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About The Conservative (Nebraska City, Neb.) 1898-1902 | View Entire Issue (June 28, 1900)
< i t "Che Conservative * MR. JHIYAN'S PKKDICTIONS IN 180(1 ( AND WHAT HAS HAPPENKD. If silver is eliminated The Gold Democrats. nated from the platform this year , will Mr. Bryan receive the support of those democrats who declined , in 1896 , to accept the Chicago platform ? 10 to 1 is but one of the many heresies of Bryanarchy. As the whole is greater than any of its parts , Bryauarchy is infinitely more dangerous than any one of its dogmas. Bryan's speeches in 1890 were clothed in verbiage demagogic , dangerously anar chistic. In his speech at the Colosseum , he used the following language in dis cussing the issues of moment before that convention : "Wo do not come as aggressors. Our war is not a war of conquest. We are fighting in the defence of our homes , our families and posterity. We have petitioned , and our petitions have been scorned. We have entreated , and our entreaties have been disregarded. We have begged and they have mocked and our calamity came. We beg no longer ; wo entreat no more ; we defy them. " Whom has Mr. Bryan "petitioned ? " Whom has he "entreated ? " Whom has he "begged ? " And TVho. by whom has he " " " " and been "scorned , "disregarded , "mocked ? " Who are those whom he ' 'defies ? ' ' He must have meant those to whom were entrusted the responsibility of our government and the formulation of our policies. He must have referred to Washington , Madison , Jefferson , Jack son , Lincoln , Cleveland and a host of others whose names are honored and revered by the American people. Can these be the ones whom he would indict with conspiring to destroy the "homes" and the "liberties" of the American people ? Is it because of the malevolent acts of these that' 'our future is written in blood crushed out of the people by cold ? " If in 1890 the gold standard was a "conspiracy against the human race , " _ if it was then so Conspiracy. vicious as to merit such denunciation , it is equally deserving of condemnation in 1900. If the words Mr. Bryan uttered in 1890 , in portraying the iniquities of this gold standard , were the expression of honest conviction , it would be an act of infamy for him to now compromise with those whom he once charged with conspiring to destroy our "homes" and "firesides. " Thogold democrats would not support one who would thus knowingly identify himself with those whom he believes are seek ing the ruin of the country. If his was not the language of soberness and truth , if he was only plying the arts of the demagogue and appealing to the preju dices and passions of the people , he is dishonest and unfit for the presidency. If he was honest and sincere in 1896 , but is now willing to acknowledge himself in error , ho is so lacking in judgment and so deficient in reasoning powers as to be utterly incompetent to be the chief executive of this great republic. The gold democrats of the United States will not support Bryanarchy with or without silver. . In his speech at . , . _ . . Good ThingH. , - . , . Columbus , Ohio , Sept 1,1890 , Mr. Bryan gives us the test by which we are to arrive at the good ness or badness of a thing : "I call your attention to the fact that no party in the history of this country has ever in a national convention com mended the gold standard. Its effects are so bad that no party has ever dared uphold it. " What an awfully "bad" thing Mr. Bryan must believe the declaration of independence to be , as no political party in the history of our country ever dared declare for it ! Is there nothing "good" unless it receive the endorsement of the majority in a political convention ? , , , , At Albany , New " T . . Keep Up The Fight. r York , August 25 , 1890 , Mr. Bryan thus declared his un dying fealty to the 1C to 1 fallacy : "We have then to consider this ques tion : ought the American people submit longer to a gold standard ? The demo cratic party has begun a war of exter mination against the gold standard. We ask no quarter , we give no quarter. We shall prosecute our warfare until there is not an American citizen that dares to advocate a gold standard policy. You ask why ? We reply that the gold stand ard is a conspiracy against the human race. And that we should , no more join it than we would an army to destroy our homes and to destroy our families. " Will the distinguished warrior , who declared such undying and never-ending hostility to the gold standard , who would neither give nor receive quarter , accept , at Kansas City , a nomin ation for the presidency if the conven tion intermits its fight upon the gold standard and declares war upon some thing else ? Will he thus become a party to "a conspiracy against the hu man race ? " Will he join or comprom ise with that , which in 1890 ho said he would no sooner join than he would "an army to destroy our homes and to des troy our families ? " Will he openly confess himself to be such a fiendish enemy to society ? , . In his speech at T . Untrue. , . Columbus , Ohio , Sept 1 , 1890 , Mr. Bryan thus trifled with facts : "The advocates of the gold standard have never dared to submit the arbitra tion of the gold standard to the ballot. Every step that has been taken has been by stealth and without the approval of the American people. " Mr. Bryan forgot to mention that Jefferson , in 1800 , ordered the closing of the mints to silver dollars. The Ameri can people approved the act and they remained closed for thirty years. The act of 1884 , placing us upon the gold standard which we have maintained to the present time was signed by Jackson and approved by the American people. The act of 1853 demonetized $75,000,000 of silver and was endorsed by the Am erican people. The act of 1873 , dropping the silver dollar from the coinage , was not enacted by stealth but was pending before the American congress for three years , was printed thirteen times as a bill and its amendments , and the dropping of the dollar from the list of coins caused no objection from any source. Senator * Stewart even voted for the bill. I , . At Syracuse , N. ? IJ1 ° 0tl- - Y.August 24,1890 , | Artist Bryan thus painted , in gloomy I tints , the future under a gold standard : "My friends , the conspiracy which we have to meet is a conspiracy which lias j for its ultimate object the striking down j of silver as one of the standard moneys of the world. And that can only mean I a gradual and continual increase in the \ purchasing power of the dollar , and that ( means an indefinite season during which the holders of fixed investments gather more than they loan and during which those who owe debts will pay more than they agreed to pay an indefinite season during which it will be more profitable to hoard money or loan it than to invest it in enterprise or property. " As if he had not painted the future dark enough in this gloomy sketch he added the following next day in an ad dress at Erie , Pa. : "Do not let the republicans beguile you about the future. The future is written in blood , crushed out of you by gold. " These calamitous predictions can be best controverted by appealing to each individual voter and let him use his own personal experience as a basis upon which to judge. He knows that there has not been an increase in the purchas ing power of the dollar because of the continuance of the gold standard. He knows that the maintenance of the gold standard instead of making the hoarding of money more profitable has encouraged - aged beyond all precedent its investment in enterprise and property and has promoted meted the development of the country. The only blood THE CONSERVATIVE knows anything about is that which so painfully oozes from the brow of a dis credited prophet and doomed president ial aspirant. In 1893 , when Holting. , . , , . the democratic state convention of Nebraska endorsed the action of President Cleveland in asking for the repeal of the Sherman law , Mr. Bryan thus stated his position upon the question of bolting : "Gentlemen , I know not what others may do , but duty to country is above duty to party. * * * If the democratic > * * ti > |
