-
cations OF the degradation of the moral
sense which is. now going on?"
He referred to the sale of votes, which,,
he said, existed In Delaware, and said:
1t is this commercialism that Is de-,
bauching our nation and %betrayingE our
country. I beg you to thunder O against
this vicious principle and not to try and
stop 1t some little way
|M imperialism TO the Front.
Speaking of Imperialism, he said that In
the last campaign he was willing to put
all other subjects inSthe background, .'al-;
though he was welded to them" but con-
fessed that he was disappointed that so,
many were Indifferent to the issue. He,
added that what panied him most in the
campaign was that the ministers Of the!
gospel saw the hand of God in the killing
Of the brown people in the Philippines
and allowed q carpetbag government out
there,
Mr.. Bryan referred to a speech Of Mr..
Mckinley, when In congress-, attacking
President Cleveland's fiscal policy. Mr.,
Mckinley, he said, practically intimated.
that Mr.. Cleveland was making money
the master and all else the servant.
M agreed with Mr.. Mckinley" con-
tinued Mr.. Bryan. That is why I did
what I could to reorganize the democratic
party"
he again reverted at length to the labor
question, which. he said. is called a Ian
ger.
Il am wiling to stand this danger for.
a while, until we rid the country of dam
gers o don't complain OF. I don't bel
|lteve in violence, and I believe that the
laboring man who resorts to violence is,
the worst enemy Of the laboring man